| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to positive behavioral interventions and supports for |
|
|
students enrolled in public school who receive special education |
|
|
services. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Sections 21.451(d) and (f), Education Code, are |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(d) The staff development: |
|
|
(1) may include training in: |
|
|
(A) technology; |
|
|
(B) conflict resolution; |
|
|
(C) discipline strategies, including classroom |
|
|
management, district discipline policies, and the student code of |
|
|
conduct adopted under Section 37.001 and Chapter 37; [and] |
|
|
(D) positive behavioral intervention and |
|
|
supports or related strategies; and |
|
|
(E) protecting students from bullying, including |
|
|
preventing, identifying, responding to, and reporting incidents of |
|
|
bullying; |
|
|
(2) subject to Subsection (e) and to Section 21.3541 |
|
|
and rules adopted under that section, must include training that is |
|
|
evidence-based [based on scientifically based research], as |
|
|
defined by Section 8101, Every Student Succeeds Act [9101, No Child
|
|
|
Left Behind Act of 2001] (20 U.S.C. Section 7801), and that: |
|
|
(A) relates to instruction of students with |
|
|
disabilities; and |
|
|
(B) is designed for educators who work primarily |
|
|
outside the area of special education; and |
|
|
(3) must include suicide prevention training that must |
|
|
be provided: |
|
|
(A) on an annual basis, as part of a new employee |
|
|
orientation, to all new school district and open-enrollment charter |
|
|
school educators; and |
|
|
(B) to existing school district and |
|
|
open-enrollment charter school educators on a schedule adopted by |
|
|
the agency by rule. |
|
|
(f) In developing or maintaining the training required by |
|
|
Subsection (d)(2), a school district must consult with persons with |
|
|
expertise in evidence-based [research-based] practices for |
|
|
students with disabilities. Persons who may be consulted under |
|
|
this subsection include colleges, universities, private and |
|
|
nonprofit organizations, regional education service centers, |
|
|
qualified district personnel, and behavior specialist |
|
|
professionals [any other persons identified as qualified by the
|
|
|
district]. This subsection applies to all training required by |
|
|
Subsection (d)(2), regardless of whether the training is provided |
|
|
at the campus or district level. In this subsection, "behavior |
|
|
specialist professional" means a person who: |
|
|
(1) is appropriately certified as determined by the |
|
|
commissioner in, is trained in, or has knowledge of: |
|
|
(A) principles and practices of behavioral |
|
|
support plan development, implementation, and evaluation; |
|
|
(B) medications used to assist with behavior |
|
|
management, including the side effects and adverse effects of those |
|
|
medications; |
|
|
(C) systems used to track treatment |
|
|
effectiveness; |
|
|
(D) delivery of behavioral services to persons |
|
|
with disabilities; and |
|
|
(E) characteristics of developmental |
|
|
disabilities; and |
|
|
(2) has the ability to: |
|
|
(A) conduct a comprehensive functional |
|
|
behavioral assessment; |
|
|
(B) develop a behavior support plan that includes |
|
|
positive behavioral intervention and supports or related |
|
|
strategies; |
|
|
(C) evaluate behavioral and special education |
|
|
program data; and |
|
|
(D) plan, assign, and supervise the work of |
|
|
others. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 29, Education Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding Section 29.021 to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 29.021. POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS AND |
|
|
SUPPORTS. (a) In this section, "restraint" and "seclusion" have |
|
|
the meanings assigned by Section 37.0021. |
|
|
(b) It is the policy of this state that each school district |
|
|
to the maximum extent possible should provide functional behavioral |
|
|
assessments to a student whose behavior interferes with the ability |
|
|
of that student or of another student to learn. The result of |
|
|
student assessments shall be used to develop and provide positive |
|
|
behavioral interventions and supports or related strategies to |
|
|
enhance academic and social behavioral outcomes for students by: |
|
|
(1) emphasizing the use of data to inform decisions |
|
|
regarding selecting, implementing, and monitoring the progress of |
|
|
evidence-based behavioral practices; |
|
|
(2) organizing resources and systems to improve the |
|
|
faithful implementation and sustainability of positive behavioral |
|
|
intervention and supports or related strategies; and |
|
|
(3) providing training to school district personnel |
|
|
who will be involved in implementing positive behavioral |
|
|
intervention and supports or related strategies. |
|
|
(c) A school district shall provide positive behavioral |
|
|
interventions and supports or related strategies under this section |
|
|
in a manner that: |
|
|
(1) ensures a student's freedom from restraint and |
|
|
seclusion except as provided by Section 37.0021 and rules adopted |
|
|
by the commissioner under that section; |
|
|
(2) respects human dignity and personal privacy and |
|
|
does not cause pain or trauma to a student; |
|
|
(3) ensures a student's right to placement in the least |
|
|
restrictive educational environment; and |
|
|
(4) focuses on the individual in order to determine |
|
|
the most appropriate strategy for each student. |
|
|
(d) If the student's admission, review, and dismissal |
|
|
committee determines that the creation or revision of a behavioral |
|
|
intervention plan is necessary, the committee shall create or |
|
|
revise the plan to include positive behavioral interventions and |
|
|
supports or related evidence-based behavioral intervention |
|
|
strategies. The district shall offer training on positive |
|
|
behavioral intervention and supports or related strategies to all |
|
|
school district personnel involved in the implementation of the |
|
|
behavioral intervention plan who have not received training on |
|
|
positive behavioral intervention and supports or related |
|
|
strategies within the preceding two years. The training offered |
|
|
under this subsection must be: |
|
|
(1) conducted by one or more persons who may be |
|
|
consulted under Section 21.451(f); and |
|
|
(2) to the maximum extent possible, relevant to the |
|
|
behavioral intervention plan. |
|
|
(e) The student's admission, review, and dismissal |
|
|
committee shall monitor the implementation and results of the |
|
|
behavioral intervention plan and determine the need for any |
|
|
revision of the plan or any additional training for school district |
|
|
personnel. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Section 37.0021, Education Code, is amended by |
|
|
adding Subsections (d-1), (d-2), and (d-3) to read as follows: |
|
|
(d-1) A school district or a school district employee or |
|
|
volunteer or an independent contractor of a school district may not |
|
|
authorize, order, consent to, or pay for any of the following: |
|
|
(1) an intervention that is designed to or likely to |
|
|
cause physical pain, including electric shock or any procedure that |
|
|
involves the use of pressure points or joint locks; |
|
|
(2) an intervention that involves the directed release |
|
|
of a noxious, toxic, or otherwise unpleasant spray, mist, or |
|
|
substance near the student's face; |
|
|
(3) an intervention that denies adequate sleep, air, |
|
|
food, water, shelter, bedding, physical comfort, or access to a |
|
|
restroom facility; |
|
|
(4) an intervention that involves subjecting the |
|
|
student to verbal abuse, ridicule, or humiliation or that can be |
|
|
expected to cause the student emotional trauma; |
|
|
(5) a restrictive intervention that employs a device, |
|
|
material, or object that simultaneously immobilizes all four |
|
|
extremities, including any procedure that results in such |
|
|
immobilization known as prone or supine floor restraint; |
|
|
(6) an intervention that impairs the student's |
|
|
breathing, including any procedure that involves: |
|
|
(A) applying pressure to the student's torso or |
|
|
neck; or |
|
|
(B) obstructing the student's airway, including |
|
|
placing an object in, on, or over the student's mouth or nose or |
|
|
placing a bag, cover, or mask over the student's face; |
|
|
(7) an intervention that restricts the student's |
|
|
circulation; |
|
|
(8) an intervention that secures the student to a |
|
|
stationary object while the student is in a sitting or standing |
|
|
position; |
|
|
(9) an intervention that inhibits, reduces, or hinders |
|
|
the student's ability to communicate; |
|
|
(10) an intervention that involves the use of a |
|
|
chemical restraint; |
|
|
(11) an intervention that prevents observation by a |
|
|
direct line of sight or otherwise precludes adequate supervision of |
|
|
the student, including isolating the student in a classroom by the |
|
|
use of physical barriers; or |
|
|
(12) an intervention that deprives the student of the |
|
|
use of one or more of the student's senses. |
|
|
(d-2) For purposes of Subsection (d-1)(11), an intervention |
|
|
that denies the student academic instruction by a certified |
|
|
educator constitutes an intervention that precludes adequate |
|
|
supervision. |
|
|
(d-3) In adopting procedures under this section, the |
|
|
commissioner shall provide guidance to school district employees, |
|
|
volunteers, and independent contractors of school districts in |
|
|
avoiding a violation of Subsection (d-1). |
|
|
SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 2017-2018 |
|
|
school year. |
|
|
SECTION 5. 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. If this |
|
|
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
|
|
Act takes effect September 1, 2017. |