By Culberson H.B. No. 3396 Line and page numbers may not match official copy. Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E. A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the protection of students and parental rights in 1-3 public schools. 1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-5 SECTION 1. Sections 11.251(b) and (e), Education Code, are 1-6 amended to read as follows: 1-7 (b) The board shall adopt a policy to establish a district- 1-8 and campus-level planning and decision-making process that will 1-9 involve the professional staff of the district, parents, and 1-10 community members in establishing and reviewing the district's and 1-11 campuses' educational plans, goals, performance objectives, and 1-12 major classroom instructional programs. The board shall establish 1-13 a procedure under which meetings are held regularly by district- 1-14 and campus-level planning and decision-making committees that 1-15 include representative professional staff, parents of students 1-16 enrolled in the district, and community members. Parents shall 1-17 comprise not less than twenty-five percent (25%) of the membership 1-18 of the district and campus level committees. The committees shall 1-19 include business representatives, without regard to whether a 1-20 business representative resides in the district or whether the 1-21 business the person represents is located in the district. The 2-1 board, or the board's designee, shall periodically meet with the 2-2 district-level committee to review the district-level committee's 2-3 deliberations. 2-4 (e) The board shall adopt a procedure, consistent with 2-5 Section 21.407(a), for the professional staff in the district to 2-6 nominate and elect the professional staff representatives who shall 2-7 meet with the board or the board designee as required under this 2-8 section. At least two-thirds of the elected professional staff 2-9 representatives must be classroom teachers. The remaining staff 2-10 representatives shall include both campus- and district-level 2-11 professional staff members. Board policy must provide procedures 2-12 for: 2-13 (1) the selection of parents to the district-level and 2-14 campus-level committees. The district administration shall 2-15 publicize the opportunity to serve as a parent member on the 2-16 district- or campus-level committees by sending parents a notice 2-17 explaining the function of each committee and how the parent 2-18 members are selected. The term of a parent member shall be one 2-19 calendar year. The district shall request that parents return the 2-20 notice affirmatively marked either "yes" the parent would be 2-21 interested in serving, or "no" they would not. A date to return 2-22 the notice to the school shall be a part of the notice along with 2-23 the term of service. The parent participation form shall either be 2-24 sent home in the beginning of the year package of parent advisory 2-25 forms, at the end of a school year with the final report card, or 3-1 by U.S. Mail annually at the time of the district's choosing. 3-2 Selection of parents to the district- and campus-level committees 3-3 must be by lottery or other random selection process; and 3-4 (2) the selection of community members and business 3-5 representatives to serve on the district-level committee in a 3-6 manner that provides for appropriate representation of the 3-7 community's diversity. 3-8 SECTION 2. Section 25.083, Education Code, is amended by 3-9 adding Subsection (a) to read as follows: 3-10 (a) Courses in the foundation curriculum as enumerated in 3-11 Section 28.002(1)(A)-(D) shall not be interrupted for career 3-12 awareness counseling and other nonacademic class activities other 3-13 than emergency announcements and periodic general announcements. 3-14 SECTION 3. Section 25.087, Education Code, is amended by 3-15 adding Subsections (c) and (d) to read as follows: 3-16 (c) A school district shall not allow or permit a student to 3-17 leave a school campus for any purpose other than school sponsored 3-18 activities except to receive emergency treatment for an acute or 3-19 life-threatening injury or illness without the written or verified 3-20 verbal consent of the parent for each occurrence. 3-21 (d) A student's absence is excused if the parent submits a 3-22 written notice of the absence, to include the date and/or times of 3-23 the absence. 3-24 SECTION 4. Section 26.004, Education Code, is amended to 3-25 read as follows: 4-1 Sec. 26.004. ACCESS TO STUDENT RECORDS. A school district 4-2 is required to fully disclose in writing on an annual basis, and to 4-3 make available to parents upon the parent's request at a cost not 4-4 to exceed 10 cents per page, all information which is being 4-5 retained by, or is in the possession of, the school in regard to 4-6 the parent's child, including how the information is to be used and 4-7 maintained, who has access to it, and how security is assured. 4-8 Records on a parent's child shall be absolutely confidential and 4-9 except for authorized and disclosed school employees or in 4-10 cooperation with an investigation authorized under Section 38.004, 4-11 Education Code, are not to be released or made available on a 4-12 student-identified basis to any other party without the parent's 4-13 informed, explicit written or verified verbal permission. Failure 4-14 to make this information available upon request at a cost not to 4-15 exceed ten cents per page shall result in the loss or suspension of 4-16 the certification of the teacher or administrator. A parent is 4-17 entitled to access to all written records of a school district 4-18 concerning the parent's child, including, but not limited to: 4-19 (1) attendance records; 4-20 (2) test scores; 4-21 (3) grades; 4-22 (4) disciplinary records; 4-23 (5) counseling records; 4-24 (6) psychological records; 4-25 (7) applications for admissions; 5-1 (8) health and immunization information; 5-2 (9) teacher and counselor evaluations; and 5-3 (10) reports of behavioral patterns. 5-4 SECTION 5. Section 26.009, Education Code, is amended by 5-5 adding Subsection (c) to read as follows: 5-6 (c) Prior to administration, a school district is required 5-7 to notify parents in writing and to provide complete information 5-8 about any survey or questionnaire to be administered to the 5-9 parent's child. Notification may be sent via the U.S. Mail, or by 5-10 sending an information sheet home with the student to be signed by 5-11 the parent. If the latter method is used, the school must receive 5-12 signed forms from at least fifty percent (50%) of the notified 5-13 parents in order to meet this notice requirement. Parents must 5-14 receive the notification at least one week prior to the 5-15 administration of a survey or questionnaire. The information 5-16 disclosed to parents must include what organization created and 5-17 funded the survey or questionnaire, how the information is to be 5-18 used, who will maintain and have access to the data, and whether or 5-19 not the data is to be identified to the student. The parent has 5-20 the right to obtain a copy of the survey or other instrument upon 5-21 request at a cost not to exceed 10 cents per page. Parents also 5-22 have the right to see the results of the survey or questionnaire 5-23 and to exempt the parents' child from participating in the survey 5-24 or questionnaire for any reason. 5-25 SECTION 6. Chapter 26, Education Code, is amended by adding 6-1 Section 26.013 to read as follows: 6-2 Sec. 26.013. RIGHT TO PETITION. Parents have the right to 6-3 petition their school district board of trustees to place an action 6-4 item on the agenda of the next public meeting of the board of 6-5 trustees and to request a record vote on the action item submitted 6-6 to the board. A valid petition must contain a sufficient number of 6-7 signatures of registered voters to equal five percent (5%) of the 6-8 number voters who voted in the last school board election. 6-9 Petitions must contain the signature, printed name, address and 6-10 voter registration number for the petition signature to be valid. 6-11 SECTION 7. Section 26, Education Code, is amended by adding 6-12 Section 26.014 to read as follows: 6-13 Sec. 26.014. VIOLATIONS OF PARENTAL RIGHTS. (a) Any 6-14 parent may sue in any court in the county where they reside to 6-15 enforce any provision of this Act, or if the violation is statewide 6-16 in the District Court in Travis County, to seek issuance of a 6-17 temporary or permanent restraining order or such other injunctive 6-18 or equitable relief as the court deems necessary to enforce the 6-19 parental rights guaranteed by the education code, state or federal 6-20 law, or the Texas or U.S. Constitution. The parent may recover all 6-21 civil damages, out of pocket expenses including lost wages, and 6-22 attorney's fees from any government authority and/or contract 6-23 service provider. 6-24 (b) After all appeals have been exhausted, a teacher or 6-25 administrator who has been found guilty of violating a parent's 7-1 parental rights shall have his or her certification suspended for 7-2 one year. 7-3 SECTION 8. Section 33.003, Subchapter A, Chapter 33, 7-4 Education Code, is amended to read as follows: 7-5 Sec. 33.003. The board of trustees of each school district 7-6 shall adopt guidelines to protect parental rights by ensuring that 7-7 written consent is obtained from the parent, legal guardian, or 7-8 person entitled to enroll the student under Section 25.001(j) for 7-9 the student to participate (in those activities for which the 7-10 district requires parental consent.) in developmental guidance, 7-11 career awareness and counseling programs, and such other activities 7-12 as the board of trustees may deem appropriate. 7-13 SECTION 9. Section 38.011, Education Code, is amended by 7-14 adding Subsections (a) and (b) to read as follows: 7-15 (a) A school district board of trustees that wishes to 7-16 expand or change the health services available in a public school 7-17 from those which were available on January 1, 1999, must hold a 7-18 public hearing at which the district will fully disclose all 7-19 information on the proposed clinic including the services to be 7-20 provided, if federal law allows or requires any services to be kept 7-21 confidential from the parents, if medical records will be 7-22 accessible to parents, information about grant funds to be used for 7-23 the clinic or any services, who will have access to the medical 7-24 records of a student, and what security measures are in force to 7-25 protect the students' medical privacy. The hearing must include a 8-1 time for public comment on the proposal. If the health services 8-2 available to students is expanded or changed after January 1, 1999, 8-3 the district must fully disclose to parents on an annual basis the 8-4 information named hereinabove along with a summary of clinic 8-5 complaints lodged with the district in the past year. 8-6 (b) A school district must obtain the prior informed written 8-7 or verified verbal consent of the child's parent each time a 8-8 service other than routine screening or minor routine care is 8-9 provided. A blanket consent form will not satisfy this informed 8-10 consent requirement. 8-11 SECTION 10. This Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000 8-12 school year. 8-13 SECTION 11. The importance of this legislation and the 8-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 8-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 8-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 8-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 8-18 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 8-19 passage, and it is so enacted.