88R8524 TSS-F
 
  By: Allen H.B. No. 1626
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to a public school student's transition from an
  alternative education program to a regular classroom and the
  admission of certain students with a criminal or disciplinary
  history.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 25.001, Education Code, is amended by
  adding Subsection (b-3) to read as follows:
         (b-3)  The board of trustees of a school district may not
  refuse to admit a student based on the student's criminal,
  juvenile, or disciplinary history including arrests, criminal
  charges, criminal adjudications, convictions, placements on
  community supervision, or detentions. A district shall promptly
  enroll a student released from an alternative education program, as
  defined by Section 37.023, who is otherwise eligible for enrollment
  under Subsection (b). 
         SECTION 2.  Section 37.023, Education Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (c), (d), and (e) and adding Subsections (d-1)
  and (g) to read as follows:
         (c)  Not later than five instructional days after the date of
  a student's release from an alternative education program, the
  campus administrator shall coordinate the student's enrollment and 
  transition to a regular classroom. The coordination must include
  assistance and recommendations from:
               (1)  school counselors;
               (2)  school district peace officers;
               (3)  school resource officers;
               (4)  licensed clinical social workers;
               (5)  campus behavior coordinators;
               (6)  classroom teachers who are or may be responsible
  for implementing the student's personalized transition plan
  developed under Subsection (d);
               (7)  if the student is younger than 18 years of age and
  subject to Subsection (e), the student's parent or a person
  standing in parental relation to the student; and
               (8) [(7)]  any other appropriate school district
  personnel.
         (d)  The assistance required by Subsection (c) must include a
  personalized transition plan for the student developed by the
  campus administrator. A personalized transition plan:
               (1)  must include recommendations for the best
  educational placement of the student, based on a review of the
  student's previous coursework, course credit earned, and
  educational record and including:
                     (A)  a calculation of the number of course credits
  the student has earned toward graduation requirements, as
  determined under Subsection (g); 
                     (B)  a description of appropriate courses in which
  the student should be placed; and
                     (C)  an explanation of the requirements of the
  student's individualized education program, behavior intervention
  plan, or plan created under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973
  (29 U.S.C. Section 794), if applicable; and
               (2)  may include:
                     (A)  recommendations for counseling, behavioral
  management, or academic assistance for the student with a
  concentration on the student's academic or career goals;
                     (B)  recommendations for assistance for obtaining
  access to mental health services provided by the district or
  school, a local mental health authority, or another private or
  public entity; and
                     (C)  the provision of information to the student's
  parent or a person standing in parental relation to the student
  about the process to request a full individual and initial
  evaluation of the student for purposes of special education
  services under Section 29.004[; and
                     [(D) a regular review of the student's progress
  toward the student's academic or career goals].
         (d-1)  After a student has transitioned to a regular
  classroom under this section, the campus administrator shall
  conduct reviews at the beginning of each school year and the end of
  each grading period of the student's progress toward the student's
  academic or career goals. 
         (e)  If a student's parent or a person standing in parental
  relation to the student is unavailable to assist under Subsection
  (c) [practicable], the campus administrator shall provide an
  electronic or written copy of the personalized transition plan
  developed under Subsection (d) to [, or the administrator's
  designee, shall meet with] the [student's] parent or [a] person
  [standing in parental relation to the student to coordinate plans
  for the student's transition].
         (g)  A campus administrator shall, to the greatest extent
  possible, consider credits successfully completed while the
  student was enrolled in an alternative education program or at a
  previous school as fulfilling credits required for high school
  graduation.
         SECTION 3.  This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024
  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, 2023.