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.