BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2184

By: Allen

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Concerns have been raised that current law may be inadequate to ensure effective transition planning for students returning to a standard public school setting from certain disciplinary placements. It has been noted that those requirements focus mainly on record-sharing and exclude certain juvenile facilities. C.S.H.B. 2184 seeks to address these concerns by requiring the receiving campus to develop an individualized transition plan for such a student.

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. 2184 amends the Education Code to require the administrator of an alternative education program, as soon as practicable after the program determines the date of a student's release from the program, to provide written notice of that date to the student's parent or a person standing in parental relation to the student and to provide to the administrator of the campus to which the student intends to transition that notice, an assessment of the student's academic growth while attending the program, and the results of any tests administered to the student. The bill establishes that an alternative education program includes the following:

·       a disciplinary alternative education program operated by a public school district or open‑enrollment charter school;

·       a juvenile justice alternative education program; and

·       a residential program or facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, a juvenile board, or any other governmental entity.

C.S.H.B. 2184 requires the campus administrator, not later than five instructional days after a student's release date, to coordinate the student's transition to a regular classroom. The bill requires the coordination to include assistance and recommendations from specified persons and requires such assistance to include a personalized transition plan developed by the campus administrator. The bill requires the transition plan to include recommendations for the best educational placement of the student and sets out authorized additional components of the plan. The bill requires the campus administrator or the administrator's designee, if practicable, to meet with the student's parent or a person standing in parental relation to the student to coordinate plans for the student's transition. The bill's provisions apply only to a student subject to compulsory attendance requirements. The bill applies beginning with the 2019-2020 school year.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 2184 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

C.S.H.B. 2184 adds a specification that the classroom teachers whose assistance and recommendations are required to be included in the coordination of a student's transition to a regular classroom are teachers who are or may be responsible for implementing the student's personalized transition plan.