SB 2078 Requires Requires More Details in School District Disaster Planning
Texas legislation would require more specific details be added to a School District Disaster Plan and allow for the TEA to notify communities if their school districts don’t meet the disaster planning standard.
Texas SB 2078 currently working its way through the Texas House, essentially requires more detailed planning to be included into the School District’s Multi-Hazard Emergency Operations Plan (“MEOP”).
The biggest change is the addition of six requirements into the MEOP establishes for only school districts:
#1: The Chain of Command/Line of Succession Identification;
#2: 2 scenario specific response plans, with more that can be designated by the Texas School Safety Center at Texas State University;
#3: Portable building safety
#4: a parent/guardian communication plan
#5: statement on amount per student spent on school/district safety
#6: identification of the safety and security committee.
The interesting part is the statement on amount spent per student on school/district safety. The legislative history doesn’t currently suggest a reason why. It can be assumed that this is intended to be a marker for the community to see how their tax dollars are being spent.
The accountability and enforcement mechanism to this bill is essentially public shaming. The new Tex. Education Code §37.108(f) would allow the Texas Education Agency to post online those who fail to submit a MEOP, submit an MEOP that doesn’t meet standards, or fail a safety and security audit.