H.B. No. 2186
AN ACT
relating to suicide prevention training for educators in public
schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the Jason Flatt Act in
memory of Jonathan Childers.
SECTION 2. Section 21.451, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (d) and adding Subsections (d-1) and (d-2) to
read as follows:
(d) The staff development:
(1) may include training in:
(A) technology;
(B) conflict resolution;
(C) discipline strategies, including classroom
management, district discipline policies, and the student code of
conduct adopted under Section 37.001 and Chapter 37; and
(D) preventing, identifying, responding to, and
reporting incidents of bullying; [and]
(2) subject to Subsection (e) and to Section 21.3541
and rules adopted under that section, must include training based
on scientifically based research, as defined by Section 9101, No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Section 7801), that:
(A) relates to instruction of students with
disabilities; and
(B) is designed for educators who work primarily
outside the area of special education; and
(3) must include suicide prevention training that must
be provided:
(A) on an annual basis, as part of a new employee
orientation, to all new school district and open-enrollment charter
school educators; and
(B) to existing school district and
open-enrollment charter school educators on a schedule adopted by
the agency by rule.
(d-1) The suicide prevention training required by
Subsection (d)(3) must use a best practice-based program
recommended by the Department of State Health Services in
coordination with the agency under Section 161.325, Health and
Safety Code.
(d-2) The suicide prevention training required by
Subsection (d)(3) may be satisfied through independent review of
suicide prevention training material that:
(1) complies with the guidelines developed by the
agency; and
(2) is offered online.
SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2015-2016
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, 2015.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2186 was passed by the House on May 7,
2015, by the following vote: Yeas 139, Nays 3, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 2186 on May 29, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 141, Nays 5,
2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2186 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 27, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays
2.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor