89R15517 BCH-F
By: Olcott H.B. No. 5553
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to discipline in public schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 26.015, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 26.015. POSTING OF INFORMATION REGARDING
ADMINISTRATOR RESPONSIBLE FOR STUDENT DISCIPLINE. A school
district shall post on the district's Internet website, for each
district campus, the e-mail address and dedicated telephone number
of a person clearly identified as[:
[(1) the campus behavior coordinator designated under
Section 37.0012; or
[(2) if the district has been designated as a district
of innovation under Chapter 12A and is exempt from the requirement
to designate a campus behavior coordinator under Section 37.0012
under the district's local innovation plan,] a campus administrator
designated as being responsible for student discipline.
SECTION 2. Section 37.0013(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) Each school district and open-enrollment charter school
may develop and implement a program, in consultation with [campus
behavior coordinators employed by the district or school and]
representatives of a regional education service center, that
provides a disciplinary alternative for a student enrolled in a
grade level below grade three who engages in conduct described by
Section 37.005(a) and is not subject to Section 37.005(c). The
program must:
(1) be age-appropriate and research-based;
(2) provide models for positive behavior;
(3) promote a positive school environment;
(4) provide alternative disciplinary courses of
action that do not rely on the use of in-school suspension,
out-of-school suspension, or placement in a disciplinary
alternative education program to manage student behavior; and
(5) provide behavior management strategies,
including:
(A) positive behavioral intervention and
support;
(B) trauma-informed practices;
(C) social and emotional learning;
(D) a referral for services, as necessary; and
(E) restorative practices.
SECTION 3. Sections 37.002(a), (c), (d), and (e), Education
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) A teacher may send a student to an administrator's [the
campus behavior coordinator's] office to maintain effective
discipline in the classroom. [The campus behavior coordinator
shall respond by employing appropriate discipline management
techniques consistent with the student code of conduct adopted
under Section 37.001 that can reasonably be expected to improve the
student's behavior before returning the student to the classroom.
If the student's behavior does not improve, the campus behavior
coordinator shall employ alternative discipline management
techniques, including any progressive interventions designated as
the responsibility of the campus behavior coordinator in the
student code of conduct.]
(c) If a teacher removes a student from class under
Subsection (b), the principal may place the student into another
appropriate classroom, into in-school suspension, or into a
disciplinary alternative education program as provided by Section
37.008. The principal may not return the student to that teacher's
class without the teacher's consent [unless the committee
established under Section 37.003 determines that such placement is
the best or only alternative available]. The terms of the removal
may prohibit the student from attending or participating in
school-sponsored or school-related activity.
(d) A teacher shall remove from class and send to the
principal for placement in a disciplinary alternative education
program or for expulsion, as appropriate, a student who engages in
conduct described under Section 37.006 or 37.007. The student may
not be returned to that teacher's class without the teacher's
consent [unless the committee established under Section 37.003
determines that such placement is the best or only alternative
available]. If the teacher removed the student from class because
the student has engaged in the elements of any offense listed in
Section 37.006(a)(2)(B) or Section 37.007(a)(2)(A) or (b)(2)(C)
against the teacher, the student may not be returned to the
teacher's class without the teacher's consent. The teacher may not
be coerced to consent.
(e) A student who is sent to the [campus behavior
coordinator's or other] administrator's office under Subsection (a)
or removed from class under Subsection (b) is not considered to have
been removed from the classroom for the purposes of reporting data
through the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS)
or other similar reports required by state or federal law.
SECTION 4. Section 37.005(d), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) A school district or open-enrollment charter school may
not place a student who is homeless in out-of-school suspension
unless the student engages in conduct described by Subsections
(c)(1)-(3) while on school property or while attending a
school-sponsored or school-related activity on or off of school
property. The principal or other appropriate administrator [campus
behavior coordinator] may coordinate with the school district's
homeless education liaison to identify appropriate alternatives to
out-of-school suspension for a student who is homeless. In this
subsection, "student who is homeless" has the meaning assigned to
the term "homeless children and youths" under 42 U.S.C. Section
11434a.
SECTION 5. Section 37.006(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) Subject to the requirements of Section 37.009(a), a
student shall be removed from class and placed in a disciplinary
alternative education program as provided by Section 37.008 if the
student:
(1) engages 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; or
(2) commits the following on or within 300 feet of
school property, as measured from any point on the school's real
property boundary line, or while attending a school-sponsored or
school-related activity on or off of school property:
(A) engages in conduct punishable as a felony;
(B) engages in conduct that contains the elements
of the offense of assault under Section 22.01(a)(1), Penal Code;
(C) sells, gives, or delivers to another person
or possesses or uses or is under the influence of:
(i) a controlled substance, as defined by
Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, or by 21 U.S.C. Section 801 et
seq., excluding marihuana, as defined by Section 481.002, Health
and Safety Code, or tetrahydrocannabinol, as defined by rule
adopted under Section 481.003 of that code; or
(ii) a dangerous drug, as defined by
Chapter 483, Health and Safety Code;
(C-1) possesses, uses, or is under the influence
of, or sells, gives, or delivers to another person marihuana, as
defined by Section 481.002, Health and Safety Code, or
tetrahydrocannabinol, as defined by rule adopted under Section
481.003 of that code;
(C-2) possesses, uses, sells, gives, or delivers
to another person an e-cigarette, as defined by Section 161.081,
Health and Safety Code;
(D) sells, gives, or delivers to another person
an alcoholic beverage, as defined by Section 1.04, Alcoholic
Beverage Code, commits a serious act or offense while under the
influence of alcohol, or possesses, uses, or is under the influence
of an alcoholic beverage;
(E) engages in conduct that contains the elements
of an offense relating to an abusable volatile chemical under
Sections 485.031 through 485.034, Health and Safety Code;
(F) engages in conduct that contains the elements
of the offense of public lewdness under Section 21.07, Penal Code,
or indecent exposure under Section 21.08, Penal Code; [or]
(G) engages in conduct that contains the elements
of the offense of harassment under Section 42.07(a)(1), (2), (3),
or (7), Penal Code, against an employee of the school district; or
(H) engages in verbal or physical aggression
against an employee of the school district.
SECTION 6. Sections 37.009(a), (a-1), and (a-2), Education
Code, are amended 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, the teacher removing the student from class, if any, and
the student. 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, 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.] 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 school principal or other
appropriate administrator [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 principal or other administrator [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 school principal
[campus behavior coordinator] or other appropriate administrator,
other than an expulsion under Section 37.007, 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) If a disciplinary alternative education program is at
capacity at the time a school principal or other appropriate
administrator [campus behavior coordinator] is deciding placement
under Subsection (a) for a student who engaged in conduct described
under Section 37.006(a)(2)(C-1), (C-2), (D), or (E), the student
shall be:
(1) placed in in-school suspension; and
(2) if a position becomes available in the program
before the expiration of the period of the placement, transferred
to the program for the remainder of the period.
(a-2) If a disciplinary alternative education program is at
capacity at the time a school principal or other appropriate
administrator [campus behavior coordinator] is deciding placement
under Subsection (a) for a student who engaged in conduct described
under Section 37.007 that constitutes violent conduct, as defined
by commissioner rule, a student who has been placed in the program
for conduct described under Section 37.006(a)(2)(C-1), (C-2), (D),
or (E):
(1) may be removed from the program and placed in
in-school suspension to make a position in the program available
for the student who engaged in violent conduct; and
(2) if removed from the program under Subdivision (1)
and a position in the program becomes available before the
expiration of the period of the placement, shall be returned to the
program for the remainder of the period.
SECTION 7. Section 37.010(f), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(f) If a student is expelled under Section 37.007, [on the
recommendation of the committee established under Section 37.003 or
on its own initiative,] a district may readmit the student while the
student is completing any court disposition requirements the court
imposes. After the student has successfully completed any court
disposition requirements the court imposes, including conditions
of a deferred prosecution ordered by the court, or such conditions
required by the prosecutor or probation department, if the student
meets the requirements for admission into the public schools
established by this title, a district may not refuse to admit the
student, but the district may place the student in the disciplinary
alternative education program. Notwithstanding Section 37.002(d),
the student may not be returned to the classroom of the teacher
under whose supervision the offense occurred without that teacher's
consent. The teacher may not be coerced to consent.
SECTION 8. Section 37.023(c), Education Code, is amended 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 transition to a
regular classroom. The coordination may [must] include assistance
and recommendations from any appropriate school district personnel
[:
[(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); and
[(7) any other appropriate school district
personnel].
SECTION 9. The following provisions of the Education Code
are repealed:
(1) Section 37.0012;
(2) Section 37.003; and
(3) Section 37.005(b).
SECTION 10. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026
school year.
SECTION 11. 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, 2025.