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.