The Senate Education Committee adopted a subcommittee report as amended that revises several school-administration and discipline provisions, including timelines and penalties tied to teacher-notice and reemployment rules and new language on expulsions for firearms and certain threats.

Donna Barton, committee staff, summarized the package of changes and the committee’s edits. Barton said the draft retains a one-year expulsion period for any student who brings a firearm to a school setting but makes that one-year term subject to case-by-case modification: if the hearing is conducted by the district board of trustees the board may modify the period; if the hearing is conducted by another authority, the district superintendent may modify it but the board must review and affirm any modification. Barton said: “We still have the 1 year for anybody who brings a firearm to a school setting.”

On teacher-notice and contract rules, committee staff and members discussed restoring current law that automatically reemploys a teacher if the board fails to notify a teacher by May 1, while adding a financial penalty for a board’s failure to meet new notification obligations. The committee reduced an earlier proposed penalty of $100,000 per occurrence to $10,000 per occurrence. Barton told the panel the reporting requirement and a delayed implementation date are intended to allow the Department of Education to collect baseline data and give districts time to comply; committee members said current law (notification by May 1) would remain in effect until July 1, 2026, when the new section would take effect.

Other technical changes adopted in committee include clarifying who may serve on governing boards in light of potential conflicts of interest, refining the definition of “teacher” and clarifying that the statute applies to those who “teach students in a classroom” (committee discussion suggested revising to “academic setting” to avoid ambiguity), and removing state and federal tax returns from certain disclosure requirements at a subcommittee member’s request.

The committee also adopted an amendment addressing threats: the panel added a new expulsion provision that allows the board to expel a student who communicates a threat to commit bodily harm by any letter, paper, writing, electronic communication or other communication intended to reach another person, for no more than one academic year. The amendment includes criteria that a reviewing authority must find — among other things — a reasonable expectation that the violent act would result and that the student has the capacity to carry out the threat. The committee debated balancing protections for victims and schools with concerns about overreach when students make nonactionable or impulsive statements.

Committee members approved the subcommittee report as amended by voice votes; recorded proxies voting aye included Senators Young, Johnson, Cash, Rankin, Peeler and Turner.