SBEC advances temporary suspension rules, final approval to be considered at SBOE in June

The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) met April 24 to approve rules that implement Senate Bill 571 from the most recent legislation session.

SB 571 creates a new temporary suspension framework for educators. Typically, if a school district receives a complaint about an educator, they will investigate locally and, if the complaint is credible, report the misconduct to TEA where a full investigation will take place and sanctions on the educator's certificate may be issued. Under the new framework, reports of certain types of misconduct, mostly violence and child sexual abuse, would reverse this sequence and instead temporarily suspend the educator's certificate before the full investigation has taken place.

While SBEC has already approved rules implementing temporary suspensions for educators arrested for certain violent crimes, SB 571 also permits temporary suspensions for those deemed to be an "imminent threat to the public welfare," a term which was undefined until this meeting. TCTA testified before SBEC at multiple meetings that the proposed definition is too broad and would likely ensnare many more teachers than intended, but SBEC declined to make any changes.

In addition to the temporary suspension rules, SBEC also approved changes to the Educators' Code of Ethics. Included in those changes is a requirement that "educator[s] shall not promote, advocate, or encourage, in a manner that is reasonably accessible or visible to students, illegal conduct described by TEC 22A.201(a) or directly related to student behavior or school property."

TCTA testified that this rule would likely be an unconstitutional restriction on free speech because would punish teachers for the content of their speech without any consideration for the effect it has on the learning environment. Once again, SBEC declined to incorporate any of TCTA's suggestions to improve the rule.

These changes and others now go to the State Board of Education (SBOE) for final approval. If approved at SBOE's June meeting, the rules will take effect; if not, the proposed rules would be sent back to SBEC for more discussion.

Join TCTA on May 16 for a webinar with more details on these upcoming rule changes.

Click here to register.