81R2953 JRJ-D
By: Anderson H.B. No. 368
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to site-based public school discipline policy committees.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 11.253(d) and (h), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(d) Each campus improvement plan must:
(1) assess the academic achievement for each student
in the school using the academic excellence indicator system as
described by Section 39.051;
(2) set the campus performance objectives based on the
academic excellence indicator system, including objectives for
special needs populations, including students in special education
programs under Subchapter A, Chapter 29;
(3) identify how the campus goals will be met for each
student;
(4) determine the resources needed to implement the
plan;
(5) identify staff needed to implement the plan;
(6) set timelines for reaching the goals;
(7) measure progress toward the performance
objectives periodically to ensure that the plan is resulting in
academic improvement;
(8) include goals and methods for violence prevention
and intervention on campus as approved by a site-based school
discipline policy committee established under Section 11.2531, if
such a committee is established; and
(9) provide for a program to encourage parental
involvement at the campus.
(h) A principal shall regularly consult the campus-level
committee and a site-based school discipline policy committee
established under Section 11.2531, if such a committee is
established, in the planning, operation, supervision, and
evaluation of the campus educational program.
SECTION 2. Subchapter F, Chapter 11, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 11.2531 to read as follows:
Sec. 11.2531. SITE-BASED SCHOOL DISCIPLINE POLICY
COMMITTEE. (a) Each school district shall permit the
establishment of a site-based school discipline policy committee at
a district campus.
(b) A group of classroom teachers at a campus may establish
a site-based school discipline policy committee by a petition
containing the signatures of at least 50 percent of the classroom
teachers at the campus. If such a petition is submitted to the
principal not later than the 10th instructional day of a school
year, the principal shall approve the establishment of the
committee.
(c) A member of a site-based school discipline policy
committee must be a full-time classroom teacher.
(d) Not later than the 20th instructional day of a school
year, the committee shall meet and elect by secret ballot an
executive board from its membership. The board shall establish
policies concerning the time and manner of committee and board
meetings.
(e) A site-based school discipline policy committee shall
establish policies regarding:
(1) discipline management and the student code of
conduct in accordance with Chapter 37;
(2) goals and methods for violence prevention and
intervention on campus;
(3) the safety of teachers and other school personnel;
and
(4) methods for teachers to address the committee or
the board regarding individual or systematic concerns in matters of
school discipline or school personnel safety.
SECTION 3. Section 37.001(a), Education Code, is 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, and of the site-based school
discipline policy committees for campuses in the district, if such
committees are established, 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, or disciplinary alternative education program;
(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 whether consideration is given, as a
factor in a decision to order suspension, removal to a disciplinary
alternative education program, or expulsion, 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 and on
school grounds;
(B) disciplining students; and
(C) preventing and intervening in student
discipline problems, including bullying, harassment, and making
hit lists.
SECTION 4. Sections 37.002(c) and (d), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(c) If a teacher removes a student from class under
Subsection (b), the principal may place the student into another
appropriate classroom, into in-school suspension, or into a
disciplinary alternative education program as provided by Section
37.008. The principal may not return the student to that teacher's
class without the teacher's consent unless the site-based school
discipline policy committee established under Section 11.2531 or,
if such a committee is not established, the committee established
under Section 37.003 determines that such placement is the best or
only alternative available. The terms of the removal may prohibit
the student from attending or participating in school-sponsored or
school-related activity.
(d) A teacher shall remove from class and send to the
principal for placement in a disciplinary alternative education
program or for expulsion, as appropriate, a student who engages in
conduct described under Section 37.006 or 37.007. The student may
not be returned to that teacher's class without the teacher's
consent unless the site-based school discipline policy committee
established under Section 11.2531 or, if such a committee is not
established, the committee established under Section 37.003
determines that such placement is the best or only alternative
available. If the teacher removed the student from class because
the student has engaged in the elements of any offense listed in
Section 37.006(a)(2)(B) or Section 37.007(a)(2)(A) or (b)(2)(C)
against the teacher, the student may not be returned to the
teacher's class without the teacher's consent. The teacher may not
be coerced to consent.
SECTION 5. This Act applies beginning with the 2009-2010
school year.
SECTION 6. 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, 2009.