AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Gov. Greg Abbott has signed into law a crackdown on inappropriate relationships between teachers and students.
The measure requires principals and superintendents to report inappropriate teacher-student relationships or face jail time and fines up to $10,000. The teacher’s family could also lose access to the teacher’s pension.
It further mandates that a teacher automatically lose his or her license if he or she has to register as a sex offender.
Teachers would also get training on how to properly handle personal boundaries and relationships with students.
The Texas Education Agency in 2016 opened 220-plus investigations involving inappropriate teacher-student relationships.
Abbott signed the bill Thursday during a ceremony in his office at the state Capitol saying, “Texas will protect its children from sexual predators in our classrooms.”
(Copyright 2017. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
