88R3168 MEW-F
By: VanDeaver H.B. No. 1066
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a psychological assessment of homicidal risk of a
public school student following the student's expulsion or
placement in a disciplinary alternative education program for
certain conduct.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 37.025 to read as follows:
Sec. 37.025. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF HOMICIDAL RISK
REQUIRED FOR CERTAIN STUDENTS TO RETURN TO REGULAR CLASSROOM OR
CAMPUS. (a) This section applies to a student who was expelled or
placed in a disciplinary alternative education program for:
(1) engaging in conduct that contains the elements of
the offense of unlawfully carrying weapons under Section 46.02,
Penal Code, or an offense relating to prohibited weapons under
Section 46.05, Penal Code; or
(2) engaging in conduct involving a public school that
contains the elements of the offense of false alarm or report under
Section 42.06, Penal Code, or terroristic threat under Section
22.07, Penal Code.
(b) Not later than the seventh day before the proposed date
of the transition of a student described by Subsection (a) to a
regular classroom or campus, the school district shall require the
student to undergo a psychological assessment of homicidal risk.
The assessment must be conducted by a psychologist, and the results
of the assessment must be provided to the district.
(c) Not later than the third day after the date on which a
school district receives the results of a student's psychological
assessment of homicidal risk under Subsection (b), the campus
behavior coordinator or other appropriate administrator at the
student's assigned campus shall schedule a conference among the
campus behavior coordinator or other appropriate administrator,
the student, the student's parent or person standing in parental
relation to the student, and the psychologist who conducted the
assessment. At the conference, the student is entitled to a written
copy of the results of the student's assessment and an opportunity
to respond to those results. The student may not be returned to a
regular classroom or campus pending the conference.
(d) Following a conference under Subsection (c), the campus
behavior coordinator or other appropriate administrator shall
determine whether, based on the results of the student's assessment
and information provided at the conference, the student's presence
in a regular classroom or at a regular campus would pose a risk
because the student's presence would:
(1) threaten the safety of other students or district
employees; or
(2) be detrimental to the educational process.
(e) If the campus behavior coordinator or other appropriate
administrator makes a determination that a student's presence in a
regular classroom or at a regular campus would pose a risk under
Subsection (d), the student may not be returned to a regular
classroom or campus.
(f) If school district policy allows a student to appeal to
the board of trustees or the board's designee a determination of the
campus behavior coordinator or other appropriate administrator
under Subsection (d), the decision of the board or the board's
designee is final and may not be appealed.
(g) Not later than the 45th day after the date a campus
behavior coordinator or other appropriate administrator makes a
determination described by Subsection (e) regarding a student, the
school district in which the student resides shall require the
student to undergo another psychological assessment of homicidal
risk in accordance with this section.
(h) A psychological assessment of homicidal risk conducted
under this section shall be provided to a student at no cost to the
student or the student's parent or person standing in parental
relation to the student.
(i) The commissioner shall adopt rules necessary to
implement this section.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024
school year.
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, 2023.