Texas lawmakers are working on legislation aimed at giving teachers more discretion to remove students from the classroom if they are repeatedly disruptive or violent.
Lawmakers have said these bills would help schools attract and retain educators. Over 12% of teachers left their jobs ahead of the 2023-24 school year, according to Texas Education Agency data, and nearly half of teachers cited discipline issues as a top workplace challenge in 2022.
On April 3, state senators unanimously passed a bill that would expand teachers’ disciplinary authority and give them more flexibility in their contracts, while the House Public Education Committee voted 13-1 to send to the full House a bill that would overhaul the state’s school discipline policies and make it easier for schools to suspend younger students.
“Somebody asked me, ‘What do you think the most important bill of the session is?’ And I said, ‘There's a lot of them, but if I had to pick one that maybe isn't always in the headlines... this is it,’” House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, told Community Impact in an April 3 interview. “This has to be it. We have to have our teachers being able to be respected in the classroom and being able to restore discipline.”
At a glance
Senate Bill 27 would allow teachers to immediately remove from class a student who is “bullying others or is verbally abusive,” bill author Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, said April 3 on the Senate floor. The bill would also prevent teachers from being penalized for breaking their contracts due to an illness or the relocation of a spouse or live-in partner.
To ensure teachers have enough time to fulfill their duties during work hours, SB 27 would direct districts and the TEA to study how much time teachers spend on non-instructional work and professional development.
Senators passed Creighton’s proposal with a 31-0 vote April 3.
“In recent teacher surveys, safety, classroom control and order were the most significant factors to teachers leaving the classroom,” Creighton said. “Senate Bill 27 aims to keep our classrooms an environment for learning, an environment that has order, an environment where all students have an equal opportunity to learn.”
Creighton noted that the Senate also passed legislation that would increase salaries for teachers with at least three years of classroom experience earlier this session. He has called the two measures a “teacher bill of rights,” which he said would help attract and retain educators.
House Bill 6, 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. The bill would allow schools to remove from the classroom any student who is repeatedly disruptive or threatens the safety of others.
During a March 18 committee hearing, Leach said students who “assault a fellow student or a teacher” should not be allowed to stay in the classroom.
