State Lawmaker Proposes Enhanced Penalties Against Teachers Engaged in Inappropriate Relationships.

HOUSTON, TX --A sharp increase in cases involving inappropriate relationships between students and teachers has prompted one state lawmaker to propose new legislation designed to enhance educator misconduct laws in the state.

Senator Paul Bettencourt filed Senate Bill 7 on Nov. 18 after seeing an uptick in these reported relationships in media reports, as well as viewing date from the Texas Education Agency.

"Any inappropriate relationships between teachers and students must be stamped out, period,” Bettencourt said in a press release. "I was shocked to hear in testimony before the Senate Education Committee that in some cases school districts simply quashed subpoenas and 'passed the trash' rather than protecting the students in their charge. That is unacceptable."

The TEA opened 222 cases into inappropriate student-educator relationships in Fiscal Year 15-16. In the current fiscal year, TEA has already opened 49 cases.

Several of these were reported in local districts, such as Houston ISD, Cy-Fair ISD, Klein ISD, Katy ISD, Tomball ISD, Aldine ISD and Spring Branch ISD, but the problem is statewide, per testimony at the Senate Education Committee.

Last month, Tomball ISD and Katy ISD dismissed employees after claims of inappropriate relationships between students and school employees.

In Tomball ISD, former JROTC Instructor Anthony Randle was accused of having sex with a 15-year old student.

He was fired from his position, and turned himself into the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and faces charges of sexual assault of a child.

There were two incidents reported in Aldine ISD in 2015 and 2016.

In September Chance Gillett, 31, turned himself into police after allegations arose that he was reportedly having sex with two of his student, one who was only 14-years old.

Alexandria Vera, 24, who also taught in Aldine ISD was a Stovall Middle School teacher when authorities said she began a sexual relationship with one of her students, a 13-year old boy, and became pregnant.

Bettencourt said Senate Bill 7 seeks to enact the following changes and apply them to both public and private schools:

• Automatic revocation of teaching certificate if offender receives deferred adjudication for an educator misconduct offense or any offense that would require them to register as a sex offender.
• Expands reporting requirements to include not only superintendents, but principals as well. Failure to report will be a criminal offense, and intentionally failing to report is a state jail felony.
• Expands these rules to apply to improper relationships between students and educators, regardless of school district.
• Builds on Texas Education Agency subpoena authority by allowing them to compel the attendance of relevant witnesses. TEA gained initial subpoena authority last session to subpoena relevant documents under SB 1222 (by Bettencourt) which was later added as an amendment to HB 2205.
• Requires school districts to adopt written policies concerning electronic communication between a school employee and a student.
• Enacts new continuing education requirements.
• Stops “passing the trash” by holding administrators accountable by revoking their certificate if they help a person who has previously engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor and assists them in finding new employment as an educator.

Bettencourt’s SB 7 is likely to pass once it is introduced in January, especially with Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s announcement that educator misconduct is one of his top 10 legislative priorities for the upcoming 85th Legislative Session.

“It is time for everyone involved to stop looking the other way and stamp this problem out," Bettencourt said.

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