HB 1277 - Student Discipline Summary

• Creates new definitions for student discipline including "standards for intervention," "exclusionary discipline," "restorative justice," and restorative practices (circles and group conferencing)

• Requires school districts to adopt "standards for intervention" instead of traditional codes of student conduct, emphasizing non-exclusionary approaches and limiting suspensions/expulsions for minor misbehavior

• Mandates school districts fund and implement restorative justice practices, hire support staff (counselors, social workers) at recommended ratios, and conduct annual surveys on school safety and discipline

• Revises school resource officer and school safety officer qualifications and authority, requiring mental health crisis training and restricting arrests to serious threats to school safety, with prohibition on arresting students for petty misconduct

• Eliminates "zero tolerance" policies in favor of policies on referrals to criminal justice that allow alternatives to law enforcement involvement unless alternatives pose a threat to school safety