Bill Text: TX HB1963 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to policies and procedures for addressing dating violence in public schools.

Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2025-03-14 - Referred to Public Education [HB1963 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB1963-Introduced.html

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89R5971 AMF-D
By: Garcia of Bexar H.B. No. 1963

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to policies and procedures for addressing dating violence
in public schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 12.104(b), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) An open-enrollment charter school is subject to:
(1) a provision of this title establishing a criminal
offense;
(2) the provisions in Chapter 554, Government Code;
and
(3) a prohibition, restriction, or requirement, as
applicable, imposed by this title or a rule adopted under this
title, relating to:
(A) the Public Education Information Management
System (PEIMS) to the extent necessary to monitor compliance with
this subchapter as determined by the commissioner;
(B) criminal history records under Subchapter C,
Chapter 22;
(C) reading instruments and accelerated reading
instruction programs under Section 28.006;
(D) accelerated instruction under Section
28.0211;
(E) high school graduation requirements under
Section 28.025;
(F) special education programs under Subchapter
A, Chapter 29;
(G) bilingual education under Subchapter B,
Chapter 29;
(H) prekindergarten programs under Subchapter E
or E-1, Chapter 29, except class size limits for prekindergarten
classes imposed under Section 25.112, which do not apply;
(I) extracurricular activities under Section
33.081;
(J) discipline management practices or behavior
management techniques under Section 37.0021;
(K) health and safety under Chapter 38;
(L) the provisions of Subchapter A, Chapter 39;
(M) public school accountability and special
investigations under Subchapters A, B, C, D, F, G, and J, Chapter
39, and Chapter 39A;
(N) the requirement under Section 21.006 to
report an educator's misconduct;
(O) intensive programs of instruction under
Section 28.0213;
(P) the right of a school employee to report a
crime, as provided by Section 37.148;
(Q) bullying prevention policies and procedures
under Section 37.0832;
(R) the right of a school under Section 37.0052
to place a student who has engaged in certain bullying or dating
violence behavior in a disciplinary alternative education program
or to expel the student;
(S) the right under Section 37.0151 to report to
local law enforcement certain conduct constituting assault or
harassment;
(T) a parent's right to information regarding the
provision of assistance for learning difficulties to the parent's
child as provided by Sections 26.004(b)(11) and 26.0081(c) and (d);
(U) establishment of residency under Section
25.001;
(V) school safety requirements under Sections
37.0814, 37.108, 37.1081, 37.1082, 37.1083, 37.1084, 37.1085,
37.1086, 37.109, 37.113, 37.114, 37.1141, 37.115, 37.207, and
37.2071 and Subchapter J, Chapter 37;
(W) the early childhood literacy and mathematics
proficiency plans under Section 11.185;
(X) the college, career, and military readiness
plans under Section 11.186; and
(Y) parental options to retain a student under
Section 28.02124.
SECTION 2. Section 37.001(a), Education Code, is 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;
(D) a disability that substantially impairs the
student's capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the student's
conduct;
(E) a student's status in the conservatorship of
the Department of Family and Protective Services; or
(F) a student's status as a student who is
homeless;
(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, dating violence, harassment,
and making hit lists and ensure that district employees enforce
those prohibitions;
(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, dating violence,
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 3. Section 37.001(b), Education Code, is amended by
adding Subdivision (1-a) to read as follows:
(1-a) "Dating violence" has the meaning assigned by
Section 37.0052(a).
SECTION 4. The heading to Section 37.0052, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 37.0052. PLACEMENT OR EXPULSION OF STUDENTS WHO HAVE
ENGAGED IN CERTAIN BULLYING OR DATING VIOLENCE BEHAVIOR.
SECTION 5. Section 37.0052(a), Education Code, is amended
by adding Subdivision (1-a) to read as follows:
(1-a) "Dating violence" means the intentional use of
physical, sexual, verbal, or emotional abuse by a person to harm,
threaten, intimidate, or control another person in a dating
relationship, as defined by Section 71.0021, Family Code.
SECTION 6. Section 37.0052(b), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) A student may be removed from class and placed in a
disciplinary alternative education program as provided by Section
37.008 or expelled if the student:
(1) engages in bullying that encourages a student to
commit or attempt to commit suicide;
(2) incites violence against a student through group
bullying; [or]
(3) engages in dating violence; or
(4) releases or threatens to release intimate visual
material of a minor or a student who is 18 years of age or older
without the student's consent.
SECTION 7. Section 37.008, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (k-1) to read as follows:
(k-1) A program of educational and support services may be
provided to a student and the student's parents when the offense
involves dating violence as specified under Section 37.0052.
Educational materials, resources, and instruction regarding dating
violence and establishing healthy relationships must be provided in
accordance with Sections 28.002 and 37.0831, as applicable.
SECTION 8. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026
school year.
SECTION 9. 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, 2025.