Bill Text: TX HB655 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the placement by a school district of a student who engages in habitually violent behavior.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-20 - Left pending in committee [HB655 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB655-Introduced.html
| 88R1876 MEW-D | ||
| By: Allison | H.B. No. 655 | |
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| relating to the placement by a school district of a student who | ||
| engages in habitually violent behavior. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 37, Education Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Section 37.024 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 37.024. EDUCATIONAL SETTING FOR STUDENTS WHO ENGAGE IN | ||
| HABITUALLY VIOLENT BEHAVIOR. (a) In this section, "habitually | ||
| violent behavior" means a pattern of violent behavior, such as | ||
| assault or behavior that results in the hospitalization of a | ||
| student or school district staff member, that causes more than one | ||
| incident within a grading period during a school year. | ||
| (b) A school district may: | ||
| (1) for a prescribed period determined by the | ||
| district, place a student who engages in habitually violent | ||
| behavior towards other students and district staff in a virtual | ||
| setting and provide virtual instruction and instructional | ||
| materials for remote learning to the student; | ||
| (2) consult with local and state law enforcement | ||
| agencies to determine whether a student's habitually violent | ||
| behavior poses a legitimate ongoing threat to students and district | ||
| staff in the general education setting; | ||
| (3) establish certain conditions that a student or a | ||
| student's parent or person standing in parental relation to the | ||
| student must fulfill to allow a student placed in a virtual setting | ||
| to return to an alternative, general, or hybrid educational | ||
| setting, including conditions that require: | ||
| (A) the student or the student's parent or person | ||
| standing in parental relation to the student to provide evidence | ||
| that the student has undergone a medical or mental health | ||
| evaluation; or | ||
| (B) other reasonable steps designed to help the | ||
| district determine whether the student continues to pose a threat | ||
| to students and district staff; and | ||
| (4) if a student receives special education services | ||
| under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, or is receiving accommodations | ||
| under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Section | ||
| 794), and has been determined to pose an ongoing threat to the | ||
| physical safety of students and district staff, require the | ||
| student's admission, review, and dismissal committee or team | ||
| established under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 | ||
| U.S.C. Section 794), as applicable, to meet to determine an | ||
| appropriate educational setting for the student, in accordance with | ||
| Section 37.004 and federal law and regulations, to ensure the | ||
| student receives a free appropriate public education as required | ||
| under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. | ||
| Section 1400 et seq.). | ||
| (c) If the admission, review, and dismissal committee of a | ||
| student who engages in habitually violent behavior determines under | ||
| Subsection (b)(4) that the least restrictive environment for the | ||
| student is a remote, therapeutic, or residential placement, the | ||
| district is entitled to receive from the state reimbursement for | ||
| past expenses and appropriate funding for future expenses for the | ||
| provision of services to that student. | ||
| (d) A student placed in virtual instruction under | ||
| Subsection (b)(1) shall be counted toward the school district's | ||
| average daily attendance in the same manner as other district | ||
| students. The commissioner shall adopt rules providing for a | ||
| method of taking attendance for students placed in virtual | ||
| instruction under Subsection (b)(1). | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024 | ||
| school year. | ||
| SECTION 3. 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. | ||
