HB4655 - School Code Student Discipline Amendment

• Requires parent-teacher advisory committees to develop student discipline policies addressing bullying prevention and school searches for all elementary, secondary, charter, and alternative schools by January 1, 2015.

• Eliminates zero-tolerance policies and restricts out-of-school suspensions of 3 days or less to situations where student presence poses threat to safety or disruption to learning; suspensions longer than 3 days require documented evidence of gross disobedience, ongoing safety threat, and exhaustion of other interventions.

• Requires expulsion orders and suspension orders to detail specific reasons for removal and rationale for duration; expulsions limited to acts involving drug distribution, weapons, sexual assault, or physical violence causing injury.

• Mandates schools provide students suspended longer than 3 days or expelled with educational services ensuring full opportunity to earn equivalent academic credit, including daily classwork, assignments, and weekly graded work.

• Prohibits school officials from advising students to voluntarily disenroll, bans monetary fines as discipline, and requires annual public reporting of all major disciplinary incidents while protecting student privacy.