SENATE

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

COMMITTEE:    Criminal Justice 

TIME & DATE:  9:30 AM, Tuesday, October 30, 2012 

PLACE:        E1.036 (Finance Room) 
CHAIR:        Senator John Whitmire 

The Senate Committee on Criminal Justice will meet with the Senate Committee on Education in order to hear invited and public testimony on interim charge 7:

Conduct a comprehensive review of school discipline practices. Specifically, review and make recommendations on:

The effectiveness of Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs (DAEP) and Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Programs (JJAEP) in reducing students' involvement in further disciplinary infractions and in promoting positive educational achievement;

Disproportionate school discipline referrals, including suspension, expulsion and Class C misdemeanor citations;

The issue of "Zero Tolerance" in secondary education school discipline, their use of alternative education campuses, and the barriers they create toward graduation. Also include the role that specialized school police departments play in these systems. Consider the impact on the juvenile justice system and the adult prison system;

The number of students in the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) referred to juvenile or municipal courts, suspended, expelled, and placed in Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs (DAEP). Examine data-sharing practices between DFPS, TEA, and local education agencies and make recommendations to increase communication between schools and DFPS to increase educational outcomes for children in foster care;

Evidence-based models used for addressing juvenile delinquency prevention that are targeted to non-adjudicated, but at-risk youth, in the school disciplinary system.

Anyone providing written testimony should bring 35 copies to the hearing.

Upon adjournment of this committee the Senate Criminal Justice Committee will reconvene in room E1.016