88R3367 JTZ-F
By: Cunningham H.B. No. 2952
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to procedures for the suspension, expulsion, or placement
in a disciplinary alternative education program or juvenile justice
alternative education program of a public school student enrolled
in a school district.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 37.009, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsections (a-1),
(a-2), (a-3), (a-4), and (a-5) to read as follows:
(a) Not later than the third class day after the day on which
a student is removed from class by the teacher under Section
37.002(b) or (d) or by the school principal or other appropriate
administrator under Section 37.001(a)(2) or 37.006, the campus
behavior coordinator or other appropriate administrator shall
schedule a conference among the campus behavior coordinator or
other appropriate administrator, a parent or guardian of the
student or another adult representing the student who is not an
employee of the school district, the teacher removing the student
from class, if any, and the student. If the school district makes a
good-faith effort to inform the student and the student's parent or
guardian of the time and place of the conference, the district may
hold the conference regardless of whether the student, the
student's parent or guardian, or another adult representing the
student attends. At the conference, the student is entitled to
written or oral notice of the reasons for the removal, an
explanation of the basis for the removal, all evidence to be
considered in making a determination under this subsection, subject
to Subsection (a-2), and an opportunity to respond to the reasons
for the removal. The student may not be returned to the regular
classroom pending the conference. Following the conference, and
whether or not each requested person is in attendance after valid
attempts to require the person's attendance, the campus behavior
coordinator, after consideration of the factors under Section
37.001(a)(4), shall order the placement of the student for a period
consistent with the student code of conduct. In determining the
student's placement, the campus behavior coordinator must make a
good-faith effort to corroborate and assess the validity of the
evidence considered and may not consider oral statements that are
not reduced to writing or recorded. Before ordering the
suspension, expulsion, removal to a disciplinary alternative
education program, or placement in a juvenile justice alternative
education program of a student, the behavior coordinator must
consider whether the student acted in self-defense, the intent or
lack of intent at the time the student engaged in the conduct, the
student's disciplinary history, and whether the student has a
disability that substantially impairs the student's capacity to
appreciate the wrongfulness of the student's conduct, regardless of
whether the decision of the behavior coordinator concerns a
mandatory or discretionary action. If school district policy
allows a student to appeal to the board of trustees or the board's
designee a decision of the campus behavior coordinator or other
appropriate administrator, other than an expulsion under Section
37.007 or except as provided by Subsection (b), the decision of the
board or the board's designee is final and may not be appealed. If
the period of the placement is inconsistent with the guidelines
included in the student code of conduct under Section 37.001(a)(5),
the order must give notice of the inconsistency. The period of the
placement may not exceed one year unless, after a review, the
district determines that the student is a threat to the safety of
other students or to district employees.
(a-1) For purposes of this section, "evidence" means any
tangible material, including written statements, audio or visual
recordings, or information obtained from social media.
(a-2) Evidence provided to a student, the student's parent
or guardian, or another adult representing the student under
Subsection (a) must be:
(1) for handwritten statements, provided in a typed
format; and
(2) redacted as necessary to ensure that information
provided by another student does not reveal the student's identity,
unless the district determines the identifying information is
necessary for the conference under that subsection.
(a-3) A school district shall maintain the original copy of
any evidence provided in a typed format or redacted under
Subsection (a-2) until the determination under Subsection (a) is
final, including any appeals to the commissioner or a district
court in Travis County under Section 7.057.
(a-4) The commissioner shall adopt rules as necessary to
implement and enforce Subsections (a), (a-2), and (a-3).
(a-5) A student may not be placed in a disciplinary
alternative education program for the student's first disciplinary
violation for a school year or for a period longer than three days
unless the student engaged in:
(1) conduct for which the student is required or
permitted to be placed in a disciplinary alternative education
program under Section 37.0051, 37.0052, 37.006, 37.007, 37.0081, or
37.019 or Subchapter I;
(2) conduct that constitutes an offense under
Subchapter E, other than Section 37.123, or Subchapter F;
(3) bullying, as defined by Section 37.0832;
(4) harassment, as defined by Section 37.001; or
(5) making a hit list, as defined by Section 37.001.
(b) If a student's placement in a disciplinary alternative
education program is to extend beyond seven [60] days or the end of
the next grading period, whichever is earlier, the board or the
board's designee must provide the student a hearing at which the
student is afforded due process in the same manner a student is
afforded due process in a hearing under Subsection (f) and to which
the [a] student's parent or guardian is invited, in writing, to
attend. At the proceeding, the student is entitled to be
represented by the student's parent or guardian or another adult
who can provide guidance to the student and who is not an employee
of the school district. If the school district makes a good-faith
effort to inform the student and the student's parent or guardian of
the time and place of the hearing, the district may hold the hearing
regardless of whether the student, the student's parent or
guardian, or another adult representing the student attends [notice
of and an opportunity to participate in a proceeding before the
board of trustees of the school district or the board's designee, as
provided by policy of the board of trustees of the district].
Before placing a student in a disciplinary alternative education
program, the board or the board's designee must consider the
circumstances surrounding the student's conduct and the student's
disciplinary history. If the [Any] decision to place the student in
a disciplinary alternative education program [of the board or the
board's designee] under this subsection is made by the board's
designee, the decision [final and] may [not] be appealed to the
board. The decision of the board may be appealed by trial de novo to
a district court of the county in which the district's central
administrative office is located.
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.