AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

S.B. 49 seeks to ensure that parents are properly informed about their child's options for completing coursework while in a disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP), reducing the dropout rates of students in DAEP.

 

Current law requires the teacher who removed the student, the principal or other appropriate administrator, the student, and a parent to engage in a conference at the campus level (Section 37.009 (Conference; Hearing; Review), Education Code).  The law, however, does not require the documentation of these meetings, and at times, these are nothing more than phone conversations or brief chats, and parents often do not receive comprehensive information about the status of their child.  S.B. 49 would require the school principal or other appropriate administrator to prepare and maintain documentation regarding the conference.

 

Current law requires districts to offer a student in a DAEP the opportunity to complete coursework before the beginning of the next school year at no cost to the student.  However, many times students and parents are not fully informed of these options.  S.B. 49 would require a school district to provide the parent(s) of a child who has been assigned to a DAEP with information about the student's right to access programs that assist students in completing the coursework required for graduation.

 

S.B. 49 amends current law relating to school district requirements regarding parental notification in connection with disciplinary alternative education programs.

 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

 

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 37.008, Education Code, by adding Subsection (l-1), as follows:

 

(l-1) Requires that a school district provide the parents of a student removed to a disciplinary alternative education program with written notice of the district's obligation under Subsection (l) (relating to coursework to fulfill high school graduation requirements) to provide the student with an opportunity to complete coursework required for graduation.  Sets forth the required content of the notice.

 

SECTION 2.  Provides that this Act applies beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.

 

SECTION 3.  Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2011.