88R6409 ANG-D
By: Nichols S.B. No. 11
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to measures for ensuring safety and security in public
schools, including measures related to certain student records and
truant conduct.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 7.028(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Section 21.006(k), 22.093(l),
22.096, 28.006, 29.001(5), 29.010(a), 33.006(h), 37.1083, 38.003,
or 39.003, the agency may monitor compliance with requirements
applicable to a process or program provided by a school district,
campus, program, or school granted charters under Chapter 12,
including the process described by Subchapter F, Chapter 11, or a
program described by Subchapter B, C, D, E, F, H, or I, Chapter 29,
or Subchapter A, Chapter 37, only as necessary to ensure:
(1) compliance with federal law and regulations;
(2) financial accountability, including compliance
with grant requirements;
(3) data integrity for purposes of:
(A) the Public Education Information Management
System (PEIMS); and
(B) accountability under Chapters 39 and 39A; and
(4) qualification for funding under Chapter 48.
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 8, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 8.064 to read as follows:
Sec. 8.064. SCHOOL SAFETY SUPPORT. (a) A regional
education service center shall act as a school safety resource for
school districts and open-enrollment charter schools in the region
served by the center. The center may assist a school district or
open-enrollment charter school:
(1) in developing and implementing a multihazard
emergency operations plan under Section 37.108;
(2) in establishing a school safety and security
committee under Section 37.109;
(3) in conducting emergency school drills and
exercises;
(4) in addressing deficiencies in campus security
identified by a school safety review team under Section 37.1084;
and
(5) by providing guidance on any other matter relating
to school safety and security.
(b) A regional education service center shall provide
assistance as necessary to the region's school safety review team
established under Section 37.1084.
SECTION 3. Section 12.104(b), Education Code, as amended by
Chapters 542 (S.B. 168), 887 (S.B. 1697), 915 (H.B. 3607), 974 (S.B.
2081), and 1046 (S.B. 1365), Acts of the 87th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2021, is reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(b) An open-enrollment charter school is subject to:
(1) a provision of this title establishing a criminal
offense;
(2) the provisions in Chapter 554, Government Code;
and
(3) a prohibition, restriction, or requirement, as
applicable, imposed by this title or a rule adopted under this
title, relating to:
(A) the Public Education Information Management
System (PEIMS) to the extent necessary to monitor compliance with
this subchapter as determined by the commissioner;
(B) criminal history records under Subchapter C,
Chapter 22;
(C) reading instruments and accelerated reading
instruction programs under Section 28.006;
(D) accelerated instruction under Section
28.0211;
(E) high school graduation requirements under
Section 28.025;
(F) special education programs under Subchapter
A, Chapter 29;
(G) bilingual education under Subchapter B,
Chapter 29;
(H) prekindergarten programs under Subchapter E
or E-1, Chapter 29, except class size limits for prekindergarten
classes imposed under Section 25.112, which do not apply;
(I) extracurricular activities under Section
33.081;
(J) discipline management practices or behavior
management techniques under Section 37.0021;
(K) health and safety under Chapter 38;
(L) the provisions of Subchapter A, Chapter 39;
(M) public school accountability and special
investigations under Subchapters A, B, C, D, F, G, and J, Chapter
39, and Chapter 39A;
(N) the requirement under Section 21.006 to
report an educator's misconduct;
(O) intensive programs of instruction under
Section 28.0213;
(P) the right of a school employee to report a
crime, as provided by Section 37.148;
(Q) bullying prevention policies and procedures
under Section 37.0832;
(R) the right of a school under Section 37.0052
to place a student who has engaged in certain bullying behavior in a
disciplinary alternative education program or to expel the student;
(S) the right under Section 37.0151 to report to
local law enforcement certain conduct constituting assault or
harassment;
(T) a parent's right to information regarding the
provision of assistance for learning difficulties to the parent's
child as provided by Sections 26.004(b)(11) and 26.0081(c) and (d);
(U) establishment of residency under Section
25.001;
(V) school safety requirements under Sections
37.108, 37.1081, 37.1082, 37.1083, 37.1084, 37.109, 37.113,
37.114, 37.1141, 37.115, 37.207, and 37.2071;
(W) the early childhood literacy and mathematics
proficiency plans under Section 11.185;
(X) the college, career, and military readiness
plans under Section 11.186; and
(Y) [(X)] parental options to retain a student
under Section 28.02124.
SECTION 4. Section 25.002(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) If a parent or other person with legal control of a child
under a court order enrolls the child in a public school, the parent
or other person or the school district in which the child most
recently attended school shall furnish to the school district:
(1) the child's birth certificate or another document
suitable as proof of the child's identity;
(2) a copy of the child's records from the school the
child most recently attended if the child has been previously
enrolled in a school in this state or another state, including for a
child who most recently attended a public school in this state, a
copy of the child's disciplinary record and any threat assessment
involving the child's behavior conducted under Section 37.115; and
(3) a record showing that the child has the
immunizations as required under Section 38.001, in the case of a
child required under that section to be immunized, proof as
required by that section showing that the child is not required to
be immunized, or proof that the child is entitled to provisional
admission under that section and under rules adopted under that
section.
SECTION 5. Section 25.036, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) In the case of a transfer under this section, a child's
school district of residence shall provide the receiving district
with the child's disciplinary record and any threat assessment
involving the child's behavior conducted under Section 37.115.
SECTION 6. Section 25.095(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) A school district or open-enrollment charter school
shall notify a student's parent in writing at the beginning of the
school year that if the student is absent from school, without
excuse under Section 25.087, on six [10] or more days or parts of
days within an eight-week [a six-month] period in the same school
year:
(1) the student's parent is subject to prosecution
under Section 25.093; and
(2) the student is subject to referral to a truancy
court for truant conduct under Section 65.003(a), Family Code.
SECTION 7. Section 25.0951(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) If a student fails to attend school without excuse on
six [10] or more days or parts of days within an eight-week [a
six-month] period in the same school year, a school district shall
within 10 school days of the student's sixth [10th] absence refer
the student to a truancy court for truant conduct under Section
65.003(a), Family Code.
SECTION 8. Section 37.108, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (b), and (c) and adding Subsections (a-1)
and (h) 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 in
accordance with the definitions established for those terms under
Subsection (a-1) [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 telephone,
including a cellular telephone, or another electronic
communication device 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:
(A) [,] mandatory school drills and exercises,
including drills required under Section 37.114, to prepare district
students and employees for responding to an emergency; and
(B) measures that incorporate and address the
results of a safety and security audit conducted under Subsection
(b) and an on-site vulnerability assessment conducted by a school
safety review team under Section 37.1084;
(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).
(a-1) The Texas School Safety Center shall establish
definitions of prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and
recovery for purposes of a multihazard emergency operations plan
under Subsection (a):
(1) for a plan applicable to a public junior college
district, in conjunction with the governor's office of homeland
security and the commissioner of higher education; or
(2) for a plan applicable to a school district, in
conjunction with the governor's office of homeland security and
with the approval of the commissioner of education.
(b) At least once every three years, each school district or
public junior college district shall conduct a safety and security
audit of the district's facilities in the following manner:
(1) a school [. To the extent possible, a] district
shall:
(A) follow safety and security audit procedures
adopted by the commissioner in consultation with [developed by] the
Texas School Safety Center; and
(B) unless a district employee conducts the
audit, engage [or] a person approved by the commissioner and
included in the registry established by the Texas School Safety
Center under Section 37.2091 to conduct the audit; and
(2) a public junior college district shall, to the
extent possible, follow safety and security audit procedures
developed by the Texas School Safety Center or a person included in
the registry established by the Texas School Safety Center under
Section 37.2091.
(c) A school district or public junior college district
shall report the results of the safety and security audit conducted
under Subsection (b) to the district's board of trustees and, in the
manner required by the Texas School Safety Center, to the Texas
School Safety Center. Additionally, a school district shall report
the results of the audit to the agency. The report provided to the
Texas School Safety Center and, if applicable, to the agency under
this subsection must be signed by:
(1) for a school district, the district's board of
trustees and superintendent; or
(2) for a public junior college district, the
president of the junior college district.
(h) The commissioner, in consultation with the Texas School
Safety Center, shall adopt rules regarding requirements for school
district:
(1) multihazard emergency operations plans; and
(2) safety and security audits.
SECTION 9. Subchapter D, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
amended by adding Sections 37.1083 and 37.1084 to read as follows:
Sec. 37.1083. AGENCY MONITORING OF SCHOOL DISTRICT SAFETY
AND SECURITY REQUIREMENTS. (a) The agency shall monitor the
implementation and operation of requirements related to school
district safety and security, including school district:
(1) multihazard emergency operations plans; and
(2) safety and security audits.
(b) The agency shall establish an office of school safety
and security within the agency to coordinate the agency's
monitoring of school district safety and security requirements
under this section. The director of the office is appointed by the
governor and must report directly to the commissioner.
(c) The agency shall provide technical assistance to school
districts to support the implementation and operation of safety and
security requirements, including the preparation of multihazard
emergency operations plans and performance of safety and security
audits.
(d) The agency may engage or require a school district to
engage a third party as necessary to enable the agency to monitor
the implementation and operation of school district safety and
security requirements under this section.
(e) The commissioner may take appropriate action under
Chapter 39A, including the assignment of a conservator or the
appointment of a board of managers, if a school district fails to:
(1) submit to the required monitoring under this
section;
(2) comply with applicable safety and security
requirements; or
(3) address in a reasonable time period, as determined
by commissioner rule, issues raised by the monitoring of the
district under this section.
(f) The agency, or if approved by the agency, the Texas
School Safety Center, may identify, develop, and make available to
school districts information to assist districts in the
implementation and operation of safety and security requirements,
including relevant:
(1) guidelines;
(2) techniques;
(3) blueprints;
(4) best practices; and
(5) procedures.
(g) The agency, the Texas School Safety Center, and school
districts may share information described by Subsection (f) with
one another.
(h) The agency may require a school district to submit
information necessary for the agency to monitor the implementation
and operation of school district safety and security requirements
under this section, including:
(1) notice of an event requiring a district's
emergency response; and
(2) information regarding the district's response and
use of emergency operations procedures during an event described by
Subdivision (1).
(i) The agency may review school district records as
necessary to ensure compliance with this subchapter and Subchapter
G.
(j) Any document or information collected, identified,
developed, or produced relating to the monitoring of school
district safety and security requirements under this section is
confidential under Sections 418.177 and 418.181, Government Code,
and not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code.
(k) The commissioner may adopt rules as necessary to
administer this section.
Sec. 37.1084. REGIONAL SCHOOL SAFETY REVIEW TEAMS. (a) In
this section:
(1) "Office" means the office of school safety and
security established under Section 37.1083.
(2) "Team" means a school safety review team
established under this section.
(b) The office shall establish a school safety review team
in each region served by a regional education service center. A
team shall twice annually conduct on-site vulnerability
assessments of each school district campus in the team's region. In
conducting a vulnerability assessment, a team must:
(1) use a rubric developed by the office in
consultation with the Texas School Safety Center;
(2) not later than the seventh day before the date of a
scheduled assessment, notify the superintendent of the school
district in which the campus being assessed is located; and
(3) on completion of the assessment, provide to the
superintendent and school safety and security committee
established under Section 37.109 for the school district in which
the campus is located a report on the results of the assessment that
includes recommendations to address any deficiencies in campus
security identified by the team.
(c) A regional education service center shall provide
support as necessary to assist the region's team in conducting
on-site vulnerability assessments under this section.
(d) A report produced by a team under this section is
confidential and not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552,
Government Code.
SECTION 10. Section 37.2071, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (c), and (e) and adding Subsections (b-1)
and (e-1) to read as follows:
(a) The center shall establish a random or need-based cycle
for the center's review and verification of school district and
public junior college district multihazard emergency operations
plans adopted under Section 37.108. The cycle must:
(1) provide for each district's plan to be reviewed at
regular intervals as determined by the center; and
(2) if applicable to a school district's plan, be
approved by the agency.
(b-1) The center shall share with the agency a copy of each
school district multihazard emergency operations plan submitted
under Subsection (b) and any other information requested by the
agency regarding the review of a school district's multihazard
emergency operations plan.
(c) The center, or for a school district, the center and the
agency, shall review each district's multihazard emergency
operations plan submitted under Subsection (b) and:
(1) verify the plan meets the requirements of Section
37.108; or
(2) provide the district with written notice:
(A) describing the plan's deficiencies;
(B) including specific recommendations to
correct the deficiencies; and
(C) [(B)] stating that the district must correct
the deficiencies in its plan and resubmit the revised plan to the
center.
(e) The center, or for a school district, the center and the
agency, may approve a district multihazard emergency operations
plan that has deficiencies if the district submits a revised plan
that the center or the center and the agency, if applicable,
determines will correct the deficiencies.
(e-1) A school district multihazard emergency operations
plan may not be verified or approved under this section without the
agency's approval.
SECTION 11. Section 37.2091, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:
(b-1) The center must receive approval from the agency
before adding to the registry a person providing school safety or
security consulting services to school districts.
SECTION 12. Section 48.115, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to
read as follows:
(a) A [From funds appropriated for that purpose, the
commissioner shall provide to a] school district is entitled to an
annual allotment equal to the sum of the following amounts or a
greater [in the] amount provided by appropriation:
(1) $10 for each student in average daily attendance,
plus $1 for each student in average daily attendance per every $50
by which the district's maximum basic allotment under Section
48.051 exceeds $6,160, prorated as necessary; and
(2) $15,000 per campus.
(b) Funds allocated under this section must be used to
improve school safety and security, including costs associated
with:
(1) securing school facilities, including:
(A) improvements to school infrastructure;
(B) the use or installation of physical barriers;
and
(C) the purchase and maintenance of:
(i) security cameras or other security
equipment; and
(ii) technology, including communications
systems or devices, that facilitates communication and information
sharing between students, school personnel, and first responders in
an emergency;
(2) providing security for the district, including:
(A) employing school district peace officers,
private security officers, and school marshals; and
(B) collaborating with local law enforcement
agencies, such as entering into a memorandum of understanding for
the assignment of school resource officers to schools in the
district;
(3) school safety and security measures [training and
planning], including:
(A) active shooter and emergency response
training;
(B) prevention and treatment programs relating
to addressing adverse childhood experiences; and
(C) the prevention, identification, and
management of emergencies and threats, using evidence-based,
effective prevention practices and including:
(i) providing licensed counselors, social
workers, and individuals trained in restorative discipline and
restorative justice practices;
(ii) providing mental health personnel and
support;
(iii) providing behavioral health
services;
(iv) establishing threat reporting
systems; and
(v) developing and implementing programs
focused on restorative justice practices, culturally relevant
instruction, and providing mental health support; and
(4) providing programs related to suicide prevention,
intervention, and postvention.
(b-1) The agency may designate certain technologies that a
school district, in using funds allocated under this section, may
purchase only from a vendor approved by the agency.
SECTION 13. Section 65.003(a), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) A child engages in truant conduct if the child is
required to attend school under Section 25.085, Education Code, and
fails to attend school on six [10] or more days or parts of days
within an eight-week [a six-month] period in the same school year.
SECTION 14. (a) As soon as practicable after the effective
date of this Act, the Texas Education Agency shall establish the
office of school safety and security and the governor shall appoint
the director of that office as required by Section 37.1083,
Education Code, as added by this Act.
(b) As soon as practicable after the office of school safety
and security has been established, the office shall establish
school safety review teams in each region served by a regional
education service center as required by Section 37.1084, Education
Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 15. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
over another Act of the 88th Legislature, Regular Session, 2023,
relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
codes.
SECTION 16. Sections 7.028, 25.095, and 25.0951, Education
Code, as amended by this Act, Chapter 37, Education Code, as amended
by this Act, and Section 65.003, Family Code, as amended by this
Act, apply beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.
SECTION 17. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of
this section, 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.
(b) Section 48.115, Education Code, as amended by this Act,
takes effect September 1, 2023.