Campus Location

Dallas Campus (Online)

Date of Award

9-2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Department

Organizational Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Timothy B. Jones

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Peter Williams

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Deardra Hayes-Whigham

Abstract

This qualitative legal study explored statutory immunity protection provided to Texas educators under the Texas Education Code §22.0511 and §22.0512. The Texas legislature enacted the statutory immunity provisions as part of House Bill 4 and tort reform in 2003. Researchers have called for more balance when providing immunity protections for educators. The researcher limited the study to Texas Commissioner of Education decisions and Texas appellate court cases. The study utilized a legal framework to determine under what circumstances the rulings of statutory immunity shields educators from liability. The findings in this study provide evidence that Texas educators have more immunity protection than before the passage of House Bill 4. The study revealed that the adoption of the Texas Education Code §22.0511 and §22.0512 has led to additional immunity protection for educators. The findings are consistent with previous research demonstrating it is a misconception that educators may never lay hands on students. The data provided evidence that Texas educators may use justified force against students to control, train, or educate a student. Further, educators with tenure and no prior reprimands are shielded by immunity if they use reasonable force protected under the Texas Education Code §22.0152. The findings also suggest appellate courts do not want to interfere in employee discipline issues. The study indicated appellate courts did not rule in favor of a disgruntled employee who sues supervisors or other district employees. The passage of Texas Education Code §22.0511 and §22.0512 achieved the legislature’s goal of providing additional immunity protection foreducators.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.