The Texas Education Agency will receive new powers to enforce school safety plans under a Senate bill.

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The Texas Senate on Friday unveiled the Priority School Safety Bill, which would create a department of safety and security housed in the Texas Education Agency. In addition, the law will give the Education Commissioner more direct authority to force school districts to establish safety protocols for active shooter situations.

Senate Bill 11, introduced by Senator Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, further strengthens existing truancy laws. This came after reports revealed that the Uvalde shooter had been chronically absent since the sixth grade and dropped out of school. During a Senate committee meeting last month, Nichols said current truancy laws have no “teeth” on parents.

The legislation, which received the blessing of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, provides that the new department will oversee mandatory school safety measures, such as safety plans.

Those plans, which must include active shooter strategies, were to be filed with the Texas School Safety Center, a Texas State University think tank created by lawmakers in 2001 in the wake of the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting.

But a three-year review in 2020 found that out of 1,022 school districts in the state, only 200 had an active shooter policy in their plans, even though most districts reported having such a policy. The audit also found that 626 counties did not have an active shooter policy. Another 196 had an active shooter policy, but according to the audit, there were not enough of them. In addition, the report states that overall, only 67 school districts had viable contingency plans.

Under the proposed legislation, the Commissioner of Education, in consultation with the Security Centre, will develop regulations regarding security checks and other emergency plans. The bill would also create similar safety plans for community colleges.

Governor Greg Abbott initially directed the agency to create such a department in the wake of the Uvalde shooting and appointed former U.S. Secret Service agent John P. Scott as the agency’s chief of school security.

The bill makes it easier for the education agency to impose harsh penalties on districts that do not comply. Currently, the educational agency must be notified by the security center of non-compliance before it can take action to impose a conservative or board of directors to replace the elected school board.

Under the new bill, the agency will have direct oversight and allow Education Commissioner Mike Morath to take over the school district and its board if it fails to meet safety standards. This power is akin to current law, which allows the commissioner to replace the school board and its superintendent if the district or school campus receives a failing grade for five consecutive years.

The new department will also establish a school safety review team at each of the state’s educational service centers that support school districts across the state. These groups will conduct vulnerability assessments twice a year on all school campuses in their regions. These educational service centers will act as school safety resources for districts, the bill says.

The bill would also increase the amount of money counties receive for improving campus safety from $9.72 to $10, plus an additional dollar for every $50 the county payout exceeds $6,160. It will also include a base payment of $15,000 per campus.

Funding for improving school safety is about $600 million in House and Senate budget proposals released in January.

For absenteeism, the bill will be stricter on how many days students can be absent before parents are sent to court. The school district must notify parents at the beginning of the school year that if their child misses six or more unexcused absences during an eight-week period in the same school year, they will be subject to prosecution and the child may be sent to court. . The shooter from Uvalde was reportedly

The bill also requires school districts to receive a copy of the child’s disciplinary record and any threat assessments when the child is enrolled.

Shannon Holmes, executive director of the Texas Professional Educators Association, said the bill contains measures that support Texas educators and is pleased that Nichols will lead the matter in the Senate.

“The legislation also provides for significant public funding for school safety, which the ATPE believes should be a top priority for lawmakers,” Holmes said.

Disclosure: The Texas Professional Educators Association provided financial support to The Texas Tribune, a non-profit, non-partisan news organization funded in part by donations from members, foundations, and corporate sponsors. Financial sponsors play no role in Tribune journalism. Find their complete list here.