How Texas students, teachers could be impacted by a school discipline overhaul

Texas teachers have made it clear that student behavior can be a problem.

In a poll cited by the state’s 2023 Teacher Vacancy Task Force report, nearly half of educators listed discipline and safe working conditions as a top concern.

That motivated school s and lawmakers to propose changes to the state’s discipline rules.

The most prominent bill aimed at addressing misbehavior is House Bill 6, which lawmakers approved and sent to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.

Abbott thanked lawmakers for the legislation in a social media post.

“It’s common sense to give teachers the authority to remove disruptive students from classrooms. We must restore discipline in our schools,” Abbott wrote on X.

Among the voices that pushed for change was a group of district officials who formed the Student Behavior Management Coalition. They said more must be done to ensure disruptive students don’t detract from other children’s experiences and safety in school.

However, some education advocates are concerned the bill represents Texas swinging toward zero-tolerance policies that were in place years ago. That approach disproportionately removed children of color and those with disabilities from class, data showed.

Here are some of the ways school discipline could change under HB 6:

Greater flexibility to suspend young students

About a decade ago, Texas’ public schools suspended more than 100,000 students in pre-K through second grade. Faced with this data, lawmakers in 2017 banned out-of-school suspensions for these littlest learners, except for serious offenses such as if they brought a gun or marijuana to class.

HB 6 would allow those children to be kicked out of class for “documented conduct that results in repeated or significant disruption to the classroom.”

Some education advocates are worried this essentially reverses the ban because young children are frequently disruptive and the bill language does not define what is “significant.”

In response to those concerns, lawmakers ordered that school officials must document the behavior that leads to out-of-school suspensions for young students.

Lawmakers said this was about striking a balance while addressing the small number of students who can cause chaos in elementary classrooms.

“Sending a child home — a 5-year-old at K through three — is the last thing we want to do, but we’re not going to let them rob the other kids of their education,” said Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio.

The bill would also make it easier to suspend homeless students by creating the same exceptions to their protections as it does for very young students.

Creation of virtual expulsion program

Lawmakers said principals should be allowed to place expelled students into a virtual education program under specific circumstances.

The idea raised concerns as some advocates stressed that online school was harmful during the pandemic, especially for vulnerable children. Children fell behind academically and missed out on critical provided at school, from counseling to free meals.

Under HB 6, virtual placements would have to be reviewed at least every 45 school days to ensure it remains appropriate and that there aren’t available in-person options.

“The virtual expulsion program is only to be used as an alternative to expelling students to the streets,” said Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock. “Students may not be placed in virtual expulsion program for low-level offenses or Student Code Conduct violations.”

Watering down vaping mandate

During the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers approved a new rule that required school s to send students to off-campus disciplinary campuses – called Disciplinary Alternative Education Program, or DAEP – if they were caught vaping on campus.

Since then, e-cigarette offenses became one of the most common reasons students were disciplined, with more than 32,000 violations last year.

So this session, school leaders asked lawmakers to give them back discretion over how students are punished. The strict mandate led to over-crowded disciplinary campuses and a uniformly harsh approach to children who may need help with nicotine addiction.

HB 6 would water down the DAEP mandate for vaping, giving district leaders back some flexibility over how they punish students who bring e-cigarettes onto campus.

On a first-time offense, for example, students could instead be sent to in-school suspension.

Removing in-school suspension limits

The discipline overhaul would clarify that schools can send students to in-school suspension, or ISS, for an unlimited time.

Placements would be reviewed at least once every 10 days.

Current rules cap ISS to three days.

School leaders said sometimes students must be removed from their peers for extended periods to give officials the chance to fully investigate and address an offense.

Opponents worry students could be left languishing in ISS and miss valuable class time.

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism, Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.