82R644 EAH-D

By: Walle H.B. No. 195

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to disciplinary action taken against 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 37.007(c), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(c) A student may be expelled if the student, while placed in an alternative education program for disciplinary reasons, continues to engage in serious and [or] persistent misbehavior that violates the district's student code of conduct.

SECTION 2. 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 that violates the district's student code of conduct.

SECTION 3. 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) identifies those categories of conduct that the school district has defined in its student code of conduct as constituting serious and [or] persistent misbehavior for which a student may be placed in the juvenile justice alternative education program;

(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 shall be admitted into the juvenile justice alternative education program.

SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2011.