HB 795 - Student Discipline Summary

• Replaces "code of student conduct" with "standards for intervention" focused on understanding root causes of misbehavior, resolving conflicts, and keeping students in school through age-appropriate responses.

• Prohibits students from being arrested or referred to criminal justice system for petty acts of misconduct unless failure to do so would endanger physical safety; requires written documentation of such determinations.

• Restricts school resource officers and school safety officers from making arrests except for violations constituting serious threats to school safety, and only after documented intervention attempts and consultation with school principal.

• Requires district school boards to adopt policies on referrals to criminal justice system rather than zero-tolerance policies, defining acts posing serious threats versus petty misconduct, with specific exceptions for weapons and threats.

• Mandates funding for restorative justice practices, support staff (counselors, social workers), and cooperative agreements between school districts and law enforcement agencies with specified training requirements for school safety officers.