bill scrapping campus behavior coordinators

The text as introduced · 2,236 words

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.