83R5302 JSL-D

By: Hinojosa S.B. No. 783

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to inclusion in school district improvement plans of policies to prevent dating violence.

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

SECTION 1. Section 11.252(a), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) Each school district shall have a district improvement plan that is developed, evaluated, and revised annually, in accordance with district policy, by the superintendent with the assistance of the district-level committee established under Section 11.251. The purpose of the district improvement plan is to guide district and campus staff in the improvement of student performance for all student groups in order to attain state standards in respect to the student achievement indicators adopted under Section 39.053. The district improvement plan must include provisions for:

(1) a comprehensive needs assessment addressing district student performance on the student achievement indicators, and other appropriate measures of performance, that are disaggregated by all student groups served by the district, including categories of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sex, and populations served by special programs, including students in special education programs under Subchapter A, Chapter 29;

(2) measurable district performance objectives for all appropriate student achievement indicators for all student populations, including students in special education programs under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, and other measures of student performance that may be identified through the comprehensive needs assessment;

(3) strategies for improvement of student performance that include:

(A) instructional methods for addressing the needs of student groups not achieving their full potential;

(B) methods for addressing the needs of students for special programs, including:

(i) suicide prevention programs, in accordance with Subchapter O-1, Chapter 161, Health and Safety Code, which includes a parental or guardian notification procedure;

(ii) conflict resolution programs;

(iii) violence prevention programs; and

(iv) dyslexia treatment programs;

(C) dropout reduction;

(D) integration of technology in instructional and administrative programs;

(E) discipline management;

(F) staff development for professional staff of the district;

(G) career education to assist students in developing the knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary for a broad range of career opportunities; and

(H) accelerated education;

(4) strategies for providing to middle school, junior high school, and high school students, those students' teachers and counselors, and those students' parents information about:

(A) higher education admissions and financial aid opportunities;

(B) the TEXAS grant program and the Teach for Texas grant program established under Chapter 56;

(C) the need for students to make informed curriculum choices to be prepared for success beyond high school; [and]

(D) sources of information on higher education admissions and financial aid; and

(E) the district's dating violence policy adopted under Section 37.0831;

(5) resources needed to implement identified strategies;

(6) staff responsible for ensuring the accomplishment of each strategy;

(7) timelines for ongoing monitoring of the implementation of each improvement strategy;

(8) formative evaluation criteria for determining periodically whether strategies are resulting in intended improvement of student performance; [and]

(9) the policy under Section 38.0041 addressing sexual abuse and other maltreatment of children; and

(10) carrying out the elements of the district's dating violence policy required under Section 37.0831 at each middle school, junior high school, and high school in the district.

SECTION 2. Section 37.0831(a), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) Each school district shall:

(1) adopt [and implement] a dating violence policy to be included in the district improvement plan under Section 11.252; and

(2) implement the policy at each middle school, junior high school, and high school in the district.

SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2013-2014 school year.

SECTION 4. 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, 2013.