82R1161 PAM-D
	By: Raymond	H.B. No. 169

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to placement of public school students in Junior Reserve
	Officers' Training Corps programs as an alternative in certain
	circumstances to placement in disciplinary or juvenile justice
	alternative education programs.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Sections 37.001(a) and (e), Education Code, are
	amended to read as follows:
	(a)  The board of trustees of an independent school district
	shall, with the advice of its district-level committee established
	under Subchapter F, Chapter 11, adopt a student code of conduct for
	the district. The student code of conduct must be posted and
	prominently displayed at each school campus or made available for
	review at the office of the campus principal. In addition to
	establishing standards for student conduct, the student code of
	conduct must:
	(1)  specify the circumstances, in accordance with this
	subchapter, under which a student may be removed from a classroom,
	campus, or disciplinary alternative education program;
	(2)  specify conditions that authorize or require a
	principal or other appropriate administrator to require a student
	to participate in a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program
	or to transfer a student to a disciplinary alternative education
	program;
	(3)  outline conditions under which a student may be
	suspended as provided by Section 37.005 or expelled as provided by
	Section 37.007;
	(4)  specify that consideration will be given, as a
	factor in each decision concerning suspension, participation in a
	Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, removal to a
	disciplinary alternative education program, expulsion, or
	placement in a juvenile justice alternative education program,
	regardless of whether the decision concerns a mandatory or
	discretionary action, to:
	(A)  self-defense;
	(B)  intent or lack of intent at the time the
	student engaged in the conduct;
	(C)  a student's disciplinary history; or
	(D)  a disability that substantially impairs the
	student's capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the student's
	conduct;
	(5)  provide guidelines for setting the length of a
	term of:
	(A)  a removal under Section 37.006; [and]
	(B)  an expulsion under Section 37.007; and
	(C)  required participation under Section
	37.0055;
	(6)  address the notification of a student's parent or
	guardian of a violation of the student code of conduct committed by
	the student that results in suspension, required participation in a
	Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, removal to a
	disciplinary alternative education program, or expulsion;
	(7)  prohibit bullying, harassment, and making hit
	lists and ensure that district employees enforce those
	prohibitions; and
	(8)  provide, as appropriate for students at each grade
	level, methods, including options, for:
	(A)  managing students in the classroom and on
	school grounds;
	(B)  disciplining students; and
	(C)  preventing and intervening in student
	discipline problems, including bullying, harassment, and making
	hit lists.
	(e)  Except as provided by Section 37.007(e), this
	subchapter does not require the student code of conduct to specify a
	minimum term of required participation under Section 37.0055, a
	removal under Section 37.006, or an expulsion under Section 37.007.
	SECTION 2.  Section 37.002, Education Code, is amended by
	adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
	(e)  This section is subject to Section 37.0055.
	SECTION 3.  Subchapter A, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
	amended by adding Section 37.0055 to read as follows:
	Sec. 37.0055.  MANDATORY ALTERNATIVE PLACEMENT IN CERTAIN
	CIRCUMSTANCES: JUNIOR RESERVE OFFICERS' TRAINING CORPS (JROTC).
	(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter and
	except as provided by Subsection (c), a student who is otherwise
	required or permitted under this subchapter to be placed in a
	disciplinary alternative education program or juvenile justice
	alternative education program must, instead of that placement, be
	required to participate in a Junior Reserve Officers' Training
	Corps program if:
	(1)  the school the student attends offers the program;
	and
	(2)  the student meets the initial eligibility
	requirements for the program.
	(b)  A student required to participate in a Junior Reserve
	Officers' Training Corps program under this section continues to
	attend the student's regularly assigned classes, except that the
	student's schedule may be modified to the extent necessary to
	provide for required attendance in the program.
	(c)  This section does not apply if:
	(1)  the student is removed from class and placed into
	another appropriate classroom or into in-school suspension under
	Section 37.002 or is suspended under Section 37.005;
	(2)  the student engages in conduct described by
	Section 37.006(a)(2)(B) or Section 37.007(a)(2) or (b)(2)(C);
	(3)  the continued presence of the student in the
	regular classroom threatens the safety of other students or
	teachers; or
	(4)  the student engages in conduct for which the
	student is required to be expelled from the student's regular
	campus under federal law.
	(d)  Section 37.006(e) applies to this section. Not later
	than the third class day after the date a student is required to
	participate in a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program
	under this section, the school district shall notify the student's
	parent or guardian of the student's placement. The notice must
	include the reason for the placement.
	(e)  The board of trustees of the school district or the
	board's designee shall set a term for a student's required
	participation in a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program
	under this section. The term must be for a period consistent with
	the guidelines adopted under the student code of conduct in
	accordance with Section 37.001(a)(5)(C). If the period of
	placement is inconsistent with the guidelines adopted under the
	student code of conduct, the notice under Subsection (d) must
	provide an explanation of the inconsistency.
	(f)  Notwithstanding Section 7.057(e), the decision to
	require a student to participate in a Junior Reserve Officers'
	Training Corps program under this section may be appealed by the
	student or the student's parent or guardian to the commissioner as
	provided by Sections 7.057(b), (c), (d), and (f).
	(g)  Before a student may be required to participate in a
	Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program under this section
	for a period that extends beyond the end of a school year, the board
	of trustees or the board's designee must determine that the student
	has engaged in serious or persistent misbehavior that violates the
	district's student code of conduct. The period of required
	participation may not exceed one year unless, after review, the
	board or the board's designee determines that extended placement is
	in the best interest of the student.
	(h)  The board of trustees shall inform each educator who has
	responsibility for, or is under the direction and supervision of an
	educator who has responsibility for, the instruction of a student
	who is required to participate in a Junior Reserve Officers'
	Training Corps program under this section. Each educator shall
	keep the information received under this subsection confidential
	from any person not entitled to the information under this
	subsection, except that the educator may share the information with
	the student's parent or guardian as provided for by state or federal
	law. The State Board for Educator Certification may revoke or
	suspend the certification of an educator who intentionally violates
	this subsection or Subsection (i).
	(i)  If a student required to participate in a Junior Reserve
	Officers' Training Corps program under this section enrolls in
	another school district before the expiration of the period of
	required participation, the board of trustees of the school
	district requiring the participation shall provide to the district
	in which the student enrolls, at the same time other records of the
	student are provided, a copy of the placement order. The district
	in which the student enrolls shall inform each educator who will
	have responsibility for, or will be under the direction and
	supervision of an educator who will have responsibility for, the
	instruction of the student of the contents of the placement order.
	Each educator shall keep the information received under this
	subsection confidential from any person not entitled to the
	information under this subsection, except that the educator may
	share the information with the student's parent or guardian as
	provided for by state or federal law. The district in which the
	student enrolls may continue the Junior Reserve Officers' Training
	Corps program placement under the terms of the order or may allow
	the student to attend regular classes without completing the period
	of required participation. If the school the student attends in the
	district in which the student enrolls does not offer a Junior
	Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, the student may be placed
	in a disciplinary alternative education program or a juvenile
	justice alternative education program under the procedures
	provided by this subchapter for the remainder of the term set under
	Subsection (e).
	(j)  A student required to participate in a Junior Reserve
	Officers' Training Corps program under this section is subject to
	the provisions of this subchapter relating to removal from class
	and placement in a disciplinary alternative education program or
	juvenile justice alternative education program if the student,
	after any required participation in a Junior Reserve Officers'
	Training Corps program under this section, engages in subsequent
	conduct requiring or permitting the student to be removed from
	class and placed in a disciplinary alternative education program or
	juvenile justice alternative education program under this
	subchapter.
	SECTION 4.  Section 37.006, Education Code, is amended by
	adding Subsection (p) to read as follows:
	(p)  This section is subject to Section 37.0055.
	SECTION 5.  Section 37.007, Education Code, is amended by
	adding Subsection (j) to read as follows:
	(j)  This section is subject to Section 37.0055.
	SECTION 6.  Section 37.0091(a), Education Code, is amended
	to read as follows:
	(a)  A noncustodial parent may request in writing that a
	school district or school, for the remainder of the school year in
	which the request is received, provide that parent with a copy of
	any written notification relating to alternative placement under
	Section 37.0055 or student misconduct under Section 37.006 or
	37.007 that is generally provided by the district or school to a
	student's parent or guardian.
	SECTION 7.  Section 37.020, Education Code, is amended by
	adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
	(d)  For each placement in a Junior Reserve Officers'
	Training Corps program under Section 37.0055, the district shall
	report:
	(1)  information identifying the student, including
	the student's race, sex, and date of birth, that will enable the
	agency to compare placement data with information collected through
	other reports;
	(2)  information indicating whether the placement was
	based on:
	(A)  conduct violating the student code of conduct
	adopted under Section 37.001;
	(B)  conduct for which placement in a Junior
	Reserve Officers' Training Corps program is required or permitted
	by Section 37.0055; or
	(C)  conduct occurring while a student was
	enrolled in another district and for which placement in a Junior
	Reserve Officers' Training Corps program is permitted by Section
	37.0055(i);
	(3)  the number of full or partial days the student was
	assigned to the program and the number of full or partial days the
	student attended the program; and
	(4)  the number of placements that were inconsistent
	with the guidelines included in the student code of conduct under
	Section 37.001(a)(5)(C).
	SECTION 8.  Section 39.332(b)(12), Education Code, is
	amended to read as follows:
	(12)  The report must contain information, aggregated
	by district type and disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender,
	[and] socioeconomic status, and program type, on:
	(A)  the number of students placed in a
	disciplinary alternative education program established under
	Section 37.008 or a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program
	under Section 37.0055;
	(B)  the average length of a student's placement
	in a disciplinary alternative education program established under
	Section 37.008 or a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program
	under Section 37.0055;
	(C)  the academic performance of students on
	assessment instruments required under Section 39.023(a) during the
	year preceding and during the year following placement in a
	disciplinary alternative education program or a Junior Reserve
	Officers' Training Corps program under Section 37.0055; and
	(D)  the dropout rates of students who have been
	placed in a disciplinary alternative education program established
	under Section 37.008 or a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps
	program under Section 37.0055.
	SECTION 9.  This Act applies beginning with the 2011-2012
	school year.
	SECTION 10.  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, 2011.