BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 2623 |
By: Allen |
Public Education |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties note the difficulties facing a child who is returning to a school following a prolonged absence, particularly for a disciplinary placement outside of the school, and contend that there are a variety of individual, school, and systemic factors that must be addressed if such a child is to successfully return to school. C.S.H.B. 2623 seeks to address these issues by providing for a personalized transition service plan for certain returning students.
|
||||||||
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
|
||||||||
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
|
||||||||
ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 2623 amends the Education Code to require each public school district and each of the following facilities to assist a student enrolled in the district in making the transition back to school after being in the facility for a period equivalent to 30 instructional days or more during the school year: a disciplinary alternative education program; a juvenile justice alternative education program; a residential program or facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, a juvenile board, or any other governmental entity; any residential treatment center; or a public or private hospital. The bill requires such assistance to include development and implementation of a personalized transition service plan for each such student who has been absent from school and in one of those facilities. The bill requires the principal of the school the student attends following the absence to designate one or more appropriate school employees, including at least one teacher, and requires an appropriate supervisor employed by the facility in which the student was placed to designate one or more appropriate facility employees to coordinate in developing the plan. The bill requires the plan, to the greatest extent practicable, to be developed in consultation with the student and the student's parent or person standing in parental relation to the student. The bill requires the plan, to the extent appropriate for a particular student, to include consideration of the best educational placement for the student; provision of counseling, behavioral management assistance, as available, or academic assistance by the school based on the student's academic, school reentry, and career and employment goals; and assistance concerning access to community mental health or substance abuse services, as available.
C.S.H.B. 2623 requires such a facility, as soon as practicable after the facility has determined the date of a student's release from the facility, to give to the school district in which the student intends to attend school following release written notice of that date and that the facility is prepared to begin coordinating with the district to develop the student's personalized transition service plan, if the student is subject to compulsory school attendance requirements. The bill requires the Texas Education Agency to give annual written notice of this duty to each facility. The bill applies to absences from public school beginning with the 2017-2018 school year.
|
||||||||
EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2017.
|
||||||||
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 2623 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|