Texas Senate panel advances bill that gives schools more latitude to discipline students

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A Texas Senate panel on Thursday advanced a school discipline bill that increases both the severity of punishment students could face for attacking their teachers and the amount of time schools can use in-school suspensions.

House Bill 6 is the Legislature's attempt to stem a reported rise of student violence in classrooms since the COVID-19 pandemic, which school leaders say is making working conditions untenable for teachers at a time when they are grappling with high turnover rates. The legislation has already cleared the House. But the Senate education committee made changes Thursday that take a more punitive approach to disciplining students. If the bill passes the Senate, the House will have to agree to the new changes, or lawmakers will have to iron out their differences behind closed doors before the legislation becomes law.

Because the bill would allow schools to use out-of-school suspensions to discipline all students when they engage in “repeated and significant” classroom disruption or threaten the health and safety of other children, it would make it easier for schools to discipline homeless students and the state's youngest students. That's because the bill would reverse state laws from 2017 and 2019 that put limitations on when and how those students could be disciplined. The House already approved that proposed update to current law.

When students attack teachers or make “terroristic” threats, the House version of the bill would require students go to disciplinary alternative education programs, an alternative to suspension or expulsions, for at least 30 days. The Senate panel proposed using juvenile justice alternative education program, a more severe form of intervention.

The chambers' versions deviate on how long schools can use in-school suspensions, where a student is removed from their regular classroom but remain on school grounds and are supervised by school personnel. The House version of the bill would limit the length of in-school suspensions to 10 days. The Senate panel would allows schools to use in-school-suspension indefinitely, so long as those placements are reviewed every 15 days.

The House wants to repeal a current law that requires schools to send students who vaped to alternative education settings. The Senate panel wants to keeps the discipline mandates over vaping in current law.

Both the House and Senate want to let schools teach students in alternative education programs remotely — a mode of instruction that was shown to contribute to learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The version of the bill that the House approved reflected concerns made in hours of testimony during a House public education committee hearing in March. For example, “knowledgeable professionals” would have to help make decisions about discipline when students with disabilities are involved. Rep. Jeff Leach, the bill’s author, also added language to the legislation that would require teachers to employ classroom management techniques and prove that students are a threat before removing students from the classroom.

When the House version of the bill made it the lower chambers' floor in April, some Democrats unsuccessfully tried to add amendments that would have expanded psychological services. Leach remained firm as he shot down those efforts.

“Kids are going to be kids, but I will tell you that it is not compassionate for kids not to have consequences,” he said during a heated discussion on the House floor. “For a student that comes into a classroom and threatens a teacher … again and again and again … the compassionate and merciful thing to do is to punish them.”

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