84R186 JSL-D
	By: Lucio	S.B. No. 507

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the placement of video cameras in self-contained
	classrooms providing special education services.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 26.009(b), Education Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	(b)  An employee of a school district is not required to
	obtain the consent of a child's parent before the employee may make
	a videotape of a child or authorize the recording of a child's voice
	if the videotape or voice recording is to be used only for:
	(1)  purposes of safety, including the maintenance of
	order and discipline in common areas of the school or on school
	buses;
	(2)  a purpose related to a cocurricular or
	extracurricular activity;
	(3)  a purpose related to regular classroom
	instruction; [or]
	(4)  media coverage of the school; or
	(5)  a purpose related to the promotion of student
	safety under Section 29.022.
	SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
	amended by adding Section 29.022 to read as follows:
	Sec. 29.022.  VIDEO SURVEILLANCE OF CLASSROOMS. (a)  In
	order to promote student safety on request by a parent, trustee, or
	staff member, a school district or open-enrollment charter school
	shall provide equipment, including a video camera, to each school
	in the district or each charter school campus in which a student
	receiving special education services in a self-contained classroom
	is enrolled. Each school or campus that receives equipment shall
	place and maintain the video camera in a self-contained classroom
	in which the only students in regular attendance:
	(1)  are eligible to take an alternative assessment
	instrument under Section 39.023(b) or would be eligible to take an
	alternative assessment instrument under Section 39.023(b) if the
	students were enrolled in a grade level for which an assessment
	instrument required under Section 39.023 is administered; and
	(2)  are nonverbal or have a limited ability to
	communicate as those terms are defined by the agency.
	(b)  Video cameras placed under this section must be capable
	of:
	(1)  covering all areas of the classroom, except that a
	bathroom or any area in the classroom in which a student's clothes
	are changed may not be monitored; and
	(2)  recording audio from all areas of the classroom
	covered as required by Subdivision (1).
	(c)  Before a school or campus places a video camera in a
	classroom under this section, the school or campus shall provide
	written notice of the placement to the parents of a student
	receiving special education services in the classroom. For
	purposes related to this section, but subject to Subsection (d),
	parental consent is not required.
	(d)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school may
	not place a video camera in the classroom of a student whose parent
	sends to the district or school a written objection to the placement
	of a camera not later than the 30th day after the date on which the
	district or school sends the notice required under Subsection (c).
	(e)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school
	shall retain video recorded from a camera placed under this section
	for at least one year after the date the video was recorded.
	(f)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school may
	solicit and accept gifts, grants, and donations from any person for
	use in placing video cameras in classrooms under this section.
	(g)  This section does not:
	(1)  waive any immunity from liability of a school
	district or open-enrollment charter school, or of district or
	school officers or employees; or
	(2)  create any liability for a cause of action against
	a school district or open-enrollment charter school or against
	district or school officers or employees.
	(h)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school may
	not:
	(1)  allow regular or continual monitoring of video
	recorded under this section; or
	(2)  use video recorded under this section for teacher
	evaluation or for any other purpose other than the promotion of
	safety of students receiving special education services in a
	self-contained classroom.
	(i)  A video recording of a student made according to this
	section is confidential and may not be released or viewed except by
	appropriate Department of Family and Protective Services personnel
	as part of an investigation under Section 261.406, Family Code.
	This subsection does not limit the access of a student's parent to a
	record regarding the student under the Family Educational Rights
	and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g) or other law.
	SECTION 3.  This Act applies beginning with the 2016-2017
	school year.
	SECTION 4.  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, 2015.