Texas Republicans proposed a new law that would give educators a much more discretion than would halt homeless students and undermine legal protections for the state’s most vulnerable children.
House Bill 6, which is common to nearly three-quarters of House Republicans, allows school leaders to suspend homeless students due to actions that “threatening the immediate health and safety of other students,” or to cause “repeated or serious classroom disruption.”
Under the law passed with bipartisan support in 2019, Texas educators can now issue out-of-school suspensions to homeless students only if they break rules relating to violence, weapons, drugs and alcohol. At the time, state lawmakers noted that many homeless children rely on schools for food, shelters and showers.
A Houston landing investigation issued in May 2024 revealed that hundreds of Texas school districts have broken laws in recent years, resulting in thousands of illegal suspensions. Following the report, Texas Educational Institutions took steps to strengthen policy enforcement, warning that state laws were violated in mid-January in 460 districts, allowing sanctions to be sought in the event of future violations.
But House Republicans are looking to reduce the law and return more decisions to educators. The bill also has some legal protections from suspension, among new rules relating to student discipline.
“Our teachers should spend their time on education rather than constantly managing confusion and disciplinary issues,” Rep. Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican and one of the bill’s four main sponsors, said in a press release when legislators introduced the bill in late February. “Hospital Bill 6 ensures that educators have the tools and authority they need to protect classroom discipline, allowing them to focus on what is best.
Leach and House Public Education Committee Chairman Brad Buckley, Salado’s Republican and fellow primary sponsor, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Renuka Rege, a senior staff attorney at Appleseed in non-profit Texas, said the proposed changes to state law show a push towards “zero tolerance” discipline.
Strict punishment alienates students rather than addressing the root cause of their misconduct, Rege argued. In particular, suspension is dangerous for homeless children who may be on the streets navigating dangerous situations when they are kicked out of campus, she said.
“Congress recently said, “Okay, we have certain circumstances where we don’t want to send kids out of schools as a disciplinary tool. “But (the bill) is eroding a lot of that.”
Is it too soft or too excessive?
House Bill 6 will need to clear some hurdles before potential passing in the coming weeks. The number of Republican co-hosts and support for Buckley’s Bill Board worked well against the prospects of the home.
However, Senate President Lt. Col. Dan Patrick has not included the proposal in the Legislative Council’s list of priorities. There is no commonality in the Senate bill, sponsored by Senator R-Galveston, Mayes Middleton, with the same language on the suspension of homelessness.
State Senator Diego Vernal, a Democrat from San Antonio and vice-chairman of the House Education Committee, has put forward the proposal.
“We should not assume that all bills are completely burned,” Vernal wrote in a text message.
The bill comes as Texas districts and nations struggle to navigate the surge in classroom management difficulties shortly after the pandemic. Educators have long debated whether a more stringent approach to training children who were overly harmed, especially those who were punished, was necessary to maintain an orderly classroom environment.
In Texas, a collection of about 40 school districts formed the Student Behavior Management Coalition. This argues that state law governing how educators can oust punish punishments, including homeless students, has become a “titan of obligation and standards.” The group advocates changes outlined in the Republican bill.
Approximately 12 Houston District Districts, including Cy-Fair, Katy and Spring Branch ISDS, are members of the Union. Several participating districts in Beaumont, Cedar Hill and Texas City ISDS have the highest outage rates in the state, while most others have sub-average suspension rates.
In addition to expanding the list of permitted reasons for halting early or homeless students, the proposed law will make several other changes to school discipline laws.
Schools can create online alternative schools for students who commit more serious violations and issue in-school suspensions for indefinite days, among other changes.
It also overturns a 2023 law requiring educators to send students to disciplinary alternative schools for the use or possession of e-cigarettes. Some districts are eschewing the law by opting out of it through the Innovation District process.
Asher Lehrer-Small covers the Houston ISD for landing. Find @by_ash_ls on Instagram, find @small_asher on X, or contact us directly at asher@houstonlanding.org.
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