Gov. Greg Abbott today signs a tough new law which cracks down on teachers who have inappropriate relationships with students, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"Texas reportedly leads the nation in teacher-student sexual assaults," Abbott said. "The bill makes it easier to identify bad teachers."
"What SB 7 does is build on the subpoena power that we gave to TEA in the last session," State Sen. Paul Bettencort (R-Houston) said. "More importantly, it gives the tools to TEA to investigate these cases."
Social media is blamed for enabling teacher-student relationships, by allowing teachers and students to communicate privately, away from the school, and without the student's parents or school administrators knowing.
The law calls for loss of teaching certificate and prosecution for teachers who have inappropriate relations with students. Under existing state law, any relationship between a teacher and a student, even if the student is under age, is considered 'improper.'
The bill Abbott will sign today also eliminates a practice known as 'pass the trash.' That is the habit of some school districts to simply allow teachers who have been accused of engaging in inappropriate relationships to resign, frequently without any charges or even any mark on their records to notify future employers what happened.
This new bill calls for punishment, including felony jail time, for principals, superintendents, and other administrators who knowingly allow bad teachers to slip through the cracks, only to endanger students in other districts.