By: Van de Putte S.B. No. 718
(In the Senate - Filed February 15, 2011; February 23, 2011,
read first time and referred to Committee on Education;
April 13, 2011, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; April 13, 2011,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 718 By: Van de Putte
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to disciplinary action taken against public school
students on the basis of serious misbehavior.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (c), Section 37.007, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(c) A student may be expelled if the student, while placed
in an alternative education program for disciplinary reasons,
continues to engage in serious [or persistent] misbehavior that
violates the district's student code of conduct.
SECTION 2. Subsection (c), Section 37.009, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(c) Before it may place a student in a disciplinary
alternative education program for a period that extends beyond the
end of the school year, the board or the board's designee must
determine that:
(1) the student's presence in the regular classroom
program or at the student's regular campus presents a danger of
physical harm to the student or to another individual; or
(2) the student has engaged in serious [or persistent]
misbehavior that violates the district's student code of conduct.
SECTION 3. Subsections (k) and (l), Section 37.011,
Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
(k) Each school district in a county with a population
greater than 125,000 and the county juvenile board shall annually
enter into a joint memorandum of understanding that:
(1) outlines the responsibilities of the juvenile
board 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 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) identifies those categories of conduct that the
school district has defined in its student code of conduct as
constituting serious [or persistent] misbehavior for which a
student may be placed in the juvenile justice alternative education
program;
(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), (c), 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 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 [or persistent]
misbehavior shall be admitted into the juvenile justice alternative
education program.
SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 2011-2012
school year.
SECTION 5. 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, 2011.
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