88R8524 TSS-F
By: Allen H.B. No. 1626
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a public school student's transition from an
alternative education program to a regular classroom and the
admission of certain students with a criminal or disciplinary
history.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 25.001, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (b-3) to read as follows:
(b-3) The board of trustees of a school district may not
refuse to admit a student based on the student's criminal,
juvenile, or disciplinary history including arrests, criminal
charges, criminal adjudications, convictions, placements on
community supervision, or detentions. A district shall promptly
enroll a student released from an alternative education program, as
defined by Section 37.023, who is otherwise eligible for enrollment
under Subsection (b).
SECTION 2. Section 37.023, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (c), (d), and (e) and adding Subsections (d-1)
and (g) to read as follows:
(c) Not later than five instructional days after the date of
a student's release from an alternative education program, the
campus administrator shall coordinate the student's enrollment and
transition to a regular classroom. The coordination must include
assistance and recommendations from:
(1) school counselors;
(2) school district peace officers;
(3) school resource officers;
(4) licensed clinical social workers;
(5) campus behavior coordinators;
(6) classroom teachers who are or may be responsible
for implementing the student's personalized transition plan
developed under Subsection (d);
(7) if the student is younger than 18 years of age and
subject to Subsection (e), the student's parent or a person
standing in parental relation to the student; and
(8) [(7)] any other appropriate school district
personnel.
(d) The assistance required by Subsection (c) must include a
personalized transition plan for the student developed by the
campus administrator. A personalized transition plan:
(1) must include recommendations for the best
educational placement of the student, based on a review of the
student's previous coursework, course credit earned, and
educational record and including:
(A) a calculation of the number of course credits
the student has earned toward graduation requirements, as
determined under Subsection (g);
(B) a description of appropriate courses in which
the student should be placed; and
(C) an explanation of the requirements of the
student's individualized education program, behavior intervention
plan, or plan created under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973
(29 U.S.C. Section 794), if applicable; and
(2) may include:
(A) recommendations for counseling, behavioral
management, or academic assistance for the student with a
concentration on the student's academic or career goals;
(B) recommendations for assistance for obtaining
access to mental health services provided by the district or
school, a local mental health authority, or another private or
public entity; and
(C) the provision of information to the student's
parent or a person standing in parental relation to the student
about the process to request a full individual and initial
evaluation of the student for purposes of special education
services under Section 29.004[; and
[(D) a regular review of the student's progress
toward the student's academic or career goals].
(d-1) After a student has transitioned to a regular
classroom under this section, the campus administrator shall
conduct reviews at the beginning of each school year and the end of
each grading period of the student's progress toward the student's
academic or career goals.
(e) If a student's parent or a person standing in parental
relation to the student is unavailable to assist under Subsection
(c) [practicable], the campus administrator shall provide an
electronic or written copy of the personalized transition plan
developed under Subsection (d) to [, or the administrator's
designee, shall meet with] the [student's] parent or [a] person
[standing in parental relation to the student to coordinate plans
for the student's transition].
(g) A campus administrator shall, to the greatest extent
possible, consider credits successfully completed while the
student was enrolled in an alternative education program or at a
previous school as fulfilling credits required for high school
graduation.
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, 2023.