As you re-enter the school building this year, it will be important to know how the more than 80 bills passed during the recent Texas legislative session will impact you and your students. Besides the obvious – the high-profile House Bill (HB) 3 by Rep. Dan Huberty (R-Kingwood) offering many schools and educators additional funding and a potential salary bump – there were a number of other bills passed in 2019 that will affect areas such as student discipline, charter schools, safety, and testing.

ATPE's lobbyists will be here on Teach the Vote blogging about major bills in these areas every Monday over the next few weeks as part of our "New School Year, New Laws" series. This week, we will discuss changes you will see in your school due to new discipline-related legislation.

Senate Bill (SB) 2432: Student behavior towards teachers

SB 2432 by Sen. Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood) allows for students who harass teachers to be removed to a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (DAEP). Harassment is defined in Section 42.07 of the Texas Penal Code in several ways, each with an overall intent to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass another. This bill takes effect on Sept. 1, 2019.

SB 712/HB 3630: Prohibiting aversive techniques on students

SB 712 by Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. (D-Brownsville) and HB 3630 by Rep. Morgan Meyer (R-Highland Park) are identical bills that prohibit the use of certain techniques on students that are meant to discourage recurring behaviors. These aversive techniques are defined in physical terms, such as inflicting pain on a student, as well as in social, emotional, and mental terms, such as verbally demeaning a student or using a timeout when such breaks are not a part of the student's individualized education plan (IEP). This legislation does not affect a teacher's ability to remove students under Texas Education Code Section 37.002, which allows teachers to remove students who are repetitively disruptive and limiting the learning of others. Both bills were effective immediately upon their passage earlier this year.

HB 692: Suspension of students who are homeless

HB 692 by Rep. James White (R-Hillister) prohibits a school district or charter school from placing a student who is homeless in out-of-school suspension, with certain exceptions for serious offenses. The bill allows the campus behavior coordinator to work with the district's homeless liaison to help identify alternatives to out-of-school suspension for students who are homeless. This bill was also effective immediately upon passage.

HB 811: Discipline of students who are homeless

HB 811, also by Rep. White (R-Hillister), requires a school district board of trustees to include in their code of conduct certain provisions relative to students who may be homeless. Specifically, when determining student suspension, expulsion, or removal to a DAEP or Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program (JJAEP), consideration shall be given to whether a student is in the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) or is homeless. This bill was effective immediately upon passage.

It is important for educators to know how this legislation will impact their rights as educators, their classroom practice, and their students' rights. Please see the recently released To The Administrator Addressed correspondence from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for more legislative changes affecting student discipline.

Be sure to watch for a new Teach the Vote blog post next week on more changes coming to your school as a result of the 2019 Texas legislative session.