Supporters of House Bill 6 said the proposal would improve working conditions for teachers and make classrooms safer. Opponents argued it would harm Texas’ youngest students, including those with disabilities.
“In a time when we are actively making an effort to recruit and to retain exceptional teachers... we must ensure safe, positive and focused learning environments for both the educator and his or her students,” bill author Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said during the March 18 hearing.
HB 6 was left pending in the House Public Education Committee on March 18. If committee members approve Leach’s bill during a future hearing, it will head to the House floor.
What you need to know
A 2017 state law prohibits schools from suspending students in pre-K through second grade unless they commit a violent offense or bring a gun or drugs to school. HB 6 would reverse this prohibition, giving schools the option to suspend “students at any age... who routinely engage in repeated and significant disruption of the classroom, or who threaten the immediate health and safety” of others, Leach said.
Adrian Fonseca, a teacher at Dallas ISD’s Montessori Academy, said expanding suspensions for young students “opposes best practices in child development” and urged the committee to instead consider increasing training to help teachers respond to behavioral issues.
“Young children make mistakes, and they’re still learning acceptable behavior and how to self-regulate,” Fonseca said during the hearing. “Suspensions only push students further away from an environment where they can see and learn how to interact and behave appropriately.”
Leach pushed back against Fonseca’s argument, asking “how many chances do we give a student to stay in the classroom after he’s assaulted a fellow student or a teacher?”
Public school superintendents from across Texas testified in support of HB 6, noting a rise in serious classroom discipline issues in recent years.
“It’s very challenging to be in education now,” Cy-Fair ISD superintendent Douglas Killian said. “This is my 22nd year as a superintendent, and I have so much respect for the teachers in our school district that are doing this day in and day out, because it’s so much harder than when I taught.”
In 2022, nearly half of Texas teachers cited discipline issues as a top workplace challenge, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Leach said HB 6 would expand schools’ ability to expel students for certain off-campus conduct, including aggravated assault, sexual assault, murder and arson. The bill would also repeal a 2023 law that requires students be placed in an off-campus discipline program if caught with vape devices at school.
“The result has been major overcrowding of our [disciplinary alternative education] programs, which should be reserved, in my opinion, for more serious offenses,” Leach said.
The debate
HB 6 would remove a time limit on in-school suspensions, allowing schools to use this disciplinary procedure for as long as they see fit. State law currently stipulates that students cannot be suspended for more than three school days, whether they are inside the school building or at home.
During the hearing, some Texans testified that this change would isolate students and potentially allow schools to discriminate against children with disabilities.
“Sometimes behavior’s really serious, and for the health and safety of students, peers and colleagues, we gotta remove them—but that removal can’t be indefinite,” said Paige Duggins-Clay, an attorney for the Intercultural Development Research Association, an education policy nonprofit.
Rep. Terri Leo Wilson, a Galveston Republican and former public school teacher, asked those testifying against HB 6 what schools should do to balance classroom safety with support for students with severe behavioral issues.
“How do you balance that, when you have a really severe student who is doing very bad behaviors that we know... lead to more violent type of activities?” Leo Wilson asked. “The frustration for teachers is people waiting until something happens, when you knew all along that this kid has got some dangerous behaviors.”
Sabrina Gonzalez Saucedo, the public policy director for the Arc of Texas, a disability advocacy organization, said lawmakers should require educators to complete crisis prevention training with a focus on deescalation and intervention.
“Our main concern with HB 6 is that it expands removal options without adequate safeguards or due process, increasing the risk of discriminatory discipline against students with disabilities,” Gonzalez Saucedo said. “By prioritizing prevention over punitive measures, we can enhance school safety while safeguarding the educational rights of students with disabilities.”
One more thing
A separate school discipline proposal, Senate Bill 27, is scheduled to be discussed during a March 25 hearing of the Texas Senate Education Committee.
The bill by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, would expand teachers’ ability to remove students from the classroom and require written consent from a teacher before students return to class. SB 27 would also expand state efforts to attract and retain educators.
Bills must be passed by both legislative chambers before they can become law.
