Highlights 77th Texas Legislature - Senate

_______________________ E DUCATION/Public
DUCATION/Public
77 th Texas Legislature
Requires the commissioner of education to adopt rules on procedures for use of restraints and time-out
with a student in special education.
Allows the use of seclusion when waiting for law enforcement to take custody of a student with a weapon.
Includes open enrollment charter schools in the scope of this bill.
Get to School or Else - S.B. 1432
by Senator West, et al.
House Sponsor: Representative Arthur Reyna
Addresses many problems associated with truancy, high school equivalency programs (GED), and juvenile
justice procedures.
Requires a school to record the name, address, and birth date of the person enrolling a student.
Includes among the duties and powers of peace and attendance officers of schools the requirement to:
investigate, enforce and maintain records of each violation of compulsory attendance law; file a complaint
against the parent with or refer the parent to the appropriate court; and visit or contact a student’s parent or
other person in parental authority (parent).
Authorizes a justice or municipal court to consolidate offenses, hold a parent in contempt if absences
continue, and authorize a peace officer to take the truant into custody.
Requires a district at the beginning of the school year to notify each parent that unexcused absences of
more than 10 days or parts of days in six months in the same school or three days in a four-week period
can result in referral of the student to juvenile court and to notify a parent when a student has been absent
for three days that the parent is responsible for attendance and arrange a conference with the parent.
Requires the district to refer to court a student who has been absent 10 days in a six-month period in the
same school or the parent or both, or to file a complaint against the student or parent, or to refer the
student to juvenile court for supervision.
Authorizes the commissioner of education (commissioner) to allow districts or charter schools that operated
a GED program on May 1, 2001, to operate one in the future; to allow enrollment to grow no more than five
percent above the 2001 enrollment; and to limit enrollment to students with specific characteristics.
Authorizes the court to require the student to attend school, attend a GED program, or attend programs
ranging from substance abuse to manners to violence avoidance and to require a student and parent to
attend classes on at-risk behaviors. Failure to comply is an offense. Provides for expunction after the
student’s 18 th birthday if the student has been convicted of one offense only.
Authorizes local governmental entities and courts to employ truancy case managers to handle duties
currently performed by judges.
Lists powers of the court in regard to both student and parent and the conditions under which the court may
take a student into custody.
Senate Research Center 92