The Texas Education Agency (TEA) issued a memorandum to school districts on September 28 regarding the Guidance from Texas Attorney General on SB 507, which requires cameras in certain special education classrooms. The memo notes that to the extent that a school district or open-enrollment charter school has adopted policies that are inconsistent with the Texas Attorney General’s opinion, it would be well advised to revise the policies consistent with the opinion.
On September 13 the Attorney General’s Office released an opinion regarding the Procedures for requesting video surveillance of special education settings pursuant to Education Code section 29.02. The summary addressed four questions, including the definition of staff member and the question regarding self-contained classrooms. The opinion states: The language chosen by the Legislature in subsectionv29.022(a) of the Education Code requires that upon receiving a request, a school district shall provide equipment not to a single classroom but "to each school in the district" that provides students special education services and otherwise meets the requirements of the statute. Each school receiving equipment must place, operate, and maintain a camera in "each self-contained classroom or other special education setting" providing special education services.
Based on the Texas Attorney General’s opinion that the definition of “staff member” in TEA’s rules is more restrictive than the plain language in the statute, TEA will propose revisions to the definition as well as propose several minor edits for purposes of clarity. TEA’s rules did not address the number of instructional settings affected by a single request for video surveillance (Questions 1 and 2) or state that video surveillance could be discontinued if the circumstances surrounding the request change (Question 4). Therefore, there is no need to modify the rules with regard to these issues.