State
BY HANNAH NORTON
Texas lawmakers are working on legislation aimed at giving teachers more discretion to remove students who they deem repeatedly disruptive or a threat to others’ safety from the classroom. Lawmakers have said these bills would help schools attract and retain educators. Over 12% of Texas teachers left their jobs ahead of the 2023-24 school year, according to data from the Texas Education Agency. In 2022, nearly half of teachers cited discipline issues as a top workplace challenge, per the TEA. “This is [one of the most important bills this session],” House Speaker Dustin Burrows told Community Impact in an April 3 interview. “We have to have our teachers being able to be respected in the classroom and being able to restore discipline.” Texas bills would tighten school discipline policies
At a glance
What they’re saying
Some Texans told a House committee March 18 that expanding suspensions for young students would harm children’s progress and development. “Young children make mistakes, and they’re still learning acceptable behavior and how to self-regulate,” said Adrian Fonseca, a teacher at Dallas ISD’s Montessori Academy. “Suspensions only push students further away from an environment where they can see and learn how to interact and behave appropriately.” During a March 25 hearing on the Senate bills, Kaylan Dixon Smith, an attorney for the Texas Classroom Teachers Association, said discipline is a top concern for teachers. “Student discipline problems are linked to teacher attrition,” Dixon Smith said. “To be frank, if you want to keep teachers teaching, you must make the classroom safer. We must give teachers more autonomy and authority to maintain classroom environments that are safe and conducive for learning.” On the House floor April 15, Leach said teachers have told him they felt “powerless” in their ability to discipline students. “It is not compassionate for kids not to have consequences,” Leach said. “This bill restores the rights of our educators and our teachers, in conjunction with parents, to provide those consequences and to provide the necessary controls.”
Members of the Texas House and Senate have passed separate bills that would expand public schools’ authority to discipline students. Bills must be approved by both legislative chambers before they can become law.
Senate Bill 27
by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, would : • Allow teachers to immediately remove students who bully or abuse others • Require a teacher’s written consent before students return to class • Give teachers more flexibility in their employment contracts
Senate Bill 1871
by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, would : • Require students to be expelled to a state-run Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program for assaulting a teacher and other violent acts • Remove a three-day cap on in-school suspensions and allow students to be placed in them indefinitely
Teachers leaving the classroom
13.44%
House Bill 6
15%
by Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, would : • Reverse a 2017 state law that generally prohibits schools from suspending students in pre-K through second grade • Place a 10-day time limit on in-school suspensions • Expand a list of off-campus offenses that could lead to a student’s expulsion
9.34%
10%
12.17%
11.57%
5%
0%
2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 School year
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
SOURCE: TEXAS LEGISLATURE ONLINE/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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