By: Watson, Menéndez S.B. No. 364
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to policies on the recess period in public schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 28.004(l), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(l) The local school health advisory council shall consider
and make policy recommendations to the district concerning the
importance of daily recess for elementary school students. The
council must consider research regarding unstructured and
undirected play, academic and social development, and the health
benefits of daily recess and the model recess policies developed by
the Department of State Health Services School Health Advisory
Committee under Section 28.0047, in making the recommendations.
The council shall ensure that local community values are reflected
in any policy recommendation made to the district under this
subsection.
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 28, Education Code, is
amended by adding Sections 28.0047 and 28.0048 to read as follows:
Sec. 28.0047. MODEL RECESS POLICIES. The Department of
State Health Services School Health Advisory Committee established
under Section 1001.0711, Health and Safety Code, shall develop
model policies for the recess period during the school day. The
model policies must include guidelines for:
(1) the number of minutes of weekly unstructured
playtime; and
(2) whether a student's recess time may be withheld as
a form of student discipline.
Sec. 28.0048. RECESS POLICY. (a) The board of trustees of
each school district shall:
(1) after reviewing the model recess policies
developed under Section 28.0047 and the policy recommendations of
the local school health advisory council provided under Section
28.004(l), adopt a recess policy; and
(2) review and, if necessary, revise the recess policy
at least every five years.
(b) The recess policy must specify:
(1) the required number of minutes of weekly
unstructured playtime; and
(2) whether a student's recess time may be withheld as
a form of student discipline.
(c) Each school district campus subject to the district
recess policy adopted under Subsection (a) shall implement the
recess policy.
SECTION 3. (a) Not later than January 1, 2020, the
Department of State Health Services School Health Advisory
Committee shall develop model recess policies as required by
Section 28.0047, Education Code, as added by this Act.
(b) Not later than May 1, 2020, the board of trustees of each
school district shall adopt a recess policy as required by Section
28.0048, Education Code, as added by this Act.
(c) Not later than the beginning of the 2020-2021 school
year, each school district campus subject to a school district
recess policy adopted under Section 28.0048, Education Code, as
added by this Act, shall implement the adopted policy.
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, 2019.