Bill Text: TX HB4606 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Relating to the operation of a juvenile justice alternative education program by a county department of education.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-05-15 - Referred to Education [HB4606 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB4606-Engrossed.html

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By: Allen, Garcia, Wu H.B. No. 4606

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the operation of a juvenile justice alternative
education program by a county department of education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 37.0081(a-1), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a-1) The student must be placed in:
(1) a juvenile justice alternative education program,
if the school district is located in a county that operates a
juvenile justice alternative education program or the school
district contracts with the juvenile board or county department of
education of another county for the provision of a juvenile justice
alternative education program; or
(2) a disciplinary alternative education program.
SECTION 2. Sections 37.010(c) and (d), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(c) Unless the juvenile board or the county department of
education for the county in which the district's central
administrative office is located has entered into a memorandum of
understanding with the district's board of trustees concerning the
juvenile probation department's or the county department of
education's role in supervising and providing other support
services for students in disciplinary alternative education
programs, a court may not order a student expelled under Section
37.007 to attend a regular classroom, a regular campus, or a school
district disciplinary alternative education program as a condition
of probation.
(d) Unless the juvenile board or county department of
education for the county in which the district's central
administrative office is located has entered into a memorandum of
understanding as described by Subsection (c), if a court orders a
student to attend a disciplinary alternative education program as a
condition of probation once during a school year and the student is
referred to juvenile court again during that school year, the
juvenile court may not order the student to attend a disciplinary
alternative education program in a district without the district's
consent until the student has successfully completed any sentencing
requirements the court imposes.
SECTION 3. Section 37.011, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (d), (e), (h), (j), (k), (l), (m), (n),
(p), and (q) and adding Subsections (a-6) and (a-7) to read as
follows:
(a) Subject to Subsection (a-6), the [The] juvenile board or
the county department of education of a county with a population
greater than 125,000 shall develop a juvenile justice alternative
education program, subject to the approval of the Texas Juvenile
Justice Department. The juvenile board of a county with a
population of 125,000 or less may develop a juvenile justice
alternative education program. For the purposes of this
subchapter, only a disciplinary alternative education program
operated under the authority of a juvenile board or the county
department of education of a county is considered a juvenile
justice alternative education program. A juvenile justice
alternative education program in a county with a population of
125,000 or less:
(1) is not required to be approved by the Texas
Juvenile Justice Department [department]; and
(2) is not subject to Subsection (c), (d), (f), or (g).
(a-6) Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, if a county
with a population greater than three million has a county
department of education under Subsection (a-7), the department
shall develop the juvenile justice alternative education program
under Subsection (a) in lieu of the juvenile board.
(a-7) For the purposes of this section, a county has a
county department of education if a school district or a county
system within the county is operating under former law, in
accordance with Section 11.301(a).
(d) A juvenile justice alternative education program must
focus on English language arts, mathematics, science, social
studies, and self-discipline. Each school district shall consider
course credit earned by a student while in a juvenile justice
alternative education program as credit earned in a district
school. Each program shall administer assessment instruments under
Subchapter B, Chapter 39, and shall offer a high school equivalency
program. The juvenile board, the county department of education,
or the [board's] designee of the board or department, as
applicable, with the parent or guardian of each student, shall
regularly review the student's academic progress. In the case of a
high school student, the board, the department, or the [board's]
designee of the board or department, as applicable, with the
student's parent or guardian, shall review the student's progress
towards meeting high school graduation requirements and shall
establish a specific graduation plan for the student. The program
is not required to provide a course necessary to fulfill a student's
high school graduation requirements other than a course specified
by this subsection.
(e) A juvenile justice alternative education program may be
provided in a facility owned by a school district. A school
district may provide personnel and services for a juvenile justice
alternative education program under a contract with the juvenile
board or the county department of education, as applicable.
(h) Academically, the mission of juvenile justice
alternative education programs shall be to enable students to
perform at grade level. For purposes of accountability under
Chapters 39 and 39A, a student enrolled in a juvenile justice
alternative education program is reported as if the student were
enrolled at the student's assigned campus in the student's
regularly assigned education program, including a special
education program. Annually the Texas Juvenile Justice Department,
with the agreement of the commissioner, shall develop and implement
a system of accountability consistent with Chapters 39 and 39A,
where appropriate, to assure that students make progress toward
grade level while attending a juvenile justice alternative
education program. The department shall adopt rules for the
distribution of funds appropriated under this section to the
entities responsible for operating juvenile justice alternative
education programs [juvenile boards] in the counties required to
establish those [juvenile justice alternative education]
programs. Except as determined by the commissioner, a student
served by a juvenile justice alternative education program on the
basis of an expulsion required under Section 37.007(a), (d), or (e)
is not eligible for Foundation School Program funding under Chapter
31 or 48 if the juvenile justice alternative education program
receives funding from the department under this subchapter.
(j) In relation to the development and operation of a
juvenile justice alternative education program, a juvenile board, a
county department of education, [and] a county, and a commissioners
court of a county are immune from liability to the same extent as a
school district, and the juvenile board's, department's, or
county's [professional] employees and volunteers are immune from
liability to the same extent as a school district's [professional]
employees and volunteers.
(k) Each school district in a county with a population
greater than 125,000 and the county juvenile board or the county
department of education, as applicable, shall annually enter into a
joint memorandum of understanding that:
(1) outlines the responsibilities of the juvenile
board or county department of education concerning the
establishment and operation of a juvenile justice alternative
education program under this section;
(2) defines the amount and conditions on payments from
the school district to the juvenile board or county department of
education for students of the school district served in the
juvenile justice alternative education program whose placement was
not made on the basis of an expulsion required under Section
37.007(a), (d), or (e);
(3) establishes that a student may be placed in the
juvenile justice alternative education program if the student
engages in serious misbehavior, as defined by Section 37.007(c);
(4) identifies and requires a timely placement and
specifies a term of placement for expelled students for whom the
school district has received a notice under Section 52.041(d),
Family Code;
(5) establishes services for the transitioning of
expelled students to the school district prior to the completion of
the student's placement in the juvenile justice alternative
education program;
(6) establishes a plan that provides transportation
services for students placed in the juvenile justice alternative
education program;
(7) establishes the circumstances and conditions
under which a juvenile may be allowed to remain in the juvenile
justice alternative education program setting once the juvenile is
no longer under juvenile court jurisdiction; and
(8) establishes a plan to address special education
services required by law.
(l) The school district shall be responsible for providing
an immediate educational program to students who engage in behavior
resulting in expulsion under Section 37.007(b) and (f) but who are
not eligible for admission into the juvenile justice alternative
education program in accordance with the memorandum of
understanding required under this section. The school district may
provide the program or the school district may contract with a
county juvenile board, a county department of education, a private
provider, or one or more other school districts to provide the
program. The memorandum of understanding shall address the
circumstances under which such students who continue to engage in
serious misbehavior, as defined by Section 37.007(c), shall be
admitted into the juvenile justice alternative education program.
(m) Each school district in a county with a population
greater than 125,000 and the county juvenile board or the county
department of education, as applicable, shall adopt a joint
memorandum of understanding as required by this section not later
than September 1 of each school year.
(n) If a student who is ordered to attend a juvenile justice
alternative education program moves from one county to another, the
juvenile court may request the juvenile justice alternative
education program in the county to which the student moves to
provide educational services to the student in accordance with the
local memorandum of understanding between the school district and
the juvenile board or county department of education in the
receiving county.
(p) If a district elects to contract with the juvenile board
or county department of education for placement in the juvenile
justice alternative education program of students expelled under
Section 37.007(b), (c), and (f) and the juvenile board or county
department of education and the district are unable to reach an
agreement in the memorandum of understanding, either party may
request that the issues of dispute be referred to a binding
arbitration process that uses a qualified alternative dispute
resolution arbitrator in which each party will pay its pro rata
share of the arbitration costs. Each party must submit its final
proposal to the arbitrator. If the parties cannot agree on an
arbitrator, the juvenile board or county department of education
shall select an arbitrator, the school districts shall select an
arbitrator, and those two arbitrators shall select an arbitrator
who will decide the issues in dispute. An arbitration decision
issued under this subsection is enforceable in a court in the county
in which the juvenile justice alternative education program is
located. Any decision by an arbitrator concerning the amount of the
funding for a student who is expelled and attending a juvenile
justice alternative education program must provide an amount
sufficient based on operation of the juvenile justice alternative
education program in accordance with this chapter. In determining
the amount to be paid by a school district for an expelled student
enrolled in a juvenile justice alternative education program, the
arbitrator shall consider the relevant factors, including evidence
of:
(1) the actual average total per student expenditure
in the district's alternative education setting;
(2) the expected per student cost in the juvenile
justice alternative education program as described and agreed on in
the memorandum of understanding and in compliance with this
chapter; and
(3) the costs necessary to achieve the accountability
goals under this chapter.
(q) In accordance with rules adopted by the board of
trustees for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, a certified
educator employed by a juvenile board or the county department of
education in a juvenile justice alternative education program shall
be eligible for membership and participation in the system to the
same extent that an employee of a public school district is
eligible. The juvenile board or county department of education, as
applicable, shall make any contribution that otherwise would be the
responsibility of the school district if the person were employed
by the school district, and the state shall make any contribution to
the same extent as if the person were employed by a school district.
SECTION 4. Sections 37.012(a) and (d), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) Subject to Section 37.011(n), the school district in
which a student is enrolled on the date the student is expelled for
conduct for which expulsion is permitted but not required under
Section 37.007 shall, if the student is served by the juvenile
justice alternative education program, provide funding to the
juvenile board or county department of education, as applicable,
for the portion of the school year for which the juvenile justice
alternative education program provides educational services in an
amount determined by the memorandum of understanding under Section
37.011(k)(2).
(d) A school district is not required to provide funding to
a juvenile board or a county department of education for a student
who is assigned by a court to a juvenile justice alternative
education program but who has not been expelled.
SECTION 5. Section 37.309(b), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) A school district shall place a student who is required
by the board of trustees to attend an alternative education program
under this subchapter in a juvenile justice alternative education
program if:
(1) the memorandum of understanding entered into
between the school district and the juvenile board or county
department of education under Section 37.011(k) provides for the
placement of students to whom this subchapter applies in the
juvenile justice alternative education program; or
(2) a court orders the placement of the student in a
juvenile justice alternative education program.
SECTION 6. Section 37.011(o), Education Code, is repealed.
SECTION 7. This Act applies beginning with the 2024-2025
school year.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.