By Ogden S.B. No. 462
76R4944 CAS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to authorizing school districts to require parental
1-3 involvement after a student's suspension or expulsion from school.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Section 37.0101 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 37.0101. PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AFTER SUSPENSION OR
1-8 EXPULSION. (a) The board of trustees of a school district may
1-9 adopt a written policy under which a student's parent or guardian
1-10 must be involved in the student's school-related activities as a
1-11 condition of allowing the student to return to the student's
1-12 regular class assignment after the student has been suspended or to
1-13 return to school after the student has been expelled. If the
1-14 parent or guardian of a student who has been suspended fails to
1-15 comply with the policy, the district may place the student in an
1-16 alternative education program at the end of the suspension period.
1-17 (b) If a student who is refused readmission to school under
1-18 this section enrolls in another school district, the board of
1-19 trustees of the district refusing readmission shall provide to the
1-20 district in which the student enrolls, at the same time other
1-21 records of the student are provided, a copy of the expulsion order
1-22 and the order refusing readmission. The district in which the
1-23 student enrolls may refuse the student admission under the terms of
1-24 the order refusing readmission or may allow the student to attend
2-1 school in the district.
2-2 (c) The district's parental involvement policy:
2-3 (1) must provide guidelines concerning the type and
2-4 amount of parental involvement required as a condition of allowing
2-5 a student to return to the student's regular class assignment or to
2-6 school, as applicable; and
2-7 (2) may make special provisions for a student who:
2-8 (A) is eligible to participate in the district's
2-9 special education program; or
2-10 (B) does not reside with a parent or guardian.
2-11 SECTION 2. Section 25.086(a), Education Code, is amended to
2-12 read as follows:
2-13 (a) A child is exempt from the requirements of compulsory
2-14 school attendance if the child:
2-15 (1) attends a private or parochial school that
2-16 includes in its course a study of good citizenship;
2-17 (2) is eligible to participate in a school district's
2-18 special education program under Section 29.003 and cannot be
2-19 appropriately served by the resident district;
2-20 (3) has a physical or mental condition of a temporary
2-21 and remediable nature that makes the child's attendance infeasible
2-22 and holds a certificate from a qualified physician specifying the
2-23 temporary condition, indicating the treatment prescribed to remedy
2-24 the temporary condition, and covering the anticipated period of the
2-25 child's absence from school for the purpose of receiving and
2-26 recuperating from that remedial treatment;
2-27 (4) is expelled in accordance with the requirements of
3-1 law in a school district that does not participate in a mandatory
3-2 juvenile justice alternative education program under Section 37.011
3-3 or has been expelled and refused readmission to school under a
3-4 policy adopted under Section 37.0101;
3-5 (5) is at least 17 years of age and:
3-6 (A) is attending a course of instruction to
3-7 prepare for the high school equivalency examination, and:
3-8 (i) has the permission of the child's
3-9 parent or guardian to attend the course;
3-10 (ii) is required by court order to attend
3-11 the course;
3-12 (iii) has established a residence separate
3-13 and apart from the child's parent, guardian, or other person having
3-14 lawful control of the child; or
3-15 (iv) is homeless as defined by 42 U.S.C.
3-16 Section 11302; or
3-17 (B) has received a high school diploma or high
3-18 school equivalency certificate;
3-19 (6) is at least 16 years of age and is attending a
3-20 course of instruction to prepare for the high school equivalency
3-21 examination, if the child is recommended to take the course of
3-22 instruction by a public agency that has supervision or custody of
3-23 the child under a court order;
3-24 (7) is enrolled in the Texas Academy of Mathematics
3-25 and Science;
3-26 (8) is enrolled in the Texas Academy of Leadership in
3-27 the Humanities; or
4-1 (9) is specifically exempted under another law.
4-2 SECTION 3. Sections 37.009(d), (e), and (g), Education Code,
4-3 are amended to read as follows:
4-4 (d) The board or the board's designee shall set a term for a
4-5 student's placement in an alternative education program under
4-6 Section 37.002, [or] 37.006, or 37.0101.
4-7 (e) A student placed in an alternative education program
4-8 under Section 37.002, [or] 37.006, or 37.0101 shall be provided a
4-9 review of the student's status, including a review of the student's
4-10 academic status, by the board's designee at intervals not to exceed
4-11 120 days. In the case of a high school student, the board's
4-12 designee, with the student's parent or guardian, shall review the
4-13 student's progress towards meeting high school graduation
4-14 requirements and shall establish a specific graduation plan for the
4-15 student. The district is not required under this subsection to
4-16 provide in the district's alternative education program a course
4-17 not specified under Section 37.008(a). At the review, the student
4-18 or the student's parent or guardian must be given the opportunity
4-19 to present arguments for the student's return to the regular
4-20 classroom or campus. The student may not be returned to the
4-21 classroom of the teacher who removed the student without that
4-22 teacher's consent. The teacher may not be coerced to consent.
4-23 (g) The board or the board's designee shall deliver to the
4-24 student and the student's parent or guardian a copy of the order
4-25 placing the student in an alternative education program under
4-26 Section 37.002, [or] 37.006, or 37.0101 or expelling the student
4-27 under Section 37.007.
5-1 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-6 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-7 passage, and it is so enacted.