86R10185 GCB-D
By: Davis of Dallas H.B. No. 2964
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a prohibition placed on an open-enrollment charter
school against the employment of a person determined under certain
circumstances to have engaged in misconduct that presents a risk to
the health, safety, or welfare of a student or minor.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 12, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 12.10591 to read as follows:
Sec. 12.10591. PROHIBITION ON EMPLOYMENT OF CERTAIN
PERSONS. (a) A person may not be employed by an open-enrollment
charter school if, based on the person's misconduct that presents a
risk to the health, safety, or welfare of a student or minor, as
provided under Subsection (c), the State Board for Educator
Certification has:
(1) revoked, canceled, suspended, or placed
restrictions on the person's educator certification; or
(2) refused to issue an educator certificate to the
person.
(b) A person may not be employed by an open-enrollment
charter school if, based on the person's misconduct that presents a
risk to the health, safety, or welfare of a student or minor, as
provided under Subsection (c), the board of trustees of a school
district has:
(1) revoked the person's school district teaching
permit; or
(2) refused to issue a school district teaching permit
to the person.
(c) For purposes of this section, each of the following is
misconduct that presents a risk to the health, safety, or welfare of
a student or minor:
(1) engaging in abuse or neglect, as defined by
Section 261.001, Family Code;
(2) engaging in assault, as prohibited under Section
22.01, Penal Code, if:
(A) the offense was committed on school property
or at a school-sponsored or school-related activity on or off of
school property; and
(B) the victim of the offense was a public or
private school employee;
(3) engaging in a sexual offense, as prohibited under
Chapter 21, Penal Code;
(4) engaging in the offense of:
(A) sexual assault, as prohibited under Section
22.011, Penal Code;
(B) aggravated sexual assault, as prohibited
under Section 22.021, Penal Code;
(C) abandoning or endangering a child, as
prohibited under Section 22.041, Penal Code; or
(D) deadly conduct, as prohibited under Section
22.05, Penal Code;
(5) engaging in an offense under Section 22.04, Penal
Code, relating to an injury to a child;
(6) engaging in the offense of online solicitation of
a minor, as prohibited under Section 33.021, Penal Code;
(7) engaging in an offense under Section 37.10, Penal
Code, or under Section 39.0303 of this code, relating to an
assessment instrument;
(8) engaging in the offense of the sale, distribution,
or display of harmful material to a minor, as prohibited under
Section 43.24, Penal Code;
(9) engaging in a romantic relationship with a student
or minor or soliciting sexual contact or a romantic relationship
with a student or minor;
(10) on school property or while attending a
school-sponsored or school-related activity on or off of school
property, using, exhibiting, or possessing:
(A) a firearm as defined by Section 46.01(3),
Penal Code, unless the person is:
(i) not prohibited from that conduct as
provided by Section 46.15, Penal Code; or
(ii) a school marshal who is carrying or
possessing a handgun under written school regulations;
(B) a location-restricted knife as defined by
Section 46.01(6), Penal Code;
(C) a club as defined by Section 46.01(1), Penal
Code; or
(D) a weapon listed as a prohibited weapon under
Section 46.05, Penal Code;
(11) while on or within 300 feet of school property, as
measured from any point on the school's real property boundary
line, or while attending a school-sponsored or school-related
activity on or off of school property:
(A) selling, giving, or delivering to another
person or possessing, using, or being under the influence of any
amount of:
(i) marihuana or a controlled substance, as
defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, or by 21 U.S.C.
Section 801 et seq.; or
(ii) a dangerous drug, as defined by
Chapter 483, Health and Safety Code; or
(B) engaging in an offense relating to an
abusable volatile chemical under Sections 485.031 through 485.033,
Health and Safety Code;
(12) selling, giving, or delivering to a minor,
regardless of location:
(A) a substance described by Subdivision
(11)(A)(i) or (ii) or (11)(B); or
(B) an alcoholic beverage, as defined by Section
1.04, Alcoholic Beverage Code;
(13) using fraud or deceit in obtaining or attempting
to obtain an educator certificate or school district teaching
permit;
(14) engaging in any other criminal offense punishable
as a felony; or
(15) engaging in any other misconduct determined by
the State Board for Educator Certification or a school district, as
applicable, to present a risk to the health, safety, or welfare of a
student or minor.
SECTION 2. This Act applies to an employment contract
entered into by an open-enrollment charter school on or after the
effective date of this Act. An employment contract entered into by
an open-enrollment charter school before the effective date of this
Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the contract was
entered into, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. 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, 2019.