1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to education; creating a Student Discipline Working Group to review the 
1.3 	substance, application, and effect of Minnesota's Pupil Fair Dismissal Act and 
1.4 	make recommendations to the legislature.
1.5 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 	Section 1. STUDENT DISCIPLINE WORKING GROUP.
 1.7 	(a) A Student Discipline Working Group is created to review the substance, 
1.8 	application, and effect of Minnesota's Pupil Fair Dismissal Act under Minnesota Statutes, 
1.9 	sections 121A.40 to 121A.56, and related student discipline provisions in Minnesota 
1.10 	Statutes, chapter 121A, and submit written recommendations to the chairs and ranking 
1.11 	minority members of the committees in the house of representatives and senate with 
1.12 	jurisdiction over education by February 1, 2017, on improving disciplinary policies, 
1.13 	practices, and procedures as they affect students and school officials and the effects on 
1.14 	student outcomes.
1.15 	(b) Consistent with paragraph (a), the working group must analyze:
1.16 	(1) available summary data on elementary and secondary students' removal from 
1.17 	class, suspensions, exclusions, and expulsions, disaggregated by categories of race, 
1.18 	ethnicity, poverty, disabilities, homelessness, English language proficiency, gender, age, 
1.19 	and foster care status;
1.20 	(2) the meaning and effect of "willful" in establishing grounds for dismissal under 
1.21 	Minnesota Statutes, section 121A.45;
1.22 	(3) the impact of student misconduct on teacher safety;
1.23 	(4) the impact of established policies and due process procedures on teacher safety 
1.24 	and student outcomes;
2.1 	(5) students' need for and access to professional support service providers such 
2.2 	as school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, and mental health 
2.3 	professionals;
2.4 	(6) the presence of school resource officers in school buildings, their role in effecting 
2.5 	student discipline, and their impact on teacher safety and student outcomes;
2.6 	(7) policies for retaining and destroying student disciplinary data; 
2.7 	(8) best practices for school discipline; and
2.8 	(9) other related school discipline matters that are of concern to working group 
2.9 	members.
2.10 	(c) The working group consists of 18 members. By June 1, 2016, the executive 
2.11 	director of each of the following organizations shall appoint one representative of 
2.12 	that organization to serve as a member of the working group: the Minnesota School 
2.13 	Boards Association; the Minnesota Association of School Administrators; Education 
2.14 	Minnesota; the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training; the Minnesota 
2.15 	Disability Law Center; the National Alliance of Mental Illness Minnesota; the Minnesota 
2.16 	Association of Secondary School Principals; the Minnesota Elementary School Principals' 
2.17 	Association; the Association of Metropolitan School Districts; the Minnesota Rural 
2.18 	Education Association; the Minnesota School Counselors Association; the Minnesota 
2.19 	School Psychologists Association; the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights; 
2.20 	Minnesota Administrators for Special Education; Schools for Equity in Education; the 
2.21 	School Nurses Organization of Minnesota; Educators for Excellence; and the Minnesota 
2.22 	School Social Workers Association. Working group members may seek advice from 
2.23 	experts and stakeholders in developing their recommendations.
2.24 	(d) The commissioner of education, or the commissioner's designee, must convene 
2.25 	the first meeting of the working group. The working group must select a chair or cochairs 
2.26 	from among its members at the first meeting.  The working group must meet periodically. 
2.27 	The commissioner must provide technical and administrative assistance to the working 
2.28 	group upon request. Working group members are not eligible to receive expenses or per 
2.29 	diem payments for serving on the working group.
2.30 	(e) The working group expires February 2, 2017.

2.31 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment.