87R77 JES-D
By: Thierry H.B. No. 204
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requiring school districts and open-enrollment charter
schools to provide a landline telephone or panic button in every
classroom.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 37.108(a) and (f), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) Each school district or public junior college district
shall adopt and implement a multihazard emergency operations plan
for use in the district's facilities. The plan must address
prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery as
defined by the Texas School Safety Center in conjunction with the
governor's office of homeland security and the commissioner of
education or commissioner of higher education, as applicable. The
plan must provide for:
(1) training in responding to an emergency for
district employees, including substitute teachers;
(2) measures to ensure district employees, including
substitute teachers, have classroom access to:
(A) a landline telephone or panic button, if the
plan applies to a school district, allowing for immediate contact
with district emergency services or emergency services agencies,
law enforcement agencies, health departments, and fire
departments; or
(B) a telephone, including a cellular telephone,
or another electronic communication device, if the plan applies to
a junior college district, allowing for immediate contact with
district emergency services or emergency services agencies, law
enforcement agencies, health departments, and fire departments;
(3) measures to ensure district communications
technology and infrastructure are adequate to allow for
communication during an emergency;
(4) if the plan applies to a school district,
mandatory school drills and exercises, including drills required
under Section 37.114, to prepare district students and employees
for responding to an emergency;
(5) measures to ensure coordination with the
Department of State Health Services and local emergency management
agencies, law enforcement, health departments, and fire
departments in the event of an emergency; and
(6) the implementation of a safety and security audit
as required by Subsection (b).
(f) A school district shall include in its multihazard
emergency operations plan:
(1) a chain of command that designates the individual
responsible for making final decisions during a disaster or
emergency situation and identifies other individuals responsible
for making those decisions if the designated person is unavailable;
(2) provisions that address physical and
psychological safety for responding to a natural disaster, active
shooter, and any other dangerous scenario identified for purposes
of this section by the agency or the Texas School Safety Center;
(3) provisions for ensuring the safety of students in
portable buildings;
(4) provisions for ensuring that students and district
personnel with disabilities are provided equal access to safety
during a disaster or emergency situation;
(5) provisions for providing immediate notification
to parents, guardians, and other persons standing in parental
relation in circumstances involving a significant threat to the
health or safety of students, including identification of the
individual with responsibility for overseeing the notification;
(6) provisions for supporting the psychological
safety of students, district personnel, and the community during
the response and recovery phase following a disaster or emergency
situation that:
(A) are aligned with best practice-based
programs and research-based practices recommended under Section
38.351 [161.325, Health and Safety Code];
(B) include strategies for ensuring any required
professional development training for suicide prevention and
grief-informed and trauma-informed care is provided to appropriate
school personnel;
(C) include training on integrating
psychological safety and suicide prevention strategies into the
district's plan, such as psychological first aid for schools
training, from an approved list of recommended training established
by the commissioner and Texas School Safety Center for:
(i) members of the district's school safety
and security committee under Section 37.109;
(ii) district school counselors and mental
health professionals; and
(iii) educators and other district
personnel as determined by the district;
(D) include strategies and procedures for
integrating and supporting physical and psychological safety that
align with the provisions described by Subdivision (2); and
(E) implement trauma-informed policies;
(7) a policy for providing a substitute teacher access
to school campus buildings and materials necessary for the
substitute teacher to carry out the duties of a district employee
during an emergency or a mandatory emergency drill; [and]
(8) the name of each individual on the district's
school safety and security committee established under Section
37.109 and the date of each committee meeting during the preceding
year; and
(9) certification that the district is in compliance
with Section 37.116, which requires each classroom in the district
to be equipped with a landline telephone or panic button.
SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 37.116 to read as follows:
Sec. 37.116. REQUIRED CLASSROOM LANDLINE TELEPHONE OR PANIC
BUTTON. Each school district and open-enrollment charter school
shall provide each classroom in the district or school with a
landline telephone or panic button that allows for immediate
contact with district emergency services or emergency services
agencies, law enforcement agencies, health departments, and fire
departments.
SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024
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, 2021.