By: Allen, Garcia, Wu H.B. No. 4606

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the operation of a juvenile justice alternative education program by a county department of education.

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

SECTION 1. Section 37.0081(a-1), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a-1) The student must be placed in:

(1) a juvenile justice alternative education program, if the school district is located in a county that operates a juvenile justice alternative education program or the school district contracts with the juvenile board or county department of education of another county for the provision of a juvenile justice alternative education program; or

(2) a disciplinary alternative education program.

SECTION 2. Sections 37.010(c) and (d), Education Code, are amended to read as follows:

(c) Unless the juvenile board or the county department of education for the county in which the district's central administrative office is located has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the district's board of trustees concerning the juvenile probation department's or the county department of education's role in supervising and providing other support services for students in disciplinary alternative education programs, a court may not order a student expelled under Section 37.007 to attend a regular classroom, a regular campus, or a school district disciplinary alternative education program as a condition of probation.

(d) Unless the juvenile board or county department of education for the county in which the district's central administrative office is located has entered into a memorandum of understanding as described by Subsection (c), if a court orders a student to attend a disciplinary alternative education program as a condition of probation once during a school year and the student is referred to juvenile court again during that school year, the juvenile court may not order the student to attend a disciplinary alternative education program in a district without the district's consent until the student has successfully completed any sentencing requirements the court imposes.

SECTION 3. Section 37.011, Education Code, is amended by amending Subsections (a), (d), (e), (h), (j), (k), (l), (m), (n), (p), and (q) and adding Subsections (a-6) and (a-7) to read as follows:

(a) Subject to Subsection (a-6), the [The] juvenile board or the county department of education of a county with a population greater than 125,000 shall develop a juvenile justice alternative education program, subject to the approval of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. The juvenile board of a county with a population of 125,000 or less may develop a juvenile justice alternative education program. For the purposes of this subchapter, only a disciplinary alternative education program operated under the authority of a juvenile board or the county department of education of a county is considered a juvenile justice alternative education program. A juvenile justice alternative education program in a county with a population of 125,000 or less:

(1) is not required to be approved by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department [department]; and

(2) is not subject to Subsection (c), (d), (f), or (g).

(a-6) Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, if a county with a population greater than three million has a county department of education under Subsection (a-7), the department shall develop the juvenile justice alternative education program under Subsection (a) in lieu of the juvenile board.

(a-7) For the purposes of this section, a county has a county department of education if a school district or a county system within the county is operating under former law, in accordance with Section 11.301(a).

(d) A juvenile justice alternative education program must focus on English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and self-discipline. Each school district shall consider course credit earned by a student while in a juvenile justice alternative education program as credit earned in a district school. Each program shall administer assessment instruments under Subchapter B, Chapter 39, and shall offer a high school equivalency program. The juvenile board, the county department of education, or the [board's] designee of the board or department, as applicable, with the parent or guardian of each student, shall regularly review the student's academic progress. In the case of a high school student, the board, the department, or the [board's] designee of the board or department, as applicable, with the student's parent or guardian, shall review the student's progress towards meeting high school graduation requirements and shall establish a specific graduation plan for the student. The program is not required to provide a course necessary to fulfill a student's high school graduation requirements other than a course specified by this subsection.

(e) A juvenile justice alternative education program may be provided in a facility owned by a school district. A school district may provide personnel and services for a juvenile justice alternative education program under a contract with the juvenile board or the county department of education, as applicable.

(h) Academically, the mission of juvenile justice alternative education programs shall be to enable students to perform at grade level. For purposes of accountability under Chapters 39 and 39A, a student enrolled in a juvenile justice alternative education program is reported as if the student were enrolled at the student's assigned campus in the student's regularly assigned education program, including a special education program. Annually the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, with the agreement of the commissioner, shall develop and implement a system of accountability consistent with Chapters 39 and 39A, where appropriate, to assure that students make progress toward grade level while attending a juvenile justice alternative education program. The department shall adopt rules for the distribution of funds appropriated under this section to the entities responsible for operating juvenile justice alternative education programs [juvenile boards] in the counties required to establish those [juvenile justice alternative education] programs. Except as determined by the commissioner, a student served by a juvenile justice alternative education program on the basis of an expulsion required under Section 37.007(a), (d), or (e) is not eligible for Foundation School Program funding under Chapter 31 or 48 if the juvenile justice alternative education program receives funding from the department under this subchapter.

(j) In relation to the development and operation of a juvenile justice alternative education program, a juvenile board, a county department of education, [and] a county, and a commissioners court of a county are immune from liability to the same extent as a school district, and the juvenile board's, department's, or county's [professional] employees and volunteers are immune from liability to the same extent as a school district's [professional] employees and volunteers.

(k) Each school district in a county with a population greater than 125,000 and the county juvenile board or the county department of education, as applicable, shall annually enter into a joint memorandum of understanding that:

(1) outlines the responsibilities of the juvenile board or county department of education concerning the establishment and operation of a juvenile justice alternative education program under this section;

(2) defines the amount and conditions on payments from the school district to the juvenile board or county department of education for students of the school district served in the juvenile justice alternative education program whose placement was not made on the basis of an expulsion required under Section 37.007(a), (d), or (e);

(3) establishes that a student may be placed in the juvenile justice alternative education program if the student engages in serious misbehavior, as defined by Section 37.007(c);

(4) identifies and requires a timely placement and specifies a term of placement for expelled students for whom the school district has received a notice under Section 52.041(d), Family Code;

(5) establishes services for the transitioning of expelled students to the school district prior to the completion of the student's placement in the juvenile justice alternative education program;

(6) establishes a plan that provides transportation services for students placed in the juvenile justice alternative education program;

(7) establishes the circumstances and conditions under which a juvenile may be allowed to remain in the juvenile justice alternative education program setting once the juvenile is no longer under juvenile court jurisdiction; and

(8) establishes a plan to address special education services required by law.

(l) The school district shall be responsible for providing an immediate educational program to students who engage in behavior resulting in expulsion under Section 37.007(b) and (f) but who are not eligible for admission into the juvenile justice alternative education program in accordance with the memorandum of understanding required under this section. The school district may provide the program or the school district may contract with a county juvenile board, a county department of education, a private provider, or one or more other school districts to provide the program. The memorandum of understanding shall address the circumstances under which such students who continue to engage in serious misbehavior, as defined by Section 37.007(c), shall be admitted into the juvenile justice alternative education program.

(m) Each school district in a county with a population greater than 125,000 and the county juvenile board or the county department of education, as applicable, shall adopt a joint memorandum of understanding as required by this section not later than September 1 of each school year.

(n) If a student who is ordered to attend a juvenile justice alternative education program moves from one county to another, the juvenile court may request the juvenile justice alternative education program in the county to which the student moves to provide educational services to the student in accordance with the local memorandum of understanding between the school district and the juvenile board or county department of education in the receiving county.

(p) If a district elects to contract with the juvenile board or county department of education for placement in the juvenile justice alternative education program of students expelled under Section 37.007(b), (c), and (f) and the juvenile board or county department of education and the district are unable to reach an agreement in the memorandum of understanding, either party may request that the issues of dispute be referred to a binding arbitration process that uses a qualified alternative dispute resolution arbitrator in which each party will pay its pro rata share of the arbitration costs. Each party must submit its final proposal to the arbitrator. If the parties cannot agree on an arbitrator, the juvenile board or county department of education shall select an arbitrator, the school districts shall select an arbitrator, and those two arbitrators shall select an arbitrator who will decide the issues in dispute. An arbitration decision issued under this subsection is enforceable in a court in the county in which the juvenile justice alternative education program is located. Any decision by an arbitrator concerning the amount of the funding for a student who is expelled and attending a juvenile justice alternative education program must provide an amount sufficient based on operation of the juvenile justice alternative education program in accordance with this chapter. In determining the amount to be paid by a school district for an expelled student enrolled in a juvenile justice alternative education program, the arbitrator shall consider the relevant factors, including evidence of:

(1) the actual average total per student expenditure in the district's alternative education setting;

(2) the expected per student cost in the juvenile justice alternative education program as described and agreed on in the memorandum of understanding and in compliance with this chapter; and

(3) the costs necessary to achieve the accountability goals under this chapter.

(q) In accordance with rules adopted by the board of trustees for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, a certified educator employed by a juvenile board or the county department of education in a juvenile justice alternative education program shall be eligible for membership and participation in the system to the same extent that an employee of a public school district is eligible. The juvenile board or county department of education, as applicable, shall make any contribution that otherwise would be the responsibility of the school district if the person were employed by the school district, and the state shall make any contribution to the same extent as if the person were employed by a school district.

SECTION 4. Sections 37.012(a) and (d), Education Code, are amended to read as follows:

(a) Subject to Section 37.011(n), the school district in which a student is enrolled on the date the student is expelled for conduct for which expulsion is permitted but not required under Section 37.007 shall, if the student is served by the juvenile justice alternative education program, provide funding to the juvenile board or county department of education, as applicable, for the portion of the school year for which the juvenile justice alternative education program provides educational services in an amount determined by the memorandum of understanding under Section 37.011(k)(2).

(d) A school district is not required to provide funding to a juvenile board or a county department of education for a student who is assigned by a court to a juvenile justice alternative education program but who has not been expelled.

SECTION 5. Section 37.309(b), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) A school district shall place a student who is required by the board of trustees to attend an alternative education program under this subchapter in a juvenile justice alternative education program if:

(1) the memorandum of understanding entered into between the school district and the juvenile board or county department of education under Section 37.011(k) provides for the placement of students to whom this subchapter applies in the juvenile justice alternative education program; or

(2) a court orders the placement of the student in a juvenile justice alternative education program.

SECTION 6. Section 37.011(o), Education Code, is repealed.

SECTION 7. This Act applies beginning with the 2024-2025 school year.

SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.