The Senate Education Committee will meet Wednesday, April 5, at 9 a.m. to consider pending business (past previously heard bills out of committee) and hear testimony on the following bills:
School Safety
- SB 11 (Nichols, et al.) would require the ESCs to act as school safety resources for school districts and open-enrollment charter schools in the region served by the center. It would require charter schools to comply with requirements of law regarding agency monitoring of school district and security requirements and regional school safety review teams. It would require that a copy of the child’s disciplinary record and any threat assessment involving the child’s behavior conducted as part of a school’s safe supportive school program be included in documentation provided to a school where a child is enrolling. It would require that multihazard emergency operations plans for school districts include measures that incorporate and address results of a safety and security audit and an on-site vulnerability assessment. It also includes a number of other provisions. See a full summary of the bill by searching for SB 11 on TASA’s Bill Tracker.
- SB 999 (West) relates to the requirement that providers of active shooter training at public schools and institutions of higher education obtain a certificate issued by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.
- SB 1720 (Kolkhorst) relates to the confidentiality of the identity of a public school employee who reports a potential threat to the school’s threat assessment and safe and supportive school team.
- SB 2407 (Hancock) relates to licensure and training requirements for school marshals.
- SB 1475 (Creighton) relates to licensure and training requirements for school marshals.
Days of Operation/Attendance
- SB 2368 (Campbell) changes statute to require school districts to operate for a minimum of 175 instructional days and for at least 75,600 minutes of operation, including time allocated for instruction, intermissions, and recesses for students.
- SB 1630 (Bettencourt) relates to an attendance policy adopted by public schools to prevent truancy.
- SB 2088 (Creighton) relates to a credit for prepayment of the amount required to be paid by a school district for the purchase of attendance credit under the public school finance system.
Other
- SB 763 (Middleton, et al.) relates to allowing school districts to employ chaplains to perform the duties of school counselors. (This bill was added to the agenda Monday, April 3.)
- SB 1515 (King) relates to the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools.
- SB 1647 (Parker) relates to dropout recovery education programs.
- SB 1721 (Paxton) relates to the display of the national motto and historically significant documents to the founding of the United States in public schools and institutions of higher education.
- SB 2158 (King) relates to the establishment of an adult education pilot program for certain inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (This bill was added to the agenda April 3.)
- SB 2372 (Campbell) relates to recommendations by local school health advisory councils regarding opioid addiction and abuse education in public schools.
SB 2428 (Creighton) relates to the removal of a public school student from the classroom for the possession or use of an e-cigarette.(This bill was removed from the agenda April 3.)
Watch the hearing live 9 a.m. Wednesday.
