With the passage of Senate Bill 11 during the 86th Texas Legislative Session in 2019, Section 115 has been added to Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code to address threat assessment in public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools. The board of trustees of each school district is required to establish a Safe and Supportive School Program Team which conducts behavioral threat assessments to serve at each campus of the district. A team may serve more than one campus, but each campus must have a team assigned to it. Further, the board must adopt policies and procedures for the teams that are consistent with the model policies and procedures developed by the Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC). These policies and procedures require each team to complete training provided by the TxSSC or a regional education service center (ESC) and report specific information regarding the team’s activities to the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

The superintendent of the district must ensure, to the greatest extent practicable, that the members appointed to each team have expertise in counseling, behavior management, mental health and substance use, classroom instruction, special education, school administration, school safety and security, emergency management, and law enforcement. Each established team is required to conduct threat assessments that include assessing and reporting individuals who make threats of violence or exhibit harmful, threatening, or violent behavior and gather and analyze data to determine the level of risk and appropriate interventions.

During the 88th Legislative Session in 2023, five responsibilities were added to the school behavioral threat assessment process. These responsibilities are described in detail in Texas Education Code 37.115, and are summarized below:

Clear Procedure to Report Concerning Behavior

The first responsibility requires each district campus to establish a clear procedure for a student to report concerning behavior exhibited by another student for assessment by the school behavioral threat assessment team or other appropriate school employee.

If clear procedures for student reporting exist and these procedures are understood by everyone, especially the students, then no further action is needed. If there are not clear procedures, or they are not understood by everyone, especially students, then appropriate steps must include establishing clear procedures and training everyone on those procedures.

Protect Identity of Reporter

The second responsibility requires the district to protect the identity of a district employee who reports a potential threat to the threat assessment team if the employee desires to keep their identity confidential.

The following is recommended guidance for understanding and implementing this responsibility. First, only the initial reporting district employee has the option to have their identity protected. This confidentiality option is not available to other employees who provide information to the team later during the threat assessment process. Second, an employee who desires to keep their identity confidential has protection under Chapter 552 of the Government Code. Third, the reporting employee needs to understand the law does allow their identity to be disclosed, as necessary, to the threat assessment team, the district, or law enforcement so an investigation can be conducted concerning the potential threat they have reported. Fourth, the reporting employee also needs to understand the district is required, by law, to maintain a record of their identity, even though their identity remains protected under Chapter 552 of the Government Code.

Parental Notifications

The third responsibility requires three new parental notifications.

Intent to Conduct a Behavioral Threat Assessment

The threat assessment team must notify the parent or guardian of a student before the team begins conducting a threat assessment on a student.

The following is recommended guidance for understanding and implementing this responsibility.

First, address an emergency before anything else is done. Only after the immediate threat to life has been removed should the team notify a parent or guardian of the team’s intent to conduct a behavioral threat assessment on their child. Second, the district should determine how its threat assessment teams are to notify parents or guardians in an expedient and compassionate way in order to begin the threat assessment process as quickly as possible. Third, this mandate directs the team to share with the parent or guardian the team’s intent to conduct a threat assessment on their child. It does not direct the team to ask for parental permission to do so. If a parent or guardian objects to a threat assessment being conducted on their child, inform the parent or guardian the district is required by law to initiate a behavioral threat assessment when it is alerted to a student exhibiting behavior that may pose a risk of harm toward self or others.

The Texas School Safety Center has developed a Parental Notification of Intent to Conduct a School Behavioral Threat Assessment Sample Script. This is an optional script districts can choose to edit and use to notify a parent or guardian of the intent to conduct a behavioral threat assessment on their child. Consult with district leadership on standard messaging since this is sample guidance.

Opportunity for Parent or Guardian to Participate

The threat assessment team is required to reach out to the parent or guardian of the student of concern and provide them with the opportunity to participate in the threat assessment, either in person or remotely, and provide information regarding the student that might assist the team with conducting the assessment.

The following is recommended guidance for understanding and implementing this responsibility.

First, teams satisfy this responsibility by conducting a parent or guardian interview as they were trained to do in the Texas School Safety Center’s mandated School Behavioral Threat Assessment training. The parent or guardian interview provides part of the information collected during the threat assessment process. Second, please note the law is not stating the parent or guardian becomes a member of the threat assessment team, rather it is simply requiring the team to request the parent or guardian to participate by providing information about their child. Parents and guardians cannot be members of the threat assessment team as school districts have a legal responsibility to ensure FERPA confidentiality of students and the original reporting district employee if they have elected to keep their identity protected.

Findings and Conclusions

Texas Education Code 37.115 requires the threat assessment team to provide the findings and conclusions of the behavioral threat assessment to the parent or guardian of the student of concern once completed.

The following is recommended guidance for understanding and implementing this responsibility.

The process to arrive at the threat assessment finding is to collect the relevant pieces of information, ask the 11 Investigative Questions of the information collected, and then ask the two Assessment Questions as taught in the Texas School Safety Center’s School Behavioral Threat Assessment training.

The finding of the result of the assessed threat to share with the parent or guardian is one of three options:

• Option 1: The reported threat or concerning behavior was found to be a misunderstanding or false report and the assessment is being closed with no further action being taken.
• Option 2: The reported threat or concerning behavior could not be verified, and the team will continue to monitor the situation for behaviors indicative of harm to self or others in the community.
• Option 3: The reported threat or concerning behavior was verified as credible, and there is concern their child poses a risk of harmful behavior to self, others, or both. As a result, the parent will be contacted by campus or district staff to collaborate on developing a safety and intervention plan to ensure their child is supported in preventing harmful behaviors.

The conclusion of the behavioral threat assessment is to share any needed interventions the team is recommending be put in place for the well-being of their child and the school community. It may also include district and community resources that may be useful to the parent or guardian in seeking help for their child.

The Texas School Safety Center has developed a Parental Notification of School Behavioral Threat Assessment Findings and Conclusions Sample Letter for districts. This is an optional letter that districts can edit and use to notify a parent or guardian of the behavioral threat assessment findings and conclusions.

Retain Information in School Records

The fourth responsibility requires behavioral threat assessment information to be retained in school records. Texas Education Code 37.115 requires materials and information provided to, or produced by, a threat assessment team during a behavioral threat assessment to be maintained in the student’s record until the student’s 24th birthday. As a result, districts should develop and utilize a system to ensure this mandate is met.

Share Disciplinary Record and Threat Assessments if Student Transfers Schools

The fifth, and final, responsibility requires behavioral threat assessment information to be shared when a student transfers schools. In the case of a school transfer, Texas Education Code 25.036 now requires the child’s school district of residence to provide the receiving district with the child’s disciplinary record and any threat assessment involving the child’s behavior.

When a parent or guardian is enrolling their child in a Texas public school, Texas Education Code 25.002 now requires the parent or guardian, or the district the student most recently attended, to provide the new school district with a copy of the child’s disciplinary record and any threat assessment record involving the child’s behavior.

On December 14, 2023, the Texas Education Agency released a To The Administrator Addressed with updated guidance on the sharing of disciplinary and threat assessment records when a student transfers districts. The Resources section of this communication includes a guidance video to assist campus and district staff who work directly with PEIMS and TREx. The video is also available below.

Also, The Texas School Safety Center, in collaboration with the Texas Education Agency, have created a guidance checklist for sharing school behavioral threat assessment documentation with the receiving district the threat assessed student is transferring to.

Data Reporting

The Texas Education Agency annually collects the Safe and Supportive School Program data on threat assessments. Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, the reporting of SSSP data was expanded from an aggregate of school district data to individual campus data. The SSSP team that serves each campus is responsible for reporting the activities of the team at the campus for the year. SSSP data is reported to the Texas Education Agency through a link provided by the agency. SSSP data reporting questions can be submitted to safeandsupportiveschoolprogram@tea.texas.gov.

To assist you in gaining a thorough understanding of these laws and regulations, the Texas School Safety Center has developed the School Safety Law Toolkit. This toolkit provides information on a variety of topics that affect schools, including bullying, emergency management, safety and security audits, dating violence, school-based law enforcement, substance abuse, and social and cultural environments.