School board rules related to pupil discipline and requiring a reintegration process in a school board's code of classroom conduct

What it would have done

Summary by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

Under current law, school boards may do all things reasonable to promote the cause of education, including make rules pertaining to conduct of pupils to maintain good decorum and a favorable academic atmosphere in the schools of the school district. For purposes of rules related to pupil discipline, this bill expressly authorizes school boards to take into account certain conduct that occurs while a pupil is not at school or under school supervision. Off-campus pupil conduct that may be considered for pupil discipline is conduct that 1) is not off-campus conduct that is a basis for suspension or expulsion under current law, 2) is egregious, and 3) endangers the safety of a child. Under current law, a pupil may be suspended or expelled for conduct that does not occur at school or under the supervision of a school authority if the conduct 1) endangers the property, health, or safety of others at school or under school supervision or 2) endangers the property, health, or safety of any school district employee or school board member.

Current law also requires each school board to adopt a code that governs classroom conduct and specifies that each code of classroom conduct must include various items related to removing a pupil from a classroom. The bill requires that a school board's code of classroom conduct must also include a reintegration process that applies when a pupil returns to the classroom from a suspension or expulsion that was the result of an act of violence against another pupil. Under the bill, the reintegration process must include a notice to the parent of a pupil who was a victim of the violence; an opportunity for the pupil who was a victim of the violence to make recommendations about the pupil returning to the classroom or school; and a requirement that the school board take all reasonable and practicable steps to ensure the emotional and physical safety of a pupil who was a victim of the violence in reintegrating the pupil to the classroom or school.

Who's behind it

Patrick Testin, a Republican, is its author⁠.