By: Menéndez	S.B. No. 1553
	(In the Senate - Filed March 8, 2017; March 21, 2017, read
	first time and referred to Committee on Education; May 9, 2017,
	reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the
	following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 9, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
	COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1553	By:  Uresti

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the refusal of entry to or ejection from school district
	property.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 37.001(a), Education Code, as amended by
	Chapters 487 (S.B. 1541) and 1409 (S.B. 1114), Acts of the 83rd
	Legislature, Regular Session, 2013, is reenacted and 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, disciplinary alternative education program, or vehicle
	owned or operated by the district;
	(2)  specify conditions that authorize or require a
	principal or other appropriate administrator 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, 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;
	(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, 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, on school
	grounds, and on a vehicle owned or operated by the district;
	(B)  disciplining students; and
	(C)  preventing and intervening in student
	discipline problems, including bullying, harassment, and making
	hit lists; and
	(9)  include an explanation of the provisions regarding
	refusal of entry to or ejection from district property under
	Section 37.105, including the appeal process established under
	Section 37.105(h).
	SECTION 2.  Section 37.105, Education Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	Sec. 37.105.  UNAUTHORIZED PERSONS: REFUSAL OF ENTRY,
	EJECTION, IDENTIFICATION. (a)  A school administrator, school
	resource officer, or school district peace officer [The board of
	trustees] of a school district [or its authorized representative]
	may refuse to allow a person [without legitimate business] to enter
	on or [property under the board's control and] may eject a [any
	undesirable] person from [the] property under the district's
	control if the person refuses [on the person's refusal] to leave
	peaceably on request and:
	(1)  the person poses a substantial risk of harm to any
	person; or
	(2)  the person behaves in a manner that is
	inappropriate for a school setting and:
	(A)  the administrator, resource officer, or
	peace officer issues a verbal warning to the person that the
	person's behavior is inappropriate and may result in the person's
	refusal of entry or ejection; and
	(B)  the person persists in that behavior.
	(b)  Identification may be required of any person on the
	property.
	(c)  Each school district shall maintain a record of each
	verbal warning issued under Subsection (a)(2)(A), including the
	name of the person to whom the warning was issued and the date of
	issuance.
	(d)  At the time a person is refused entry to or ejected from
	a school district's property under this section, the district shall
	provide to the person written information explaining the appeal
	process established under Subsection (h).
	(e)  If a parent or guardian of a child enrolled in a school
	district is refused entry to the district's property under this
	section, the district shall accommodate the parent or guardian to
	ensure that the parent or guardian may participate in the child's
	admission, review, and dismissal committee or in the child's team
	established under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29
	U.S.C. Section 794), in accordance with federal law.
	(f)  The term of a person's refusal of entry to or ejection
	from a school district's property under this section may not exceed
	two years.
	(g)  A school district shall post on the district's Internet
	website and each district campus shall post on any Internet website
	of the campus a notice regarding the provisions of this section,
	including the appeal process established under Subsection (h).
	(h)  The commissioner shall adopt rules to implement this
	section, including rules establishing a process for a person to
	appeal to the board of trustees of the school district the decision
	under Subsection (a) to refuse the person's entry to or eject the
	person from the district's property.
	SECTION 3.  This Act applies beginning with the 2017-2018
	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, 2017.
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