TITLE: Relating to the identification of certain student behavior by a school district's threat assessment and safe and supportive school team.

SUMMARY: Relating to the identification of certain student behavior by a school district's threat assessment and safe and supportive school team.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to the identification of certain student behavior by a school district's threat assessment and safe and supportive school team. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Sections 37.115(a), (b), and (f), Education Code, are amended to read as follows: (a) In this section: (1) "Early behavior" includes behaviors, such as a change in attendance, academic performance, or emotional response, the exhibition of withdrawn behavior or early signs of self-harm, problematic peer interaction, or a discipline concern, by a student that could result in or benefit from: (A) specific interventions, including mental health or behavioral supports; (B) academic support; (C) a conference with the student's parent or person standing in parental relation to the student; (D) a discipline referral; or (E) another restorative practice. (2) [(1)] "Harmful, threatening, or violent behavior" includes behaviors, such as verbal threats, threats of self harm, bullying, cyberbullying, fighting, the use or possession of a weapon, sexual assault, sexual harassment, dating violence, stalking, or assault, by a student that could result in: (A) specific interventions, including mental health or behavioral supports; (B) in-school suspension; (C) out-of-school suspension; or (D) the student's expulsion or removal to a disciplinary alternative education program or a juvenile justice alternative education program. (3) [(2)] "Team" means a threat assessment and safe and supportive school team established by the board of trustees of a school district under this section. (b) The agency, in coordination with the Texas School Safety Center, shall adopt rules to establish a safe and supportive school program. The rules shall incorporate research-based best practices for school safety, including providing for: (1) physical and psychological safety; (2) a multiphase and multihazard approach to prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery in a crisis situation; (3) a systemic and coordinated multitiered support system that addresses school climate, the social and emotional domain, and behavioral and mental health; [and] (4) multidisciplinary and multiagency collaboration to assess risks and threats in schools and provide appropriate interventions, including rules for the establishment and operation of teams;and (5) a uniform method of identifying and collecting data regarding early behavior of a student that may require intervention.(f) Each team shall: (1) conduct a threat assessment that includes: (A) assessing and reporting individuals who make threats of violence or exhibit harmful, threatening, or violent behavior in accordance with the policies and procedures adopted under Subsection (c); and (B) gathering and analyzing data,including data regarding the early behavior of a student, to determine the level of risk and appropriate intervention, including: (i) referring a student for mental health assessment; and (ii) implementing an escalation procedure, if appropriate based on the team's assessment, in accordance with district policy; (2) provide guidance to students and school employees on recognizing harmful, threatening, or violent behavior that may pose a threat to the community, school, or individual; and (3) support the district in implementing the district's multihazard emergency operations plan. SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024 school year. SECTION 3. 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.