AUSTIN, Texas — As kids start the school year, a new law aims to crack down on vaping on campus. House Bill 114 steps up punishments for kids caught with vapes at school.
Some local school leaders say these new rules could help keep kids safe because, despite efforts to turn it around, vaping is nothing new for Texas kids and teens.
"They're extremely easy to obtain, and we're seeing them even in our middle schools," said Sgt. Dan Royston with the San Marcos Police Department.
HB 114 requires that public school students who are caught with vapes at school be temporarily placed in alternative schooling, or Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs as they are called here in Texas.
Royston said it's getting harder to catch.
"They're concealing them in highlighters, markers. So they're very, very, very clever," Royston said.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) leaves the length of the punishment up to districts. Austin ISD (AISD) leaders plan to keep violators in alternative schooling for 20 days but also have plans to educate kids through the INVEST program.
"They learn how to resist peer pressure. And by successfully completing that, students can actually return in 10 days," said Oscar Adams Jr., AISD's director of discipline, standards and accountability.
Adams Jr. said leaders have already seen success with this program.
"We've also seen that once students have returned, our recidivism rate is very low. Most students have learned from that first mistake," said Adams Jr.
Liberty Hill ISD's interim police chief said this is about safety because he's seen more kids ingesting dangerous things with these vapes.
"I do a demonstration with our kids [to show] how easy it is to get inside the vape pens and add other substances. And fentanyl being a big one that, you know, it doesn't take much to cause some serious damage," said Sgt. Jason Wolf, LHISD's interim police chief.
The law technically takes effect on Sept. 1, but many districts are enforcing it now to set the tone on Day 1.