By: Anderson H.B. No. 3312
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3312:
By: Delisi C.S.H.B. No. 3312
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the establishment of a site-based school discipline
policy committee under Subchapter F, Chapter 11, Education Code.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 11.253, Subchapter F, Chapter 11,
Education Code, is amended to read as follows:
11.253. CAMPUS PLANNING AND SITE-BASED DECISION-MAKING.
(a) Each school district shall maintain current policies and
procedures to ensure that effective planning and site-based
decision-making occur at each campus to direct and support the
improvement of student performance for all students.
(b) Each district's policy and procedures shall establish
campus-level planning and decision-making committees as provided
for through the procedures provided by Sections 11.251(b)-(e).
(c) Each school year, the principal of each school campus,
with the assistance of the campus-level committee, shall develop,
review, and revise the campus improvement plan for the purpose of
improving student performance for all student populations,
including students in special education programs under Subchapter
A, Chapter 29, with respect to the academic excellence indicators
adopted under Section 39.051 and any other appropriate performance
measures for special needs populations.
(d) Each campus improvement plan must:
(1) assess the academic achievement for each student
in the school using the academic excellence indicator system as
described by Section 39.051;
(2) set the campus performance objectives based on the
academic excellence indicator system, including objectives for
special needs populations, including students in special education
programs under Subchapter A, Chapter 29;
(3) identify how the campus goals will be met for each
student;
(4) determine the resources needed to implement the
plan;
(5) identify staff needed to implement the plan;
(6) set timelines for reaching the goals;
(7) measure progress toward the performance
objectives periodically to ensure that the plan is resulting in
academic improvement;
(8) include goals and methods for violence prevention
and intervention on campus as approved by the site-based school
discipline policy committee under Section 11.2531 of this chapter;
and
(9) provide for a program to encourage parental
involvement at the campus.
(e) If a site-based school discipline policy committee is
not established, the portion of a campus improvement plan under
Subsection (d)(8) of this section shall be the responsibility of
the campus-level committee.
(f) (e) In accordance with the administrative procedures
established under Section 11.251(b), the campus-level committee
shall be involved in decisions in the areas of planning, budgeting,
curriculum, staffing patterns, staff development, and school
organization. The campus-level committee must approve the portions
of the campus plan addressing campus staff development needs.
(g) (f) This section does not create a new cause of action
or require collective bargaining.
(h) (g) Each campus-level committee shall hold at least one
public meeting per year. The required meeting shall be held after
receipt of the annual campus rating from the agency to discuss the
performance of the campus and the campus performance objectives.
District policy and campus procedures must be established to ensure
that systematic communications measures are in place to
periodically obtain broad-based community, parent, and staff
input, and to provide information to those persons regarding the
recommendations of the campus-level committees.
(i) (h) A principal shall regularly consult the
campus-level committee and the site-based school discipline policy
committee in the planning, operation, supervision, and evaluation
of the campus educational program.
SECTION 2. Subchapter F, Chapter 11, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 11.2531 to read as follows:
Section 11.2531. SITE-BASED SCHOOL DISCIPLINE POLICY
COMMITTEE. (a) Each school district shall allow for the provision
and establishment of a site-based school discipline policy
committee established under this chapter.
(b) Membership in a site-based school discipline policy
committee is restricted to full-time classroom teachers.
(c) A site-based school discipline policy committee may be
established by a petition of the classroom teachers of a campus. If
a petition requesting the establishment of a site-based school
discipline policy committee, containing the names of at least 30
percent of the classroom teachers of a campus, is delivered to the
principal by the end of the tenth instructional day of an academic
year, the establishment of the committee shall be approved.
(d) Not later than the twentieth instructional day of an
academic year, the committee shall meet and choose an executive
board from its membership by secret ballot. The board shall
establish policies regarding frequency of committee and board
meetings.
(e) A site-based school discipline policy committee shall
establish policies regarding:
(1) discipline management and student code of conduct
in accordance with Subtitle G, Chapter 37, Education Code;
(2) goals and methods for violence prevention and
intervention on campus;
(3) teacher and school personnel safety; and
(4) methods for teachers to address the committee or
the board regarding individual or systematic concerns in matters of
school discipline or school personnel safety.
SECTION 3. Sections 37.001 and 37.002, Subtitle G, Chapter
37, Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
37.001. STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT. (a) The board of trustees
of an independent school district shall, with the advice of its
district-level committee and site-based school discipline policy
committee established under Subchapter F, Chapter 11, adopt a
student code of conduct for the district. The student code of
conduct must be posted and prominently displayed at each school
campus or made available for review at the office of the campus
principal. In addition to establishing standards for student
conduct, the student code of conduct must:
(1) specify the circumstances, in accordance with this
subchapter, under which a student may be removed from a classroom,
campus, or disciplinary alternative education program;
(2) specify conditions that authorize or require a
principal or other appropriate administrator to transfer a student
to a disciplinary alternative education program;
(3) outline conditions under which a student may be
suspended as provided by Section 37.005 or expelled as provided by
Section 37.007;
(4) specify whether consideration is given to
self-defense as a factor in a decision to order suspension, removal
to a disciplinary alternative education program, or expulsion;
(5) provide guidelines for setting the length of a
term of:
(A) a removal under Section 37.006; and
(B) an expulsion under 37.007; and
(6) address the notification of a student's parent or
guardian of a violation of the student code of conduct committed by
the student that results in suspension, removal to a disciplinary
alternative education program, or expulsion.
(b) (c) Once the student code of conduct is promulgated, any
change or amendment must be approved by the board of trustees.
(c) (d) Each school year, a school district shall provide
parents notice of and information regarding the student code of
conduct.
37.002. REMOVAL BY TEACHER. (a) A teacher may send a
student to the principal's office to maintain effective discipline
in the classroom. The principal shall respond by employing
appropriate discipline management techniques consistent with the
student code of conduct adopted under Section 37.001.
(b) A teacher may remove from class a student:
(1) who has been documented by the teacher to
repeatedly interfere with the teacher's ability to communicate
effectively with the students in the class or with the ability of
the student's classmates to learn; or
(2) whose behavior the teacher determines is so
unruly, disruptive, or abusive that it seriously interferes with
the teacher's ability to communicate effectively with the students
in the class or with the ability of the student's classmates to
learn.
(c) If a teacher removes a student from class under
Subsection (b), the principal may place the student into another
appropriate classroom, into in-school suspension, or into a
disciplinary alternative education program as provided by Section
37.008. The principal may not return the student to that teacher's
class without the teacher's consent unless the committee
established under Section 11.2351, or Section 37.003, if a
committee under Section 11.2351 is not established, determines that
such placement is the best or only alternative available. The terms
of the removal may prohibit the student from attending or
participating in school-sponsored or school-related activity.
(d) A teacher shall remove from class and send to the
principal for placement in a disciplinary alternative education
program or for expulsion, as appropriate, a student who engages in
conduct described under Section 37.006 or 37.007. The student may
not be returned to that teacher's class without the teacher's
consent unless the committee established under Section 11.2351, or
Section 37.003, if a committee under Section 11.2351 is not
established, determines that such placement is the best or only
alternative available.
SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 2005-2006
school year.