A Report on Safe Schools Programs Page: 4 of 45
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Executive Summary
T he Safe Schools Act (Act), which was
designed to make Texas public schools
safe from violent students, has been
implemented in a way that does not
guarantee that violent students are removed
from regular classrooms and educated. The
Act created juvenile justice and disciplinary
alternative education programs (JJAEPs and
DAEPs) so that disruptive and expelled
students could continue education away from
regular classrooms. Of the 3.9 million
students in Texas public schools, about 4,000
attended JJAEPs, and 59,000 attended
DAEPs during the 1997-1998 school year.
Texas' 22 largest counties must operate
JJAEPs. All of Texas' 1,061 school districts
are required to provide DAEPs either on or
off campus. While these programs are
subject to local control, the two state
agencies that oversee them can improve
counties' and school districts' accountability
for appropriate removal and education of
disruptive and violent students. The Juvenile
Probation Commission (Commission) is
responsible for overseeing JJAEPs, and the
Texas Education Agency (TEA) is
responsible for overseeing DAEPs. These
two agencies should ensure that school
officials are educated on the Safe Schools
Act and that they measure students' academic
progress.
To develop some key facts and findings for
this report, we used preliminary, first-year
data that TEA collected from all school
districts on all disciplinary incidents.
Because the Safe Schools data contained
some errors and included incidents
committed by only 80 percent of Texas
students, we recognize that some numbers
may later be revised upward or downward.
However, because other evidence
corroborates our findings, revisions to the
preliminary Safe Schools data will not alter
our findings or recommendations.A REPORT ON
SAFE SCHOOLS PROGRAMSThe Safe Schools Act, as
Implemented, Does Not
Guarantee the Removal of Violent
Students
School officials do not consistently remove
violent students to alternative education
programs as the Act requires. For example,
TEA preliminary data indicates that at least
850 incidents during the 1997-1998 school
year did not result in expulsions to JJAEPs,
although the related offenses warranted
expulsion. These on-campus incidents were
of a serious nature and included:
- 255 incidents with illegal knives
- 218 incidents with weapons (these could
include weapons such as explosives,
machine guns, or brass knuckles)
- 196 incidents of aggravated assault
- 74 incidents with firearms
Data Is Insufficient to Show If
Alternative Education Works
The academic progress of many students in
alternative education programs is not
measured. As a result, we could not
determine if alternative education programs
are accomplishing their mission of helping
students perform at grade level.
Students in DAEPs are not required to take
an assessment test other than the Texas
Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS). A
large percentage of students in DAEPs are in
the ninth grade. As prescribed for all
students by state law, this test is administered
in only the third through eighth grades and
the tenth grade. Therefore, the TAAS test
alone is insufficient to demonstrate whether
all DAEP students are making academic
progress.
The Commission has limited data that shows
that JJAEP students are improving theirAUGUST 1999
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Texas. Office of the State Auditor. A Report on Safe Schools Programs, report, August 1999; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth517651/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.