HBA-MPM H.B. 2742 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2742
By: Goodman
Public Education
3/19/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

In 1995, the 75th Texas Legislature passed a law requiring all school
districts to operate alternative education programs (programs) and
requiring the juvenile boards in counties with populations of 125,000 or
more to operate these programs.  The governing bodies of these boards were
given flexibility in the development of these programs, which require
students to be taught the core curriculum, including self-discipline, seven
hours a day for 180 days per year. There are still several issues
concerning these programs that need to be addressed. 

H.B. 2742 addresses transportation of students to and from the programs,
provides for special education services, adds aggravated robbery as a
mandatory expulsion offense, and sets forth a minimum length of stay in a
program. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 25.086(a), Education Code, to exempt a child
from the requirements of compulsory school attendance if the child is
expelled according to the requirements of law in a school district that
does not participate in a juvenile justice alternative education program
(program), rather than a mandatory program, under Section 37.011 (Juvenile
Justice Alternative Education Program), Education Code. 

SECTION 2. Amends Sections 37.007(a) and (c), Education Code, to add
aggravated robbery under Section 29.03 (Aggravated Robbery), Penal Code, to
other offenses which, if committed by a student while on school property or
while attending a school-sponsored or school-related activity on or off
school property, requires that student to be expelled.  Provides that a
student may be expelled for conduct that does not occur on school property
or while attending a school-sponsored or schoolrelated activity only if: 

_the student receives deferred prosecution under Section 53.03 (Deferred
Prosecution), Family Code, for conduct defined as a felony offense under
Title 5 (Offenses Against the Person), Penal Code; 
_a court or jury finds under Section 54.03 (Adjudication Hearing), Family
Code, that the student has engaged in delinquent conduct defined as a
felony offense under Title 5, Penal Code;  
_a court or jury convicts the student of a felony offense under Title 5,
Family Code; or 
_the superintendent or superintendent's designee has a reasonable belief
that the student has engaged in conduct defined as a felony offense under
Title 5, Penal Code. 

SECTION 3.  Amends Section 37.011, Education Code, by amending Subsections
(a), (f), (i), (k), and (l), and adding Subsections (r) and (s), as
follows: 

(a)  Provides that certain exemptions apply to a program located in a
county with a  population of 125,000 or less that does not receive
state-appropriated funds for such a program, rather than a county with a
population of 125,000 or less.   

(f)  Authorizes the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission (commission) to
approve the instruction of students for fewer than the number of days
required under this subsection if disaster, flood, extreme weather
conditions, fuel curtailment, or another calamity causes the closing of
schools, or if the program has adopted the school calendar of a school
district in the county and the days of instruction in that district are
fewer than 180 because of a waiver granted by the commissioner of
education.   

(i) Prohibits a student's placement into the program for a period of fewer
than 90 school days. 

(k)  Makes the provision that an annual joint memorandum of understanding
(memorandum) requiring a district in a county with a population of more
than 125,000 and the county juvenile board to establish a plan providing
transportation services for students placed in the program subject to
proposed Subsection (r).  Makes the provision that requires the memorandum
to establish a plan to address special education services required by law
subject to proposed Subsection (s). 

(l)  Makes a nonsubstantive change.

(r)  Provides that unless otherwise agreed in the memorandum required by
Subsection (k), the district with the greatest student enrollment in the
county in which the program operates is responsible for providing
transportation to all students to and from the program.  Requires a
district, in the event a student in the program was expelled from a
district other than that providing the transportation, to pay to the
district providing transportation an amount equal to the per day/per
student transportation allotment the district receives multiplied by the
number of days the student attends the program. 

(s)  Provides that unless otherwise agreed in the memorandum required by
Subsection (k), the district from which a student in the program who is
eligible for special education services is expelled is responsible for all
costs associated with the provision of the special education curriculum or
related services as defined by Section 29.002 (Definition), Education Code,
as required by the student's individualized education program.  Provides
that a program is not a local education agency for purposes of federal law. 

SECTION 4.  Amends Section 37.012, Education Code, to require the
commission to provide funding for a student expelled on the basis of
Section 37.007(a), (d), or (e) (Expulsion for Serious Offenses), Education
Code, in an amount determined by the General Appropriations Act.  Provides
that for the juvenile board responsible for operating the program to
receive funding for an expelled student under this section, the district
from which the student was expelled must document and provide to the board
certain information.  Requires the district from which a student was
expelled on the basis of the above referenced subsections to provide
funding to the board for the portion of the school year for which the
program provides educational services in an amount determined by the
memorandum under Section 37.011(k) if the local law enforcement agency to
which the alleged conduct that was the basis for expulsion is reported does
not: 

_find probable cause to believe the student engaged in an offending conduct
which constitutes mandatory expulsion; and 
_make a formal referral of the case to the juvenile court or forward the
case to the prosecutor. 

Redesignates Subsections (b)-(c) to Subsections (d)-(e), respectively.

SECTION 5.  Makes this Act applicable beginning with the 1999-2000 school
year. 

SECTION 6.Emergency clause.
  Effective date: upon passage.