81R25500 EAH-F

By: Hochberg H.B. No. 2657

Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2657:

By: Hochberg C.S.H.B. No. 2657

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to disciplinary action taken against certain public school students on the basis of serious and persistent misbehavior.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 37.001(a), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) The board of trustees of an independent school district shall, with the advice of its district-level 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, including circumstances in which a student engages in serious and persistent misbehavior under Section 37.007(c);

(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, as a factor in a decision to order suspension, removal to a disciplinary alternative education program, or expulsion, to:

(A) self-defense;

(B) intent or lack of intent at the time the student engaged in the conduct;

(C) a student's disciplinary history; or

(D) a disability that substantially impairs the student's capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the student's conduct;

(5) provide guidelines for setting the length of a term of:

(A) a removal under Section 37.006; and

(B) an expulsion under Section 37.007;

(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;

(7) prohibit bullying, harassment, and making hit lists and ensure that district employees enforce those prohibitions; and

(8) provide, as appropriate for students at each grade level, methods, including options, for:

(A) managing students in the classroom and on school grounds;

(B) disciplining students; and

(C) preventing and intervening in student discipline problems, including bullying, harassment, and making hit lists.

SECTION 2. Section 37.007(c), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(c) A student may be expelled if the student, while placed in a disciplinary [an] alternative education program, engages [for disciplinary reasons, continues to engage] in documented serious and [or] persistent misbehavior while on the program campus despite documented behavioral interventions [that violates the district's student code of conduct]. For purposes of this subsection, "serious and persistent misbehavior" means three or more occurrences within an academic year of any of the following:

(1) aggressive action, meaning deliberate violent behavior that poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others;

(2) extortion, meaning the gaining of money or other property by force or threat;

(3) conduct that constitutes coercion, as defined by Section 1.07, Penal Code; or

(4) conduct that constitutes the offense of:

(A) public lewdness under Section 21.07, Penal Code;

(B) indecent exposure under Section 21.08, Penal Code;

(C) criminal mischief under Section 28.03, Penal Code;

(D) personal hazing under Section 37.152; or

(E) harassment under Section 42.07(a)(1), Penal Code, of a student or district employee.

SECTION 3. Section 37.009(c), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(c) Before it may place a student in a disciplinary alternative education program for a period that extends beyond the end of the school year, the board or the board's designee must determine that:

(1) the student's presence in the regular classroom program or at the student's regular campus presents a danger of physical harm to the student or to another individual; or

(2) the student has engaged in serious and [or] persistent misbehavior, as defined by Section 37.007(c) [that violates the district's student code of conduct].

SECTION 4. Sections 37.011(k) and (l), Education Code, are amended to read as follows:

(k) Each school district in a county with a population greater than 125,000 and the county juvenile board shall annually enter into a joint memorandum of understanding that:

(1) outlines the responsibilities of the juvenile board concerning the establishment and operation of a juvenile justice alternative education program under this section;

(2) defines the amount and conditions on payments from the school district to the juvenile board for students of the school district served in the juvenile justice alternative education program whose placement was not made on the basis of an expulsion required under Section 37.007(a), (d), or (e);

(3) establishes [identifies those categories of conduct] that [the school district has defined in its student code of conduct as constituting serious or persistent misbehavior for which] a student may be placed in the juvenile justice alternative education program if the student engages in serious and persistent misbehavior, as defined by Section 37.007(c);

(4) identifies and requires a timely placement and specifies a term of placement for expelled students for whom the school district has received a notice under Section 52.041(d), Family Code;

(5) establishes services for the transitioning of expelled students to the school district prior to the completion of the student's placement in the juvenile justice alternative education program;

(6) establishes a plan that provides transportation services for students placed in the juvenile justice alternative education program;

(7) establishes the circumstances and conditions under which a juvenile may be allowed to remain in the juvenile justice alternative education program setting once the juvenile is no longer under juvenile court jurisdiction; and

(8) establishes a plan to address special education services required by law.

(l) The school district shall be responsible for providing an immediate educational program to students who engage in behavior resulting in expulsion under Section 37.007(b)[, (c),] and (f) but who are not eligible for admission into the juvenile justice alternative education program in accordance with the memorandum of understanding required under this section. The school district may provide the program or the school district may contract with a county juvenile board, a private provider, or one or more other school districts to provide the program. The memorandum of understanding shall address the circumstances under which such students who continue to engage in serious and [or] persistent misbehavior, as defined by Section 37.007(c), shall be admitted into the juvenile justice alternative education program.

SECTION 5. This Act applies beginning with the 2010-2011 school year.

SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.