House passes school discipline bill

The Texas House passed HB 6 by Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Plano) on April 15. Among the many provisions in the bill, the one that attracted the most attention revises the prohibition on assigning out-of-school suspension for students below third grade to expand the situations in which such suspension would be allowed. While the debate around appropriate disciplinary measures for younger students has evolved over the years, especially since an increase in severe incidents post-COVID, strengthening discipline tools for school districts has gained bipartisan support this session.

A handful of Democratic representatives questioned Leach on the wisdom of allowing young students to be suspended from school. Leach responded by citing numerous cases in which school administrators saw fit to remove young students from the regular school setting, but were prevented from doing so by current law. In some cases, administrators have to clear the classroom of all other students due to the danger posed by one. 

The bill also limits in-school suspensions to 10 days (the commissioner had previous determined that ISS could not exceed three days).

Notably, two Democratic representatives who sit on the House Public Education Committee spoke in favor of the bill: Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston) and Rep. John Bryant (D-Dallas). Both acknowledged the difficulty of the topic before them, but encouraged members to vote in favor of the bill because conditions have changed enough in schools to merit strengthening discipline policies. 

Several amendments were proposed, but were not added to the bill. After all amendments were considered, Leach encouraged his fellow members to stand up for teachers and help them protect their classrooms.

The bill passed 122-21 and will now head to the Senate for consideration.