85R12521 CAE-D

By: Hall S.B. No. 1309

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to state requirements for teacher training and student instruction regarding certain subjects in public schools.

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

SECTION 1. Section 21.451, Education Code, is amended by adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:

(h) Notwithstanding any other law, a school district may not be required to provide staff training regarding:

(1) Internet safety;

(2) teen dating violence;

(3) bullying;

(4) student parenthood;

(5) child abuse; or

(6) school bus transportation safety.

SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 28, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 28.0026 to read as follows:

Sec. 28.0026. INSTRUCTION NOT REQUIRED. Notwithstanding any other law, a school district may not be required to provide student instruction regarding:

(1) Internet safety;

(2) teen dating violence;

(3) bullying;

(4) student parenthood;

(5) child abuse; or

(6) school bus transportation safety.

SECTION 3. Section 34.008(c), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(c) A mass transit authority contracting under this section for daily transportation of pre-primary, primary, or secondary students to or from school shall conduct, in a manner and on a schedule approved by the county or district school board, the following education programs:

(1) a program to inform the public that public school students will be riding on the authority's or company's buses; and

(2) a program to educate the drivers of the buses to be used under the contract of the special needs and problems of public school students riding on the buses[; and

[(3) a program to educate public school students on bus riding safety and any special considerations arising from the use of the authority's or company's buses].

SECTION 4. Section 37.001(a), Education Code, as amended by Chapters 487 (S.B. 1541) and 1409 (S.B. 1114), Acts of the 83rd Legislature, Regular Session, 2013, is reenacted and amended to read as follows:

(a) The board of trustees of an independent school district shall, with the advice of its district-level committee established under Subchapter F, Chapter 11, adopt a student code of conduct for the district. The student code of conduct must be posted and prominently displayed at each school campus or made available for review at the office of the campus principal. In addition to establishing standards for student conduct, the student code of conduct must:

(1) specify the circumstances, in accordance with this subchapter, under which a student may be removed from a classroom, campus, disciplinary alternative education program, or vehicle owned or operated by the district;

(2) specify conditions that authorize or require a principal or other appropriate administrator to transfer a student to a disciplinary alternative education program;

(3) outline conditions under which a student may be suspended as provided by Section 37.005 or expelled as provided by Section 37.007;

(4) specify that consideration will be given, as a factor in each decision concerning suspension, removal to a disciplinary alternative education program, expulsion, or placement in a juvenile justice alternative education program, regardless of whether the decision concerns a mandatory or discretionary action, to:

(A) self-defense;

(B) intent or lack of intent at the time the student engaged in the conduct;

(C) a student's disciplinary history; or

(D) a disability that substantially impairs the student's capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the student's conduct;

(5) provide guidelines for setting the length of a term of:

(A) a removal under Section 37.006; and

(B) an expulsion under Section 37.007;

(6) address the notification of a student's parent or guardian of a violation of the student code of conduct committed by the student that results in suspension, removal to a disciplinary alternative education program, or expulsion;

(7) prohibit bullying, harassment, and making hit lists and ensure that district employees enforce those prohibitions; and

(8) provide, as appropriate for students at each grade level, methods, including options, for:

(A) managing students in the classroom, on school grounds, and on a vehicle owned or operated by the district;

(B) disciplining students; and

(C) preventing and intervening in student discipline problems[, including bullying, harassment, and making hit lists].

SECTION 5. Section 37.0831(b), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) A dating violence policy must:

(1) include a definition of dating violence that includes the intentional use of physical, sexual, verbal, or emotional abuse by a person to harm, threaten, intimidate, or control another person in a dating relationship, as defined by Section 71.0021, Family Code; and

(2) address safety planning, enforcement of protective orders, school-based alternatives to protective orders, and [training for teachers and administrators,] counseling for affected students[, and awareness education for students and parents].

SECTION 6. The following provisions of the Education Code are repealed:

(1) Sections 28.002(p), (p-2), (p-3), (p-4), and (s); and

(2) Section 38.004(b).

SECTION 7. This Act applies beginning with the 2017-2018 school year.

SECTION 8. 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, 2017.