TEXAS AFT LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE--TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2009
(copyright 2009 Texas AFT)
 
Notable Bills of 2009 Relating to Safe Schools Act
 
Texas AFT's full report summarizing "Notable Laws Enacted in the 81st Regular Legislative Session" will be published later this week. By way of a preview, here's an excerpt summarizing significant legislative action relating to the Safe Schools Act in Chapter 37 of the Education Code. All of these changes in law will take effect in school year 2009-2010.
 
Consideration of mitigating factors required.  Under current law school districts must indicate in their student code of conduct whether they consider, as factors in determining student discipline, a student's intent or lack of intent, disciplinary history, self-defense, and (for students with disabilities) mental capacity to know conduct is wrongful. HB 171 mandates that districts consider these factors both in determining whether misconduct has occurred and in determining the appropriate placement of a student for misconduct. The mandate to consider these factors expressly applies not only to discretionary disciplinary actions but also to cases where serious misconduct, if found to have occurred, would trigger placement in a disciplinary alternative education program or in a juvenile-justice alternative education programs. (Amends Section 37.001.)
 
Please note: Most school districts' policies already require consideration of these factors. HB 171 does not specify how much weight must be given to these mitigating factors in making disciplinary decisions, merely that they must be considered.
 
Exemption from mandatory expulsion. HB 1020 creates a narrow exception to the state law mandating expulsion for using, exhibiting, or possessing a firearm at a school-related event. Under this bill a student may not be expelled solely for using, exhibiting, or possessing a firearm at an approved, off-campus target range while involved in a school-sponsored sporting competition or an equivalent activity conducted by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department or by a shooting-sports organization working with Parks and Wildlife. This new exception does not authorize a student to bring a firearm onto school property. (Amends Section 37.007.)
 
 
Campus handbooks to provide notice of gang-free zones.  Under HB 2086, penalties are enhanced for certain criminal offenses, particularly gang-related offenses, that occur within 1,000 feet of a school campus or institution of higher education, and the student handbook for each campus must include information on gang-free zones and the consequences of engaging in organized criminal activity within them. (Adds Section 37.110.)
 
Counties not required to have juvenile-justice alternative education programs. Under the Safe Schools Act as passed in 1995, a county with a population greater than 125,000 must operate a juvenile-justice alternative education program for students expelled from public schools. Recent population growth would trigger that requirement for some counties for the first time. HB 1425 allows counties to avoid the requirement if their population did not exceed 125,000 at the time of the 2000 census. The bill instead requires such a county's juvenile board to work out an agreement with each of the county's school districts to try to minimize the number of expelled students who do not receive alternative educational services. (Amends Section 37.011.)