Requirements for Behavior Management

This bill changes part of the Education Code about rules for time-out and restraint for students in special education at public schools.  

• Education Code: A set of laws about education 

• Restraint: When teachers or school staff hold or limit a student’s movement to keep them from hurting themselves or others.

• Special Education: Support in school for students who learn or behave differently and may need different teachers, or tools.

One of the new parts lays out the rules for using restraint and time-out by school staff. These rules must follow:  

• The rules and ways of doing things for student support that are allowed.

• Health and safety guides  

• Finding out which ways of handling student behavior need more training for teachers and staff.  

New rules for school districts are: 

• The student's parent needs to get a written note each time restraint is used, which should include:  

  • Student's name  

  • Name of the staff member using the restraint  

  • Date of the restraint  

  • Start and end time of the restraint  

  • Location where it happened  

  • Type of restraint used  

  • What was going on before the restraint  

  • What led to the restraint  

  • De-escalation efforts and other options tried 

    • De-escalation efforts: Ways to help a student calm down when they are upset or acting out, instead of using restraint or punishment.

  • Possible need to update plans to help students behave better at school, called “behavior plans”.  

  • Info for parents on how to ask for a functional behavioral assessment, which is a test to see why a student is acting a certain way and find better ways to help them.  

  • Details about mental and physical health checks done after the restraint

• Including the note in the student's special education paperwork.

• Keeping track of times in time-out as laid out in behavior plans.  

• Health has to be checked after restraints, which includes:

  • A mental health check that has been shown to work before.  

  • Physical health check  

  • These checks should happen shortly after the restraint.  

If this bill passes, these changes start right away if it gets “yes” votes from two thirds of Texas’ elected leaders, or on September 1, 2025 if the bill doesn’t get enough “yes” votes.