BILL SUMMARIES

School Finance- Effective Immediately

Teacher Incentive Allotment- Effective 9/1/2026

• Adds an additional designation level of “acknowledged” for the teacher incentive allotment and provides from $3,000 to $9,000 for such a designation

• Separates nationally board certified teachers to their own designation and provides from $3,000 to $9,000 for such a designation

• Requires districts to redesignate teachers who hold national board certifications as nationally board certified by September 1, 2026

• Sets the high needs and rural factor for acknowledged and nationally board certified designated teachers at $1,500

• Increases allotment amounts for each existing designation level as follows:

  • $12,000 to a maximum of $36,000, up from $32, 000 for a master teacher

  • $9,000, up from $6,000, to a maximum of $25,000, up from $18,000, for an exemplary teacher

  • $5,000, up from $3,000, to a maximum of $15,000, up from $9,000, for a recognized teacher

• Increases the high needs and rural factor for each existing designation level as follows:

  • $6,000, up from $5,000, for a master teacher

  • $4,000, up from $3,000, for an exemplary teacher

  • $2,500, up from $1,500, for a recognized teacher

• Allows the commissioner to designate enhanced teacher incentive allotment systems in which principals and teachers are paid through a compensation system based on performance and increases the allotment amounts by 10% for such systems

• Enhanced systems must:

  • adopt a local designation system

  • include for principals a strategic evaluations system aligned with the district’s teacher designation system

  • ensure substantially all teachers regardless of grade level or assignment are eligible to earn a designation

  • include a compensation system for classroom teachers that differentiates based on appraisals and does not include across-the-board pay increases except for periodic changes in the salaries schedule to adjust for significant inflation

  • implement a plan to place highly effective teachers at high needs campuses

• Requires the TEA to provide examples or models of local optional teacher designation systems, including systems that include special populations

• Requires the TEA to provide assistance in establishing partnerships between districts that request assistance and districts that have already implemented systems, assistance in applying the required standards, assistance in providing centralized support for the analysis of the results of assessments, and assistance facilitating effective communication on and promotion of local optional teacher designation systems

• Creates a local optional teacher designation system grant program to provide funds and technical assistance to expand implementation of the local optional teacher designation systems and increase the number of teachers eligible for a designation

• Requires the State Board for Educator Certification to review certifications issued by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to determine whether to reauthorize or revoke authorization for the nationally board certified teacher designation by December 31, 2026

• Requires the review to consider whether earning a certification would interfere with the teacher’s ability to provide instruction in TEKS without using common core standards, phonics instruction, or instruction in accordance with the provisions prohibiting the inculcation of certain topics and whether the components and assessments align with instructional material standards

• If the SBEC takes no action by December 31, 2026, the authorization for a designation for national board certification is revoked

• Allows the SBEC to periodically review the certification after the initial review

Liability Insurance

• Requires the agency to contract with a third party to provide services for classroom teachers including assistance in understanding their rights, duties, and benefits and providing liability insurance to protect a teacher against liability to a third party based on conduct that the teacher allegedly engaged in during the course of the teacher’s duties

• Prohibits providers with which the TEA contracts from engaging in political activities or advocating regarding public schools

• Authorizes teachers to have an amount dedicated from their salary to pay for the services provided

Teacher Pay

• Creates a permanent teacher retention allotment for educators with 3 or more years of experience who are employed by a school district and teach for an average of at least 4 hours per day in an academic instructional setting or CTE setting

• Provides an allotment to school districts as follows:

  • For districts with 5,000 or fewer students:

    • $4,000 per classroom teacher with 3 or 4 years experience

    • $8,000 per classroom teacher with 5 or more years experience

  • For districts with more than 5,000 students:

    • $2,500 per classroom teacher with 3 or 4 years experience

    • $5,000 per classroom teacher with 5 or more years experience

• Requires districts to use funds received under this allotment to increase the 2025-2026 salary of each teacher that generates the funding above the salary for the 2024-2025 school year, or to use the funding to increase teacher salaries generally within the compensation plan adopted for an enhanced teacher incentive allotment district

• For each year after 2025-2026, requires districts to use the funding to maintain the salary increases given in 2025-2026

• Makes salary increases from the allotment creditable for TRS

Support Staff Pay

• Creates a permanent support staff pay allotment to provide salary increases for teachers with less than 3 years of experience, counselors, librarians, nurses, teacher’s assistants, custodians, food service staff, bus drivers, administrative staff, or other support staff

• Prohibits the allotment from being used for superintendents, assistant superintendents or equivalent roles, principals, assistant principals, or employees in a centralized supervisory role

• Provides an allotment to school districts in an amount of $45 per student in average daily attendance, except that average daily attendance is increased for districts with less than 5000 students

• Requires districts to use funds received under this allotment to increase the 2025-2026 salary of non-administrative staff above the salary for the 2024-2025 school year

• For each year after 2025-2026, requires districts to use the funding to maintain the salary increases given in 2025-2026

• Makes salary increases from the allotment creditable for TRS

Early Childhood Allotment and PreK

• Provides an additional .01 weight for all K-3 students in average daily attendance for school districts

• Requires funding to be used to fund attendance of teachers at literacy and mathematics achievement academies and preK programs

• Requires the funding for the current early childhood allotment to first be allocated to ensure every district received full-day ADA funding for full-day preK programs and then for any remainder to be distributed on a proportional basis to school districts

Early Literacy Intervention Allotment

• Provides $250 per student who is required to receive reading intervention, except that students who generate the dyslexia allotment do not generate this allotment

• Caps the allotment at 10% of district enrollment for K-3

Facility Report (SB 12)

• Requires school district to report the following information to TEA for a report on facility usage:

  • the square footage of each district facility and acreage of the property on which it sits

  • total student capacity for each instructional facility

  • enrollment capacity and actual enrollment for each grade level at each campus and the total for each campus

  • whether a facility is used by one or more campuses and the campus identifier

  • what each facility is used for

  • whether each facility is leased or owned

• Requires the TEA to use the provided information to publish an annual report on district land and facilities

Charter Facilities Funding

• Increases the factor for charter facilities funding to $300 from $125

• Eliminates the $60 million cap for charter facilities funding and ties the cap as a weight on the basic allotment

Invalid Property Values

• Requires the commissioner to provide notice to school districts regarding the possible impact of the comptroller’s finding that an appraisal district has an invalid local value

• The notice must include an estimate of the impact on the district’s finances, and any right of recourse for the district

Guaranteed Yield Increment Adjustment & Tier II Guaranteed Yields

• Sets the golden penny yield at 0.02084 of the basic allotment and eliminates the provision that adjusts the yield based on property values

• Repeals the requirement for copper pennies to be compressed when the copper penny yield increases

• Creates an adjustment to increase the basic allotment using an amount of funding that is the difference between the cost of maintaining the golden penny yield at the 96th percentile of wealth per weighted student and the cost of maintaining the golden penny yield at the 0.02084 weight

Small and Midsized Allotment

• Increases the small allotment weight to .00046 from .0004

• Increases the midsized allotment weight to .00003 from .000025

• Increases the allotment weight for districts with less than 300 students that are the only district in their county to .0005 from .00047

Bilingual Allotment (SB 2185)

• Allows the TEA to require school districts to include additional information related to and classify the alternative language education methods used by the information in PEIMS

• Allows the TEA to provide funds at the same weights as the bilingual allotment to school districts using alternative language education methods, with an overall cap of $10 million per biennium

• Allows funds from the bilingual allotment to be used for teacher salaries related to providing bilingual education

School Safety Allotment (SB 260)

• Increases the school safety allotment to $20 per student in ADA, up from $10, and $33,540 per campus

Allotment for Basic Costs

• Creates an allotment of $106 per enrolled student to be used for:

  • transportation

  • hiring retired teachers

  • providing health insurance and employee benefits and paying payroll taxes

  • TRS contributions

  • utilities

  • property and casualty insurance

Regional Insurance Cost Differentials

• Provides additional funding to school districts located in a catastrophe area or certain coastal counties to offset differences in property and casualty insurance costs

Other Provisions

• Removes the requirement that a certain percentage of new funding after a basic allotment increase be spent on compensation of certain employees

• For districts that receive a reduction in their recapture because their actual tier 1 tax collections minus the required recapture is less than their entitlement, and subsequently are no longer subject to recapture, provides an amount of additional state aid equal to the lesser of the teacher retention allotment or the difference between the entitlement and the actual tier 1 tax collections

• Provides the Commissioner authority to resolve unintended consequences of finance changes

• Requires the commissioner to periodically throughout the year adjust school funding determinations to reflect current school year estimates of a district’s enrollment and average daily attendance

• Removes the spending requirements for the compensatory education allotment

Teacher Preparation & Training- Effective for the 2025-2026 School Year

Teacher Preparation and Certification

• For the 2026-2027 school year, prohibits districts from employing as teacher of record for a course in the foundation curriculum a person who does not hold an appropriate certificate

• Allows districts to submit a plan for approval by the commissioner that provides a reasonable timeline and strategy to comply with the certification requirement by the 2029-2030 school year and if approved allows the delay of implementation of the certification requirement until the 2029-2030 school year

• Prohibits districts from exempting themselves from certification requirements for classroom teachers of record for courses in the foundation curriculum or from notification to parents regarding uncertified teachers through a local innovation plan

• Allows districts that have a local innovation plan that allows the employment of uncertified teachers to employ such teachers through the 2026-2027 school year for courses other than reading language arts or mathematics in a grade level above 5

• Provides a teacher certification incentive of $1,000 per teacher who was hired in 2022-2023 or 2023-2024 as a first-year teacher, was uncertified on January 1, 2025 and becomes certified by the end of the 2026-2027 school year if the person remained continuously employed since they were hired

• Creates preparation pathways for teachers as follows:

  • traditional teacher preparation

    • this pathway includes an individual concurrently receiving an undergraduate and master’s degree and a certification, is required to include substantial preservice practice, and must be provided synchronously except for components approved by the Board to be delivered asynchronously

  • teacher residency preparation

    • programs under this pathway must use research-based best practices for recruiting and admitting candidates, integrate coursework, classroom practice, formal observation and feedback, require a candidate to receive preservice practice in a classroom for at least one year, use multiple assessments to measure progress, and provide training synchronously unless the Board approves asynchronous training

  • alternative teacher preparation

    • requires two pathways for people who have previously earned a degree

    • one pathway must require the candidate to complete substantial preservice practice, which may include time spent as a paraprofessional, and provides training synchronously unless the Board approves an exemption

    • the other pathway must provide flexibility in how a candidate may demonstrate proficiency for certification

• Establishes four certificate types:

  • a standard certificate for a teacher who has completed traditional or alternative teacher preparation

  • an enhanced certificate for teachers that complete the teacher residency preparation route

  • an intern with preservice experience certificate, which expires after one year for a person who has not yet satisfied all requirements for a preservice alternative teacher preparation route, but has completed a sufficient number of preservice practice hours to serve as a teacher of record

  • an intern certificate, which expires after two years for a person who has not yet satisfied all requirements for an alternative teacher preparation route but has met SBEC requirements to serve as a teacher of record

• Allows SBEC to review an educator preparation program’s curriculum at any time before or after approval or renewal of approval

• Requires educator preparation programs to comply with requirements related to not incorporating the inculcation of certain topics in course requirements for courses that are required for certification

• Requires the review of educator preparation programs annually and requires the review to include quality indicators that reflect effective program practices and measures that provide for the observation of program practices to ensure program quality

• Allows school districts to issue teaching permits and employe as a teacher of record a person who either holds a baccalaureate degree, has served at or been employed by the district as a paraprofessional for at least 180 days the prior calendar year and is currently enrolled and on track to earn a baccalaureate degree and receive a probationary certificate within 3 years of the date of the receipt of a teaching permit

• Requires school board approval to issue teaching permits

• Requires districts to use the model notification adopted by the TEA regarding uncertified teachers

• Requires the TEA to develop and make available instructional materials for use in educator prep programs and training for faculty in the program that are research-based, support the development of proficiency in the knowledge and skills needed according to SBEC, and allow for an educator to demonstrate the candidate’s proficiency

• Requires districts to pay teachers with no experience who are certified more than teachers with no experience who are uncertified

• Requires districts to pay $1,000 to educator prep programs for teacher candidates with intern with preservice experience certificates for the teacher candidate’s completion of a literacy achievement academy and $500 for completion of a math achievement academy

Preparing and Retaining Educators through Partnerships Program

• Requires the Commissioner to establish Preparing and Retaining Educators through Partnership Preservice Programs to enable qualified educator prep programs to partner with school districts to provide preservice practice opportunities in classrooms at the district

• Requires partnerships to allow teacher candidates to receive field-based experience and gradually increase the amount of time a teacher spends engaging in instructional responsibilities

• Requires teacher candidates to be paired with teachers who have completed a training program

• Requires school districts to ensure that a teacher candidate is mentored by a mentor teacher who has completed a mentorship program for the first two years the teacher candidate is a teacher of record

• For a partnership program that is to help prepare candidates for a standard certificate, including a traditional or alternative program, the school district must use money provided under the relevant allotment to pay at least $3,000 to the teacher candidate and at least $1,000 to the cooperating teacher

• For a residency partnership program, the school district must use money provided under the relevant allotment to pay at last $10,000 to the teacher candidate and at least $2,000 to the cooperating teacher

• Creates Grow Your Own Partnership Programs which must be designed to support high school students in completing career and technical education courses to prepare the students to be teachers or to support district employees who do not hold a teaching certificate in completing a bachelor’s degree to enable the person to become a teacher

• Requires grow your own partnerships to provide opportunities for candidates to practice teaching and guidance and support as the student begins an undergraduate degree program, and for current district employees, provide release time to support degree completion, on-the-job training, and a job assignment that includes instructional support

• Requires grown your own partnerships to require employees who participate to earn a bachelor’s degree and enroll in an educator prep program within three years of beginning participation

• Requires TEA to create a preparing and retaining educators through partnership mentorship program for classroom teachers with less than two years of experience which requires school districts to provide stipends for mentor teachers of at least $1,000 and requires mentor teachers to annually complete a training program

• Allows the Commissioner to adopt rules regarding these programs and review performance of partnership programs

• Provides an annual allotment per teacher participating for school districts participating in a program as follows:

  • $10,000 plus the high needs and rural factor multiplied by $2,000 for traditional or alternative preservice partnerships programs, with an initial payment of $4,000 and the remainder upon successful completion

  • $24,000 plus the high needs and rural factor multiplied by $2,000 for residency programs, with an initial payment of $12,000 and the remainder upon completion

  • $8,000 plus the high needs and rural factor multiplied by $1,000 for grow your own programs for district employees, with an initial payment of 50% of the money and the remainder upon the employee’s successful completion of a bachelor’s degree

  • $3,000 for each teacher being mentored under the mentorship program

  • Sets the high needs and rural factor at the lesser of the high needs and rural factor under the teacher incentive allotment or 4.0

• Provides an additional $2,000 per teacher who is a candidate for certification in bilingual education or special education

• Caps the number of teacher candidates who can qualify for an allotment

• Requires the Commissioner to pay $5,000 out of the district’s allotment to an educator preparation program for each teacher candidate who receives a standard certificate and completes 1 year of employment

• Requires the Commissioner to pay $10,000 out of the district’s allotment to an educator preparation program for each teacher candidate who receives an enhanced certificate and completes 1 year of employment

• Requires the Commissioner to pay $2,500 out of the district’s allotment to an educator preparation program for each teacher candidate who receives an intern with preservice experience certificate

• Provides an allotment to an educator preparation program for teacher candidates completion literacy achievement academies of $1,000 and completion of math achievement academies of $500

• Repeals the existing residency program

• Repeals the existing mentor program allotment on September 1, 2026

Other Provisions

• Repeals the prohibition on passing costs associated with rehiring retirees onto the rehired retiree

Personnel- Effective for the 2025-2026 School Year

• Allows districts to post vacancies for certified or licensed staff for five days instead of ten

• Requires teacher, counselor, and librarian daily rates for the purposes of salary reductions for unpaid leave to be calculated as the total annual salary divided by the number of expected work days for the school year

• Requies SBEC to waive certification exam fees and application fees for individuals seeking special education or bilingual certifications

• Requires SBEC to allow individuals who are retaking the bilingual target language proficiency exam to retake only the sections of the test that include the domains on which the person failed and to allow the person to demonstrate language proficiency through fewer components, including eliminating a component that requires the preparation of a lesson plan

• Prohibits sanctions on the certificate of a teacher for late resignation related to serious illness or health condition of the teacher or a close family member, the teacher’s relocation due to their spouse or partner’s employment changes, a significant change in the needs of the teacher’s family that requires relocation or to forego employment, or if the teacher reasonably believes they have permission to resign late

• Allows the Commissioner to dismiss a hearing if the teacher who made the initial request for a hearing requests the dismissal, the school district withdraws the proposed decision giving rise to the hearing, or if the teacher and school district reach a settlement agreement

• Requires districts to allow staff not to use paid leave during FMLA leave

• Requires TEA to develop training and provide technical assistance related to strategic compensation, staffing, and scheduling for teachers, programs to encourage high school students and others in the community tot become teachers, and programs or strategies to establish clear and attainable behavior expectations for students

• Requires TEA to collect information to address teacher retention and recruitment

• Requires school districts to provide notice of grievances filed against an employee to that employee and sufficient opportunity for that employee to submit  written response

• Requires administrators or threat assessment teams to, as soon as safe and practicable after receiving a threat, notify the teaching staff who may be directly affected by a threat notice of the threat, the nature of the threat, and any other pertinent details to ensure student and staff safety

• Makes four-year old children of classroom teachers eligible for free full-day preK in the district in which the teacher works

• Requires the commissioner to adopt procedures that establish crisis prevention and intervention training requirements for school district personnel including who is required to take the training, the minimum frequency of the training, and provisions for allowing the training to be combined with or substituted for other training

Classroom Management (HB 6)

• Allows teachers to remove students from their class if they repeatedly interfere with the teacher’s ability to communicate effectively with the students or with their classmates’ ability to learn, if the student demonstrates behavior that is unruly, disruptive, or abusive toward another person, or if the student engages in bullying

• Eliminates the requirement that a teacher document the behavior prior to removal

• Requires the teacher, the campus behavior coordinator, or an administrator to notify the parent of the student’s removal

• Requires written consent of the teacher or a return to class plan to return a student to the teacher’s classroom

• Allows the student to appeal the removal to the school’s placement review committee or the threat assessment team

Special Education- Effective for the 2025-2026 School Year (SB 568)

• Provides that a student receiving special education services can earn the distinguished level of achievement under the foundation high school program

• Clarifies that TEA is responsible for developing and revising a comprehensive system to ensure statewide and local compliance with federal and state laws related to special education, including through rulemaking, technical assistance, training, and ensuring appropriately trained teachers are in every special education classroom

• Requires school districts to annually discuss in a board meeting the performance of students receiving special education services, based on indicators adopted by the TEA

• Requires the Health and Human Services Commission to develop and provide materials regarding educational residential placement options for children who may qualify for placement in a state supported living center to the TEA and requires the TEA to provide the information to school districts

• Requires school districts to provide the information provided by the TEA to parents in ARD committee meetings where residential placement is discussed

• Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, requires the commissioner to set minimum standards for and develop and update a list of approved facilities that school districts may contract with for services in a residential or day placement program

• Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, requires contracts between school districts and residential or day placement programs to be approved by the commissioner

• Requires TEA monitoring of school district special education programs to include a comprehensive cyclical process and a targeted risk-based process

• Allows TEA to require a school district to obtain specialized technical assistance for a documented noncompliance issue or if a need is indicated by the data

• Provides the TEA more flexibility in imposing interventions and sanctions on school districts that are not in compliance with  the IDEA

• Expands the noneducational community-based support program to provide grants to students placed in a residential program or a day placement program if the student is at risk of being placed in a residential program

• Requires school districts to notify parents of students eligible for the grants of the availability and designate an employee to assist the parent in accessing the grant

• Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, adjusts the funding weight for a hospital-bound student to align with the new tiers of intensity of services

• Requires a school district to provide a video camera in any classroom or setting primarily used for delivery special education services to students who spend on average less than 50% of an instructional day in a general education classroom or setting on receipt of a written request from a parent

• Creates a waitlist of the parent-directed supplemental services grant program for students receiving special education services

• Guarantees autonomy in religious values and educational content for providers under the parent-directed supplemental services program

• Requires districts to submit evaluations of services for students who are deaf or hard of hearing to the TEA

• Requires school districts to regularly assess, using a commissioner-approved assessment tool, language acquisition of each child eight years old or younger who is deaf or hard of hearing and report those results to the Commissioner

• Exempts recapture-paying districts from paying for a share of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired or Texas School for the Deaf

• Beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, revises the special education funding weights to be based on intensity of services rather than instructional arrangement as follows:

  • requires the commissioner to define eight tiers of intensity of services including one tier specifically for students in a residential placement and one tier for students only receiving speech therapy

  • requires the commissioner to consider the type, frequency, and nature of services, the required certifications and licensures to serve the students, any relevant provider to student ratios, and any equipment or technology required in defining the tiers

  • increases funding for extended school year programs to be the full amount of the basic allotment multiplied by the weight and removes the funding cap for ESY programs

  • requires the commissioner to submit to the legislature proposed weights for the tiers by December 1 of each even-numbered year

  • requires the commissioner to establish four service groups to provide funding to school districts based on the number of students in each group

  • requires the commissioner to consider the type, frequency, and nature of services, the required certifications and licensures to serve the students, any relevant provider to student ratios, and any equipment or technology required in defining the groups

  • requires 55% of funding from the service groups allotment to be spent on special education programs

  • requires the commissioner to submit to the legislature proposed allotments for the groups by December 1 of each even-numbered year

• For the 2026-2027 school year, the commissioner has the authority to determine the weights and allotments providing that the total amount of special education funding for school districts increases by $250 million over what it would have been under current law

• Beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, makes students receiving accommodations for dyslexia eligible to generate the dyslexia allotment

• Increases the CCMR outcomes bonus for students in a special education program to $4,000

• Increases special education transportation allotment to the general education transportation allotment plus $0.13, which equals $1.13 for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school year

• Provides an allotment of $1,000 per child for whom a district conducts a full individual and initial evaluation for special education eligibility

• Provides an allotment for a qualifying day placement program established by an ESC, school distinct or charter school as follows:

  • $250,000 for the first year

  • $150,000, if at least three students are enrolled plus $100,000 per year of operation after the first year, for every year after the first year

• Makes a program qualifying if it complies with commissioner rules, offers services to students enrolled at any school district in the county, and has been designated by the agency for service in the county as increasing the availability of day service placement in the county

• Limits qualifying programs to one per county per year

• Provides an allotment of $6,925 per student for each student enrolled in a regional day school program for the deaf to the program administrator or fiscal agent

• Repeals the provision excluding time to provide information and seek consent for additional exams or tests for the evaluation of a child’s need for special education services from the 60 day timeline to complete an evaluation

• Repeals the provision that if a parent does not give consent to additional examination within 20 days of receiving information regarding the test and how it will be used the consent is considered denied

Curriculum & Instruction- Effective for the 2025-2026 School Year

Math and Literacy Academies

• Removes teachers who teach 7th or 8th grade reading from required literacy achievement academies

• Requires school districts to provide stipends to K-3 classroom teachers who complete literacy achievement academies, and any classroom teacher who completes a mathematics achievements academy, outside of work time at the direction of the district, unless the teacher attends the academy through an educator prep program, from the funds provided and allows districts to provide stipends to other classroom teachers if funds are available

• Requires the TEA to evaluate the effectiveness of literacy and mathematics achievement academies

• Requires the commissioner to develop reading and mathematics intervention academies for teachers or other professionals who provide reading intervention to students

• Requires all classroom teachers that provide math instruction in grades K-3 and elementary principals, assistant principals, math instructional coaches, and math interventionists to attend a math achievement academy by the 2030-2031 school year

Early Childhood Assessments

• Requires the commissioner to adopt a single reading assessment that a school district must use within 60 days of the beginning of Kindergarten to assess a student’s foundational literacy skills

• Allows, but does not require, the commissioner to approve up to two alternative reading assessments

• Requires school districts to report in the results in a public board meeting and provide the results to parents within the earlier of 20 school days or 30 calendar days after the results are available

• Requires the commissioner to adopt a list of assessment to be used by school districts for assessing foundational literacy and numeracy skills in grades K-3

• Requires the reading assessment to be capable of screening for dyslexia

• Requires districts to administer an assessment on the list at the middle and end of the year in Kindergarten, beginning, middle and end of year for fiesta nd second grade, and beginning and middle of the year for third grade

• Requires school districts to report in the results to the TEA and in a public board meeting, and provide the results to parents within the earlier of 20 school days or 30 calendar days after the results are available

• Allows parents to opt out of administration of the assessments

Early Literacy Intervention

• Requires school district to provide reading intervention to a student whose results on two consecutive reading assessments indicate the student is at risk of not achieving satisfactory performance in foundational literacy

• The intervention must include targeted instruction in areas of identified need provided using effective instructional materials, provided by a person with training in reading intervention, as practicable provided by the same person throughout the entire intervention instruction, and meet any other requirements adopted by the commissioner

• Requires reading intervention to be provided until the student is no longer at risk or the student reaches the fourth grade

• Prohibits a student receiving intervention from being removed from instruction in the foundation or enrichment curriculum, recess, or PE

• Requires the TEA to approve an automated, computerized, or other augmented method for providing reading intervention

• Allows parents to opt out of the required intervention

Tutoring- Effective for the 2026-2027 School Year

• Requires the Commissioner to create a program to improve student proficiency in reading by providing grants through which a student’s parent may purchase tutoring services for a student at or below third grade who requires reading intervention or a student who is required to receive accelerated instruction as a results of third grade performance

• Provides grants of $400 per student

• Beginning with the 2030-2031 school year, requires the funding for the grant to be paid by school districts for any student who fails the third grade reading assessment and was enrolled in the district from Kindergarten through third grade, except that for a student eligible for special education, half the grant is paid by the school district

• Requires the agency to approve to provide tutoring services classroom teachers who are designated under the Teacher Incentive Allotment and submit their name to the TEA

• Requires school districts to provide notice of a student’s eligibility for a grant

PreKindergarten- Effective for the 2027-2028 School Year

• Requires the commissioner to designated at least four entities as “prekindergarten partnership intermediaries” to develop partnerships between school districts and private preK providers

• Requires districts to receive an official determination from a preK partnership intermediary that the providers that submitted proposals for a preK partnership with the district are unable to serve the district’s students prior to the district constructing, repurposing, leasing, or issuing bonds to provide required preK classes

• Requires districts to pay at least 85% of the funding received by the district for students enrolled in preK being provided by a private provider to the private provider

• Prohibits districts from offering a preK program on a tuition basis unless the district has received an official determination from a preK partnership intermediary that no private providers meet the qualifications to serve the students

Resource Campuses

• Allows districts that are rated D or F for 3 years over a 10 year period to be designated a resource campus, instead of only F campuses for 4 years

• Requires resource campuses to ensure that at least 50% of teachers at the campus in the foundation curriculum hold a designation under Teacher Incentive Allotment, but allows the campus to employ teachers 2 years of experience for the foundation curriculum and with less than two years of experience for other courses

• Requires middle school resource campuses to operate for additional instructional days

Open Education Resource Instructional Materials

• Requires TEA to assist school districts with implementation of open education resource instructional materials for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years

• Allows districts to apply funds received to offset the payment of costs regardless of whether the cost was incurred prior to receiving the funds

• Allows the Commissioner to market the development and availability of open education resource instructional materials

Additional Days School Year

• Allows funding for additional instructional days to begin for instructional days beyond 175 instead of 180

• Allows the additional days to include middle school

• Increases funding for additional days by 50% for districts that offer at least 200 full days of instruction

• Provides separate funding for districts that are not eligible for funding under the Additional Days School Year program that provide at least 30 days of half-day instruction for required reading intervention

Other Provisions

• Provides funding for grants to assist in planning implementation of an additional days school year program

• Requires the TEA to develop and implement an adaptive vocabulary assessment pilot program to assess vocabulary development in K-3 students

• Requires school districts to provide notice to parents of students with dyslexia of the Talking Book Program administered by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission

• Requires the TEA to approve high-impact tutoring providers for providing accelerated instruction and allows districts to use outcomes-based contracts with such providers

CCMR (HB 120)

• Adds the goals that students will have skills and credentials necessary to enter the workforce and be ready for post secondary coursework without remediation, upon graduation to the state academic goals

• Requires the TEA to post information regarding high school students disaggregated by district, high school, and annual cohort for the past 10 cohorts for school boards, superintendents, and counselors, including:

  • the number and percentage of students who enroll in a postsecondary degree, certificate, or other credentialing program, including the number who persist for 1 year and the number who complete the program

  • employment status, occupation, industry, wage, and county of employment and residence

  • for students who did not graduate, the highest grade level completed and whether the student has earned a high school equivalency certificate

• Requires the TEA to use the data to create a quantifiable state goal for career readiness and update the goal at least every five years with the first update in the 2028-2029 school year

• Requires the College, Career, and Military Readiness plans adopted by school boards to include:

  • an annual goal for each CCMR indicator

  • specific annual goals for student completion of postsecondary credentials while in high school

  • annual goals for graduates at one, three, and five years post graduation including rate of enrollment in postsecondary institutions, percentage who do not require remediation, and rate of persistence for the first two years, rate of completion of postsecondary degrees or certificates, and wages earned

• Requires school districts to submit an annual report on CCMR performance to TEA and the LBB

• Requires school boards to approve the annual CCMR plan and for the report to be posted online for 2 weeks prior to the vote

• Makes students who would be eligible for free participation in a dual credit program under the Financial Aid for Swift Transfer (FAST) program but for their graduation from high school eligible if they are enrolled at a P-TECH campus in a course of study offered under the P-TECH program

• Designates JROTC programs as CTE programs

• Allows students to receive two certification exam subsidies

• Provides subsidies for teachers that pass certification exams related to career and technology education instead of just cybersecurity

• Requires TEA to reimburse school districts for costs paid for fingerprinting or criminal history record information review related to certification exams

• Requires school districts to provide parents of students enrolled in JROTC with information about any early registration or scholarship programs available to students in military training programs, including the option for the parent to consent to the district sharing information with a public institution of higher education for the purpose of learning about such opportunities

• Allows districts that were participating in the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP) Program to continue participating regardless of the number of students at the district, but caps funds at 110% of the funds provided in the year immediately before the district exceeded 1,600 students

• Caps grants for assisting in the planning and establishment of R-PEP programs at $5 million annually

• Requires counselors to include information about career readiness and workforce training opportunities and a link to the My Texas Future website, with information on creating a profile, in the information regarding the importance of postsecondary education provided to students each year of high school

• Requires counselors to include information about opportunities to complete career training and obtain a postsecondary credential while in enrolled at the high school, including costs, completion rates, and average wages of completers, and the outcomes of graduates at the campus in the information provided to students and parents each year of high school

• Requires TEA to provide a training for school counselors on trends identified in the data related to high school student outcomes

• Allows students during the spring semester of their junior year or during their senior year to take a nationally recognized career readiness assessment approved by the commissioner at state cost

• Makes students who are enrolled in a P-TECH program eligible for funding under the Foundation School Program even if they have graduated from high school

• Allows districts to provide advising support related to successful completion of a certificate or degree program to students who have graduated in the first two years after graduation

• Increases the per-student in average daily attendance funding for P-TECH programs to $150, up from $50

• Increases the cap on R-PEP outcomes bonuses funding to $20 million from $5 million

• Allows funding from the New Instructional Facilities Allotment to be used for a renovated portion of an instructional facility being used for the first time to provide high-cost and undersubscribed CTE programs as determined by the Commissioner

• Increases the cap on the New Instructional Facilities Allotment to $150 million from $100 million

• Provides reimbursement to districts for up to two certification exams per student including costs for fingerprinting or criminal history record review

• Caps certification exam reimbursements at $20 million per year and $500,000 per year for fingerprinting and criminal history record review

• Requires the Texas Workforce Commission to include information related to wage, industry, occupational field, full-time and part-time status, county of primary employment, and remote work status in information reported by the Commission

• Repeals the requirement that the TEA prioritize partnerships with entities that have at least two years’ experience managing college and career pathways for the R-PEP program

• Clarifies that charter schools may only deny admission for behavior related reasons to a student who has been placed in a DAEP or JJAEP, been expelled, been convicted of a criminal offense, or has a juvenile court adjudication

• Prohibits school districts from exempting themselves from any portion of Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code in a local innovation plan

• Makes professional employees of a school district immune from disciplinary proceedings by the school district of the State Board for Educator Certification for reporting a violation of Chapter 37 or any action taken in good faith to remove a student from class

• Allows parents to use the supplemental special education services grant funding to receive crisis prevention and intervention training

• Requires school district codes of conduct to allow the appropriate administrator to place a student in DAEP for a first-time offense of possession or use of a vape

• Clarifies that a student receiving special education services may be disciplined for student code of conduct violations prior to a manifestation review, provided that the discipline does not result in a change in the student’s educational placement

• Requires a single person at each campus to be designated to serve as a campus behavior coordinator and allows additional staff to assist in the performance of the campus behavior coordinator’s duties provided that the campus behavior coordinator personally verifies all school discipline provisions are appropriately implemented

• Requires the campus behavior coordinator to monitor disciplinary referrals and report to the campus threat assessment team any student who engages in terroristic threat, unlawfully carrying weapons, an offense related to prohibited weapons, exhibiting, using or threatening to exhibit or use a firearm, or any concerning student behavioral trends that might post a serious risk of violence to the student or others

• Allows school boards to adopt a policy for parental involvement in school disciplinary placements that must provide for:

  • the principal, campus behavior coordinator, or other appropriate administrator to notify the parent of a student who has been placed in DAEP or expelled of the right to request a behavioral agreement

  • a reduction in the period of disciplinary placement if the student and parent comply with the provisions of a behavioral agreement

• Requires behavioral agreements developed to include in writing the specific reduction that will occur if the parent and student comply with the agreement

• Requires the Commissioner to develop a model behavioral agreement

• Requires a school district that adopts a policy for parental involvement in school disciplinary placements to include the provisions of the policy in the student code of conduct

• Allows teachers to remove students from their class if they repeatedly interfere with the teacher’s ability to communicate effectively with the students or with their classmates’ ability to learn, if the student demonstrates behavior that is unruly, disruptive, or abusive toward another person, or if the student engages in bullying

• Eliminates the requirement that a teacher document the behavior prior to removal

• Requires the teacher, the campus behavior coordinator, or an administrator to notify the parent of the student’s removal

• Requires written consent of the teacher or a return to class plan to return a student to the teacher’s classroom

• Allows the student to appeal the removal to the school’s placement review committee or the threat assessment team

• Clarifies that only out-of-school suspensions are limited to three days and that in-school suspensions are not subject to time limits

• Requires a review of any student who is placed in in-school suspension every 10 days and documentation for any suspension that continues beyond that time

• Requires schools to provide behavioral support services and comparable educational services to students placed in in-school suspension

• Allows the out-of-school suspension of students below third grade and students who are homeless for conduct that threatens the immediate health and safety of other students in the class or documented conduct that results in repeated or significant disruption to the classroom

• Allows a principal or other appropriate administrator to place a student in in-school suspension instead of out-of-school suspension if the parent demonstrates that the parent is unable to provide suitable supervision for the student for out-of-school suspension

• Removes the mandatory placement in DAEP for possession or use of a vape

• Requires a student to be placed in DAEP for harassment of a school employee or volunteer regardless of whether the offense occurred on school property or at a school activity

• Requires a student to be placed in DAEP for the offense of deadly conduct, the offense of disorderly conduct involving a firearm, or the offense of unlawfully carrying weapons, regardless of whether the offense occurred on school property or at a school activity

• Allows a student to be placed in DAEP for the offense of disruptive activities, intentional and repeated disruption of classes, or possession and use of a vape

• Requires a student who is not placed in DAEP for possession or use of a vape to b placed in in-school suspension for 10 school days

• Makes the following conduct subject to a mandatory expulsion regardless of whether it occurs on school property or at a school activity

  • unlawfully carrying weapons or offenses related to prohibited weapons

  • aggravated assault

  • sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault

  • arson

  • murder or attempted murder

  • indecency with a child

  • kidnapping or aggravated kidnapping

  • burglary or aggravated burglary

  • manslaughter

  • criminally negligent homicide

  • felony distribution of THC or a dangerous drug

  • assault against a school employee or volunteer

  • exhibiting, using, or threatening to exhibit or use a firearm

• Allows a student who has been expelled to be placed in a virtual expulsion program if the student would not be enrolled in a JJAEP

• Requires school districts to ensure students expelled to a virtual expulsion program have suitable computer equipment and internet access

• Requires a review of placement in a virtual expulsion program every 45 days

• Requires teachers who provide virtual instruction for the program to complete a professional development course on virtual instruction and prohibits districts from requiring a teacher to teach virtually and in person simultaneously

• Prohibits TEA from withholding any state funding or imposing a penalty on a school district based on the number of students who have been expelled, placed in a DAEP, or suspended

• Requires campus threat assessment teams to include the campus behavior coordinator

• Requires threat assessment teams assessing a student who receives special education services to include an educational diagnostician, behavior specialist, special education teacher assigned to the student, licensed behavior analyst, licensed clinical or master social worker, or school psychologist

• Allows a school district to offer to each student enrolled in the district access to mental health services provided by the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium, if the parent provides written consent

• Prohibits a district from requiring a student to participate or allowing a student to participate without written parental consent

• Prohibits a school district from sharing any education records with the Consortium

• Requires the Consortium to include data on the percentage of participants who were prescribed a psychotropic drug, referred to a health provider, completed program treatment goals, and were provided information on consortium research programs at discharge in their biennial report

• Requires the Consortium to include the percentage of potential participants for whom a parent declined to give consent and who were referred but not enrolled because of needing more emergent care in their biennial report

• Requires the TEA to provide a report on all laws related to school discipline that were amended or added to school districts by the first day of the 2025-2026 school year and requires school districts to provide the report to parents

Provides for an exemption from property taxation for the first $125,000 of appraised value of tangible personal property used for the production of income, up from an exemption only for personal property valued at $2,500 or less

• Requires the Commissioner to establish and administer an Applied Science Pathway program and approve for participation in the program partnerships between school districts and institutions of higher education that lead to a high school diploma and a completion of a certificate program with a successful job placement rate in high-wage, high-growth jobs in the following industries:

  • plumbing and pipe fitting

  • electrical

  • welding

  • sheet metal

  • carpentry

  • masonry

  • diesel and heavy equipment

  • aviation mechanics

  • HVAC

  • construction management and inspection

  • mechanical and aerospace engineering

  • industrial maintenance and processes

  • robotics and automation

  • information technology and cybersecurity

  • oil and gas exploration and production

  • refining chemical processes

  • transportation distribution and logistics

  • manufacturing and industrial technology

  • electronics technology

  • automotive technology

• Allows the Commissioner to revise the list of industries every five years, beginning in 2027-2028, to reflect current labor market trends

• Requires partnerships participating in the program to:

  • enable the district to provide at least one course of study in one of the industries

  • provide for all juniors and seniors to be able to concurrently enroll in a certificate program that allows the student to earn a level one or level two certificate or credential of value with a partnering institution and complete high school graduation requirements

  • be governed by an agreement between the partners that meets the requirements for a dual credit partnership

• Allows the commissioner to approve the substitution of credit in a subject area required for high school graduation with a credit in a CTE course provided under the program that substantially covers the TEKS for which it is substituted

• Clarifies that the Commissioner may not require approval of partnerships between school districts and institutions of higher education for purposes other than the program

• Sunsets the program on September 1, 2031

Provides for an exemption from property taxation for all intangible personal property

• Replaces the required social studies half-credit course in economics or combo personal financial literacy/economics, with a half-credit personal financial literacy course

• Adds a full-credit economics course to world geography and world history as one of three options for a the final required social studies credit

• Requires the State Board of Education to provide credit for the personal financial literacy course to a student who completes an AP course the SBOE designates as containing substantively similar and rigorous academic content as the personal financial literacy course

• Applies the new requirements only to students entering ninth grade during the 2026-2027 or later school year

• Requires school district multihazard emergency operations plans to address the prompt recovery of services provided by the school district

• Requires school district multihazard emergency operations plans to include measures to ensure the use of standardized response protocol terminology developed in coordination with the Texas School Safety Center to facilitate communication between law enforcement, emergency services, district employees and the public

• Requires districts that construct, acquire, renovate, or improve a district facility to conduct a security review to determine if the facility meets school safety requirements and identify security vulnerabilities in the event of an active shooter event and strategies to mitigate the vulnerabilities

• Requires the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center to create a template for evaluating and reporting the response of a law enforcement agency or emergency medical service provider to an active shooter incident at a school facility and sets requirements for the template

• Requires the Center to develop a required training program for peace officers and emergency medical services personnel for responding to active shooter incidents at schools

• Requires school districts and school district police departments to employ a public information officer who is responsible for communicating with the public during a disaster regarding the disaster and requires the person to achieve certification from the Texas Division of Emergency Management

• Requires the Texas Division of Emergency Management to create and post a guide on preparing for and responding to active shooter incidents at schools for civic, volunteer, and community organizations

• Requires the guide to include information on understanding mass violence, incident command structure, coordination of and access to resources, long-term recovery, communication coordination, training and planning resources, and preserving and restoring community cohesion

• Requires law enforcement agencies and emergency medical services providers that respond to an active shooter incident at a school to initiate an evaluation of the agency’s or provider’s response within 45 days of the incident and finalize a report on the response by the 90th day after the incident

• Creates a grant program for first responders and telecommunicators to attend an active attack integrated response training course through the Center

• Requires the Department of Public Safety to consult with the sheriff of each county to determine which governmental entities are likely to respond to an active shooter incident at a school in the county and requires DPS, the sheriff, and each identified governmental entity to participate in a multiagency tabletop exercise each odd-numbered year and an in-person drill every even-numbered year

• Requires DPS and the governmental entities to enter into a mutual aid agreement that establishes the procedures for the provision of resources, personnel, facilities, equipment, and supplies in response to critical incidents

• Requires the agreement to address establishing interoperability of communications equipment among the parties, establish procedures for interagency coordination, set jurisdictional boundaries, and determine the capabilities, processes, and expectations among the parties

• Requires every sheriff to hold annual meetings to discuss school safety, coordinated response, law enforcement capabilities, available resources, emergency radio interoperability, chain of command planning, each district’s multihazard emergency operations plan, and other related subjects

• Requires a representative of the Texas Division of Emergency Management to attend the meetings in counties with less than 350,000 people

• For districts with more than 350,000 people, requires either the police chief of the district’s police department, if applicable, or the chief administrative officer of the law enforcement agency providing law enforcement services to the district, and the superintendent to attend the meeting

• Requires the Texas Division of Emergency Management to develop a mental health resources plan for first responders involved in an active shooter incident

• Requires law enforcement agencies to have access to at least one breaching tool and one ballistic shield and to have detailed written policies on the current best practices for responding to an active shooter incident at a school facility and a recommendation for the frequency at which simulated emergency drills should be conducted

• Requires peace officers to complete Introduction to the Incident Command System and National Incident Management System, An Introduction courses

• Requires peace officers who supervise officers in an incident response to complete an advanced incident response and command course as part of continuing education

• Requires trainings that need to be created to be created by December 1, 2025

• Requires public information officers to complete training by September 1, 2026

• Requires mutual aid agreements to be entered into by January 1, 2026

• Prohibits school districts from adopting or using instructional materials on the list of rejected instructional materials maintained by the State Board of Education

• Requires the State Board of Education to create a proposed rejected instructional materials list 45 days prior to placing an instructional material on the rejected list and issue a proclamation requesting the revision of the instructional material before the end of the 45-day period

• Requires the comptroller to consult and coordinate with the Bond Review Board to develop and maintain a database of current and historical information regarding taxes imposed and bonds issued by each taxing unit in the state by January 1, 2026

• Requires the database to include the following:

  • the language of each ballot proposition to approve bonds

  • the projected I&S tax rate associated with the proposed bond

  • the result of any election held to approve the issuance of bonds

  • a list of projects to be funded using the bonds

  • an accounting of the use of the proceeds, including a description of the project paid for with the proceeds

  • a description of any increase in the I&S rate

  • an estimate of the minimum debt service resulting from the bond

  • the language of the ballot proposition and the results of any VATRE including:

    • the adopted tax rate

    • the voter-approval rate

    • the difference in those two rates

    • the tax rate for the preceding year

    • the breakdown of votes in the election

    • the actual tax rate if the election to approve increased rate failed

  • school district proposed or approved tax rates

  • a report generation function to allow the information to be disaggregated by geographic area within the taxing unit

  • a function that allows for the proposal of updates or corrections to information in the database

• Requires taxing units to provide required information regarding the current tax year by August 7 of each year

• Requires taxing units to provide current and historical information for tax years 2015 through 2025 by January 1, 2026

• Requires the comptroller to include a link to the database on the “texas.gov/propertytaxes” website

• Makes taxing units liable for a civil penalty of $1,000 if the taxing unit does not provide the required information after receiving a 30-day notice that the taxing unit has not provided the information and is subject to the civil penalty

• Adds the goals that students will have skills and credentials necessary to enter the workforce and be ready for post secondary coursework without remediation, upon graduation to the state academic goals

• Requires the TEA to post information regarding high school students disaggregated by district, high school, and annual cohort for the past 10 cohorts for school boards, superintendents, and counselors, including:

  • the number and percentage of students who enroll in a postsecondary degree, certificate, or other credentialing program, including the number who persist for 1 year and the number who complete the program

  • employment status, occupation, industry, wage, and county of employment and residence

  • for students who did not graduate, the highest grade level completed and whether the student has earned a high school equivalency certificate

• Requires the TEA to use the data to create a quantifiable state goal for career readiness and update the goal at least every five years with the first update in the 2028-2029 school year

• Requires the College, Career, and Military Readiness plans adopted by school boards to include:

  • an annual goal for each CCMR indicator

  • specific annual goals for student completion of postsecondary credentials while in high school

  • annual goals for graduates at one, three, and five years post graduation including rate of enrollment in postsecondary institutions, percentage who do not require remediation, and rate of persistence for the first two years, rate of completion of postsecondary degrees or certificates, and wages earned

• Requires school districts to submit an annual report on CCMR performance to TEA and the LBB

• Requires school boards to approve the annual CCMR plan and for the report to be posted online for 2 weeks prior to the vote

• Makes students who would be eligible for free participation in a dual credit program under the Financial Aid for Swift Transfer (FAST) program but for their graduation from high school eligible if they are enrolled at a P-TECH campus in a course of study offered under the P-TECH program

• Designates JROTC programs as CTE programs

• Allows students to receive two certification exam subsidies

• Provides subsidies for teachers that pass certification exams related to career and technology education instead of just cybersecurity

• Requires TEA to reimburse school districts for costs paid for fingerprinting or criminal history record information review related to certification exams

• Requires school districts to provide parents of students enrolled in JROTC with information about any early registration or scholarship programs available to students in military training programs, including the option for the parent to consent to the district sharing information with a public institution of higher education for the purpose of learning about such opportunities

• Allows districts that were participating in the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP) Program to continue participating regardless of the number of students at the district, but caps funds at 110% of the funds provided in the year immediately before the district exceeded 1,600 students

• Caps grants for assisting in the planning and establishment of R-PEP programs at $5 million annually

• Requires counselors to include information about career readiness and workforce training opportunities and a link to the My Texas Future website, with information on creating a profile, in the information regarding the importance of postsecondary education provided to students each year of high school

• Requires counselors to include information about opportunities to complete career training and obtain a postsecondary credential while in enrolled at the high school, including costs, completion rates, and average wages of completers, and the outcomes of graduates at the campus in the information provided to students and parents each year of high school

• Requires TEA to provide a training for school counselors on trends identified in the data related to high school student outcomes

• Allows students during the spring semester of their junior year or during their senior year to take a nationally recognized career readiness assessment approved by the commissioner at state cost

• Makes students who are enrolled in a P-TECH program eligible for funding under the Foundation School Program even if they have graduated from high school

• Allows districts to provide advising support related to successful completion of a certificate or degree program to students who have graduated in the first two years after graduation

• Increases the per-student in average daily attendance funding for P-TECH programs to $150, up from $50

• Increases the cap on R-PEP outcomes bonuses funding to $20 million from $5 million

• Allows funding from the New Instructional Facilities Allotment to be used for a renovated portion of an instructional facility being used for the first time to provide high-cost and undersubscribed CTE programs as determined by the Commissioner

• Increases the cap on the New Instructional Facilities Allotment to $150 million from $100 million

• Provides reimbursement to districts for up to two certification exams per student including costs for fingerprinting or criminal history record review

• Caps certification exam reimbursements at $20 million per year and $500,000 per year for fingerprinting and criminal history record review

• Requires the Texas Workforce Commission to include information related to wage, industry, occupational field, full-time and part-time status, county of primary employment, and remote work status in information reported by the Commission

• Repeals the requirement that the TEA prioritize partnerships with entities that have at least two years’ experience managing college and career pathways for the R-PEP program

• Requires school district employees hired as armed security officers under a good cause exception who are not school marshals to complete active shooter response training provided by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center, school safety and emergency management training, crisis intervention, incident command, first aid administration, mental health and qualifications related to carrying using a firearm within 90 days of the first date of beginning duties as a security officer

• Requires a board that claimed a good cause exception to the armed security officer requirements to renew the exception and alternative standard each year

• Allows TEA to employ inspectors to assist in monitoring school district compliance with safety and security requirements and coordinating with local, state, and federal law enforcement during an emergency response

• Requires school district multihazard emergency operations plans to address reunification, and provisions, as determined by the TEA, for ensuring the safety of students, staff, and spectators during extracurricular activities

• Requires the Texas School Safety Center to provide notice of applicable requirements

• Requires TEA to monitor the response and use of emergency operations procedures by school districts during an emergency response

• Requires the TEA to provide an annual report to the legislature with deidentified results of district vulnerability assessments and intruder detection audits and the report must include recommendations and possible corrective actions for specific deficiencies identified at multiple districts

• Requires threat assessment teams assessing a student who receives special education services to include one of the following who has specific knowledge of the student’s disability: a special education teacher who provides instruction to the student, a licensed behavior analyst, a licensed clinical or master social worker, or a school psychologist

• Requires threat assessment teams, instead of the superintendent, to notify the parents of a student who the team determines poses a serious risk of violence to themselves or others

• Requires school districts to provide maps of school buildings to each emergency services district in the district

• Requires districts to provide information on safe firearm storage to parents three times per year

• Requires a district to renew its good cause exception and alternative performance standard related to school safety facility standards every five years

• Allows schools safety allotment funds to be used for interior door safety, behavioral interventionists, and discipline management practices

• Prohibits vendors from bidding on or receiving a contract from a school district if:

  • any board member, or the board member’s immediate family member, grandparent, grandchild, or spouse of any of the above:

    • owns more than 10% of the voting interest of the vendor or a subcontractor of the vendor

    • has a direct or indirect participating interest in more than 10% of the profits, proceeds, or capital gains of the vendor

  • any board member received or been promised a gift or in-kind services with a value of more than $250

• Makes an offense a class C misdemeanor for a first offense, a class B misdemeanor for a second offense, a class C misdemeanor for a third offense, and a state jail felony for a fourth or subsequent offense

Provides for an exemption from property taxation for the full amount of the value of property that arises from the installation or construction of improvements as part of a border security infrastructure agreement or on land subject to an easement for the construction of border security infrastructure

• Revises the certification from a physician required to excuse a student absence for a serious or life-threatening illness or related treatment to include a statement that the illness is serious or life threatening and a statement that the student’s illness makes school attendance infeasible during the specified period

• Requires school districts to adopt a form for parents to provide the required certification from a physician and prohibits districts from requiring information beyond what is required by the form

• Provides $243 million to assist school districts and charter schools in adopting and using open educational resource instructional materials over the next two years

• Provides $369 million for TRS-Active Care over the next two years

• Requires school districts to make at least one airway clearing device available at each district campus if the devices are donated or money is appropriate or donated for the purpose of purchasing the devices

• If such devices are available, districts must ensure at least one employee trained in the proper use of the device is present at any time a substantial number of students are present

• Allows districts to contract with a vendor to provide medication for respiratory distress and training for school personnel and volunteers authorized to administer medication for respiratory distress

• Requires employment contracts with political subdivisions to limit severance pay provisions to 20 weeks pay, excluding paid time off or accrued vacation leave and prohibit paying severance pay when the employee is terminated for misconduct

• Requires political subdivisions to post severance agreements in a prominent place on the website

• Defines severance pay as income paid on termination of an employee that is in addition to the employee’s usual earnings from the employer at the time of terminations

• Applies requirements to contracts entered into after the effective date

Requires the State Board of Education to adopt social studies TEKS that address:

• the role of government officials

• the voting process and election laws of Texas

• the eligibility requirements to run for office in Texas

• Robert’s Rules of Order

• the elected officials who represent the student at each level of government

• Requires the State Board of Educator Certification to establish a temporary certificate for educators certified in other states

• Requires the SBEC to issue a temporary certificate to a person who holds a valid, non-temporary certificate in another state, and holds a bachelor’s degree

• Makes temporary certificates expire when the person receives a Texas certificate or after one year

• Requires school districts to provide information regarding services and public benefits provided by the local intellectual and developmental disability authority for the county to the parent of a student with an intellectual disability or developmental delay at the first ARD meeting

• Requires the TEA, in collaboration with the Health and Human Services Commission to develop informational materials including such information and make that available to school districts

Provides for an exemption from property taxation for animal feed exempted from sales and use tax

• Makes reserve policy officers appointed by a school district police department a peace officer

• Makes reserve deputy sheriffs, reserve police officers appointed by a school district police department, and an honorably retired peace officer who has kept their commission active and fulfilled training requirements security officers for the purpose of the armed security officer requirement for all school campuses

• Allows school boards to authorize the chief of police of the school district police department to appoint reserve police officers

• Allows chiefs of school district police departments with reserve police officers to either limit when they carry a weapon or not

• Makes reserve school district police officers ineligible for any full-time employment or pension benefits

• Requires school boards to adopt and implement a written policy prohibiting students from using cell phones, tablets, smartwatches, radio devices, paging devices, or any other electronic device capable of communication while on school property during the school day, unless the device was provided to a student by the school district, and requires the policy to include disciplinary measures which may include confiscation of the device

• Allows the required policy to prohibit a student from bringing such a device on school property or to designate a method for the storage of the device while the student is on school property during the school day

• Allows the required policy to include provision for disposing of a confiscated device after having provided the student’s parent 90 days written notice of the school’s intent to dispose of the device

• Requires the policy to allow use of a device as necessary to implement an IEP or Section 504 plan, by a student with a documented need based on a directive from a physician, or as necessary to comply with a health or safety requirement imposed by law or the district’s or school’s safety protocols

• Requires the TEA to publish a model policy

• Requires school boards to adopt a policy within 90 days of the effective date of the Act

• Requires notice of public meetings to be post for at least three business days before the scheduled date of the meeting

• Requires notices for public meetings at which the budget will be discussed or adopted to include a physical copy of the proposed budget, unless the proposed budget is accessible on the homepage of the website, and a comparison of the property tax bill for the average homestead in the current fiscal year to the same for the upcoming fiscal year

• Requires the Department of State Health Services to develop a blank affidavit form for use in claiming an exemption from a required immunization and post it on the DSHS website within 30 days of the effective date of the act

• Prohibits the department from requiring a person to provide any information to access the form

• Allows, but does not require, the department to maintain a record of the number of times the form was accessed or requested

• Prohibits the department from including personally identifiable information of anyone who requests or accesses the form in the record

• Allows the Department of Public Safety to donate or sell surplus motor vehicles or other law enforcement equipment to school districts located in an economically disadvantaged area of the state if it would benefit the state’s efforts to secure the border and combat transnational crime

• Requires a school district that receives surplus property to use the property only for law enforcement duties

• Creates a Texas Commission on Teacher Job Satisfaction and Retention to make recommendations for improving teacher job satisfaction and retention

• The commission includes 5 members appointed by the governor, including at least 3 current or former teachers with at least 10 years of teaching experience and 4 members appointed each by the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House, which must include three members of the applicable chamber and a district administrator or trustee

• Requires the TEA to provide administrative support for the commission

• Requires the recommendations developed by the Commission to include:

  • methods to reduce the paperwork and other administrative burdens placed on teachers

  • the impact of state requirements on administrative staffing levels in public schools

  • methods to lessen administrative burdens in public schools and focus more resources on supporting teachers

  • the impact of state and federal law related to student discipline on teacher job satisfaction and effectiveness

  • the impact of compliance with federal education law on teacher job satisfaction, including the potential effect of declining federal funding

  • the impact of an administrator’s competency on teacher job satisfaction and effectiveness

• Requires the commission to provide a report to the legislature by December 31, 2026

• Requires appointments to be made within 30 days of the effective date of the act

• Requires TEA, in collaboration with the Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Workforce Commission, to develop and implement a strategic plan to improve early learning and educational opportunities for young children with disabilities or developmental delays

• The plan must include:

  • strategies for the inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood settings and childcare programs

  • existing barriers to the effective inclusion of children

  • Recommendations for policy and funding changes to improve the inclusion of young children with disabilities in early childhood settings

  • current and proposed strategies and recommendations to achieve:

    • improved provider staffing, training, and effectiveness

    • effective leveraging of existing funding and resources

    • streamlined transitions between programs for families

    • improved collaboration and partnerships between providers and public schools

• Requires the plan to be updated every four years by September 1 of that year

• Requires the initial plan to be complete by September 1, 2026

Provides for an exemption from property taxation for the entire value of a the residence homestead of the surviving spouse of a veteran who died of a condition that creates a presumption of service connection under federal law provided the person has not remarried since the death of the veteran

• Clarifies the Boards of Managers appointed by the Commissioner are subject to the Texas Open Meetings Act

• Codifies current case-law requirements that:

  • the notice of a public meeting must include an agenda that is sufficiently specific to inform the public of each subject to be considered in the open portion of the meeting

  • describes any subject to be considered in the closed portion of the meeting

• Clarifies the exception to open meetings for deliberation, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee only applies to discussions related to specific individuals and does not apply to operational issues that generally impact a class or group of employees, including changes in the duties or compensation of a class or group of employees

Makes organizations that provide charitable housing and services for persons who are 62 or older in an amount that is not less than 4% of the organization’s net resident revenue eligible as charitable organizations for tax exemption status, if they have been in existence for at least 20 years or are under common control with another charitable organization that has been in existence for at least 20 years

Changes the name of “Licensed Specialist in School Psychology” to “School Psychologist”

Prohibits chief appraisers from requiring a person allowed a residence homestead exemption to file a new application or confirm the current qualification unless the chief appraiser has reason to believe the person no longer qualifies, has attempted to determine whether the person still qualifies, and delivers written notice to the person that the chief appraiser believes the person may no longer qualify and why

Allows school boards to adopt a policy to allow a parent who is an active-duty member of a foreign military stationed in Texas to establish their child’s age for enrollment eligibility by demonstrating that the student will turn the required age during the school year for which the person is seeking admission

• Allows governmental bodies to deliberate a cybersecurity measure, policy, or contract solely intended to protect a communication infrastructure system, cybersecurity system, or other critical infrastructure facility in closed session

• Makes information related to cybersecurity confidential and exempt from disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act, including information related to:

  • cybersecurity measures, policies, or contracts to protect critical infrastructure

  • coverage limits and deductible amounts for insurance to protect IT systems, critical infrastructure, operational technology, or data

  • cybersecurity incident information reported under state law

  • network schematics, hardware and software configurations or encryption information or information that identifies the detection, investigation, or response practices for suspected or confirmed cybersecurity incidents if disclosure would facilitate unauthorized access to data or information technology resources

• Allows school districts that opted to no longer participate in TRS health insurance to elect to rejoin TRS, even if it is prior to the fifth anniversary of the decision to no longer participate, by providing written notice by December 31, 2025 of the district’s choice to participate beginning with the plan year that starts September 1, 2026

• Requires TRS to impose a risk stabilization fee on the premiums of a district that rejoins early

• Requires districts that rejoin to remain in TRS until the plan year that begins September 1, 2031

• Prohibits school district administrators, including principals, superintendents, and other staff with significant administrative duties relating to the operation of a district, campus, or program from receiving any financial benefit for the performance of personal services for a business entity that conducts or solicits business with the school district or another school district, charter school, or region service center

• Allows administrators other than superintendents and assistant superintendents to receive a financial benefit for personal services for an education business that provides services to the district related to the curriculum or administration of the district or for another school district, charter school, or ESC, if the school board approves the contract between the administrator and other entity and determines it will not harm the district, will not be a conflict of interest, and the duties are performed solely on the administrator’s personal time

• Creates a civil penalty of $10,000 per violation for an administrator who violates the prohibition

• Requires cybersecurity coordinators for school districts to complete a required artificial intelligence training

• Requires the Department of Information Resources to annually certify five artificial intelligence training programs for state and local government employees that are equal in length to the certified cybersecurity training programs and to update standards for maintenance of certification by the artificial intelligence training programs

• Requires certified programs to focus on forming an understanding of how AI may be used in relation to the trainee’s responsibilities and teach best practices on literacy and deploying the AI technologies

• Requires the Bond Review Board to develop and maintain an online and publicly accessible database that provides information on each bond proposed or issued by a local government by September 1, 2026

• Requires the database to include the amount of the principal of the bond, the estimated amount of interest on the bond, the estimated total of those two numbers and the estimated minimum dollar amount required for debt service of that bond

• Requires local governments to report to the Bond Review Board, at least 20 days prior to election day for a bond election, the date of the election, the proposition number for each bond, the total estimated cost of the issuance, the estimated minimum debt services, a description of the purpose of the board, and any other information the Board determines necessary

• Requires local governments to report to the Bond Review Board, within 20 days after election day for a bond, the total number of votes cast on each proposition, including the votes for and against, and any necessary updates to previously reported information

• Requires the Bond Review Board to publish a report on the results of a bond election on the board’s website

• Requires local governments with authorized but unissued bonds to report to the board the total amount of unissued bonds, the statute or law authorizing the issuance, the number of the propositions that authorized the bonds, the estimated cost of the issuance of the bonds, the estimated debt service, and any other information determined necessary by the board, by September 30 of each year

• Requires the Bond Review Board to issue a biennial report to each legislative finance committee that includes the estimated total amount of principal and interest for a voter-approved bond on the date the bond was issued, the total amount paid by the local government on the bond, the minimum debt service for each year of the biennium, and if the tax rate is required to be increased to pay the principal and interest of a bond, the required tax rate increase

• Allows all school districts to change the board election date from May to November

• Allows school boards to change the length of the terms of its trustees to accommodate the change in election date, until December 31, 2030

• Makes individuals who are required to register as a sex offender ineligible to serve as a school board trustee beginning with terms that begin on or after the effective date or to fill a vacancy that occurs on or after the effective date

• Requires applications for a place on the ballot to include a statement that the person is aware that the person is not eligible to serve if the person is required to register as a sex offender

• Requires law enforcement agencies that submit a report stating there is probably cause to believe an identified person has committed a criminal offense under the Texas Open Meetings Act to simultaneously submit that report to the Attorney General

• Requires law enforcement agencies and local prosecuting attorneys to provide all requested information related to such an investigation to the AG’s office upon request

• Allows local prosecuting attorneys to request assistance from the AG in investigating possible criminal violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act

• Requires local prosecuting attorneys who decide not to prosecute or to terminate an investigation of possible criminal violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act to publish that decision and their reasoning on their website

• Requires governmental bodies to notify the attorney general of the current mailing address and email address designated by the governmental body for receiving written requests for public information by October 1 of each year

• Requires the attorney general to create and maintain an online database of addresses and email addresses provided by governmental bodies

• Clarifies that a governmental body is required to notify the requestor of public information in writing no later than the 10th business day after receiving the request if the governmental body has no responsive information

• Requires governmental bodies that determine the requested information is subject to a previous determination that permits or requires the governmental body to withhold the requested information to notify the requestor, within 10 business days of receiving the request, in writing that the information is being withheld and identify the previous determination on which the governmental body is relying

• Requires governmental bodies to state specific exceptions it believes apply to the requested information when requesting an AG opinion

• Allows requestors to file a complaint with the AG if a governmental body fails to respond

• If the AG determines the governmental body did not comply with requirements for responding:

  • the AG must require the governmental body’s public information officer or designee to complete open records training within 6 months

  • the governmental body may not charge for producing the requested information

  • If the governmental body seeks to withhold information, they must submit the request within 5 business days of receiving notification of the AG’s determination and release the requested information unless there is a compelling reason to withhold the information

• Creates a school district property value study group to hold a single public meeting to examine the use and effect of the school district property value study in the annual distribution of state aid for public education and develop recommendations on alternative methods for verifying that valuations of complex properties are determined appropriately

• The study group is composed of three House members, including one vice chair, and three Senators, including one vice chair, appointed by the presiding officer of each chamber

• Requires the study group to submit a report by December 1, 2026

• Creates a special right of access to public information for a governmental body for members of the governing board of that governmental body

• Requires public information to be provided to the member of the governing board promptly and without charge

• If the member requests confidential information, the governmental body may request that the member sign a confidentiality agreement that requires the information to be kept confidential and securely, with all copies being controlled and destroyed or returned to the governmental body

• If a governmental body has requested the member to sign a confidentiality agreement, the member may request a decision from the AG about whether the information is confidential by law

• Allows the member to appeal an AG decision to a Travis County district court

• Allows a member of a governmental body that fails or refuses to comply with a request under the special right of access to request a writ of mandamus in a district court to compel the governmental body to comply

• Makes public schools that are grossly negligent or reckless, or engage in intentional misconduct, in the hiring, supervising, or employing of a professional school employee liable for the sexual misconduct of that employee committed against a student enrolled in the school or for the failure of the employee to report suspected child abuse or neglect of a student enrolled in the school

• Requires the professional school employee to be a named defendant in any action under this provision against a school

• Limits damages paid by public schools to $500,000 of actual damages per claimant

• Makes members of charter school governing bodies immune from liability to the same extent as school board trustees

• Makes adult high school charter school programs and the members of their governing bodies immune from liability to the same extent as school districts and school board trustees

Clarifies that language in a cybersecurity insurance contract that prohibits or restricts a local government’s compliance with requirements related to notification of security incidents is void and unenforceable

Prohibits publishers or manufacturers of instructional materials from charging a freight or shipping cost that exceeds the actual cost of delivering the material or includes a handling charge that is not directly related to the shipment of physical copies of the materials

See HB 9

See HB 247

See HB 1399

See HB 2508

• Provides $67 billion for the Foundation School Program

• Provides $4.3 billion to maintain property tax relief passed in prior sessions

• Provides $3.9 billion for new property tax relief

• Provides $1 billion for Education Savings Accounts

• Provides $8.5 billion for public education funding

• Establishes an education savings account program administered by the comptroller to provide funding for approved education-related expenses

• Provides funding for the accounts in an amount equal to 85% of the estimated statewide average amount of state and local funding per student in average daily attendance, including state contributions to TRS

• Provides additional funding for students with a disability in an amount equal to the funding that a school district would be entitled to

• Caps the total funding for a student with a disability at $30,00 per year

• Caps the total funding for a student who is home-schooled at $2,000 per year

• Allows funds to carry over from year to year

• Requires the comptroller, for each biennium, to request legislative appropriations for the program for each currently participating student, each student on the waiting list as of January 1 prior to the biennium, and each sibling of a student participating who will be eligible for the program for the first time for the biennium

• Clarifies that the legislature is not required to fund the full amount requested by the comptroller

• Caps the total amount of money for the biennium running from September 1, 2025 to August 31, 2027 at $1 billion

• Allows the comptroller to use funds appropriated to market the program

• Allows organizations to apply to the comptroller to become a certified educational assistance organization during an application period set by the comptroller

• Requires certified education assistance organization to be registered to business in Texas, be able to assist in the processing and tracking of applications for the program, assist individuals with finding pre approved education service providers or vendors of educational products, assist in the processing of payments for approved education-related expenses, assist in verifying proper expenses and program eligibility, assist in processing inquiries and complaints regarding the program, and assist in establishing and maintaining a website

• Requires the comptroller to set cybersecurity standards for certified educational assistance organizations

• Limits the number of certified education assistance organizations to 5

• Requires certified educational assistance organizations to assist parents interested in and participating in the program regarding educational options, how to apply to the program, how to manage the account, other program requirements, and to raise awareness regarding the availability of the program

• Makes all children eligible to attend public schools in Texas eligible for an education savings account

• Allows the comptroller to establish a timeline for application to the program

• If more applications are received than available slots due to funding, the applicants must be selected by lottery in the following order:

  • siblings of children in the program

  • children who are participating for the first time

  • children who previously ceased participation due to enrollment in a public school

• Within each grouping, children must be selected in the following order:

  • children with disabilities whose household income is at or below 500% of the federal poverty level

  • children whose household income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty level

  • children whose household income is between 200% and 500% of the federal poverty level

  • children whose household income is at or above 500% of the federal poverty level, except that no more than 20% of the funds for the program can be spent on this group and students who were enrolled in public school for 90% of the year prior to the year for which they are applying for an ESA must be prioritized within this group

• Requires certified educational assistance organizations to approve all applications from siblings that are submitted in the same year simultaneously

• Requires the comptroller to maintain a waiting list for students who are not accepted

• Requires the creation of a handbook that includes the expenses allowed under the program, a list of preapproved education service providers and vendors of educational products, a description of the application process, and a description of the responsibilities of program participants

• Allows the comptroller to require notice of intent for a child to continue in the program, but prohibits requiring a participant in good standing to reapply

• Requires participating parents to agree to:

  • request that program money only be spent on authorized expenses

  • share or authorize the sharing of the required assessment results with the certified educational assistance organization

  • refrain from selling something purchased with program funds

  • notify the certified educational assistance organization within 30 business days after the date their student enrolls in a school district, graduates from high school, or is no longer eligible to enroll in public schools

• Requires private schools that wish to provide education services in the program to demonstrate accreditation by an organization recognized by the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission or the TEA, annually administer for students in grades 3 through 12 a nationally norm-referenced assessment or STAAR, and that the school has operated for at least two years and if the private school serves preK or Kindergarten students to meet the requirements to be an eligible preK provider

• Requires school districts or charter schools that wish to provide education services in the program to demonstrate TEA accreditation and the ability to provide services or products in a manner in which the student would not be counted toward ADA

• Requires private tutors, therapists, or teaching services that wish to provide education services in the program to demonstrate that:

  • each employee is an educator or retired educator that was formerly employed by an accredited school, holds a relevant licences or certification, or is employed in or retired from a teaching or tutoring capacity at a higher education provider

  • each person who is providing educational services to the child has a completed background check and is not required to be on the do not hire registry

• Requires higher education providers that wish to provide education services to be accredited

• Requires providers of educational services to be located in Texas

• Requires education service providers or vendors of educational products approved in the program to agree to abide by the disbursement schedule, accept money only for education-related expenses, notify the comptroller within 30 days of no longer meeting the requirements, and return any money received in violation of the requirements of the program

• Requires the comptroller to suspend providers or vendors who are no longer eligible or who violate requirements and decide within 30 days whether to remove, conditionally reinstate, or unconditionally reinstate the provider or vendor

• Limits program money to being spent on:

  • tuition and fees for private schools, higher education providers, online educational courses or programs, or programs that provide training for an industry-based credential approved by the agency

  • purchase of textbooks, instructional materials, or uniforms

  • fees for classes of services provided by a school district or charter school if the school does not receive ADA for the student

  • costs related to academic assessments

  • fees for tutor services

  • fees for transportation provided by a paid-for transportation provider for travel to a provider or vendor

  • fees for educational therapies or services if those costs are not covered by federal, state, or local government benefits or by private insurance

  • costs for computer hardware and software

  • costs of breakfast and lunch provided by a private school

• To initiate payment, requires a parent to submit the required form with the expense and request for payment

• Requires certified educational assistance organizations to provide access to parents for them to view their balance, initiate a payment, and view a summary of past account activity

• Prohibits the program payment system from allowing parents to withdraw funds or receive direct reimbursement

• Provides a 0.1 weight for a student who ceases participation in the ESA program and enrolls in a public school during a school year and excludes that student from accountability for the first school year after the student ceases participation in the program

• Allows parents to request a school district conduct an evaluation of the student for eligibility for special education services and requires the school district to develop an IEP for any student who is eligible

• Limits costs for the comptroller to administer the program to 3% and amount paid to certified educational assistance organizations to 5% of the funds appropriated

• Requires funds to be returned to the comptroller when a child is no longer eligible to participate in the program

• Requires the comptroller to contract with a private entity to conduct annual audits of accounts and eligibility data, including internal controls and compliance of certified educational assistance organizations

• Requires the state auditor to conduct an eligibility verification audit on 10% of program applications, randomly selected

• Requires the comptroller to suspend the account of a child who fails to remain in good standing and within 30 days either close the account, order conditional and temporary reinstatement, or order full reinstatement

• Allows the comptroller to recover funds spent in violation of the requirements from either the parent or the education services provider or vendor

• Prohibits providers and vendors from charging program participants higher tuition or fees than non-participants or from providing any rebates, refunds, or credits to a program participant

• Requires certified educational assistance organizations to post and send a notice to program participants that states that private schools are not subject to federal and state laws related to serving students with disabilities and information on rights for students with disabilities

• Requires a private school in which a student with a disability who participates in the program enrolls to provide the notice to the parent of the student

• Guarantees autonomy in religious practices, curriculum, and admissions and enrollment practices for providers and vendors

• Allows districts to provide student records necessary to certified educational assistance organizations

• Requires the comptroller to publish an annual longitudinal report covering at least five years regarding:

  • the number of program applications, including those accepted and wait-listed, disaggregated by age

  • program participant satisfaction

  • results of assessments

  • the effect of the program on school capacity

  • cost savings accruing to the state

  • the amount of funding required for the next biennium

  • the amount of gifts, grants, or donations received to the program

  • the number of students who are college, career, or military ready

  • the dropout rate

• Requires the comptroller to report the demographics of participating children including, grade, age, sex, race or ethnicity, school district in which the student resides, district campus the child would otherwise attend, zip code, date of enrollment in the program, priority category, and whether the child has a disability

• Increases the homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000

• Provides additional state aid to offset lost interest and sinking revenue as a result of the increased homestead exemption

• Limits the additional state aid to only that needed for debt service on debt that was issued and on which a payment has been made by September 1, 2025

• Requires public schools to display a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments in each classroom, if posters or framed copies that comply with the requirements are donated

• Requires schools to accept donations of posters or framed copies that meet the requirements if the school does not have a copy posted in every classroom

• Specifies the exact text of the posters, excerpting from the King James Version of the Bible

• Allows, but does not require, districts to use district funds to purchase such posters or framed copies

• Requires school boards to take a “record vote” on a resolution adopting a policy requiring every campus to provide a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text by March 1, 2026

• The policy, if adopted:

  • must prohibit a student or employee from participating unless the employee or parent of the student provide signed consent on a form that includes:

    • acknowledgement that the student/employee has a choice of whether to participate

    • a statement that the person has no objection to participation

    • a waiver of the person’s right to bring a claim under state or federal law related to the adoption of the policy

  • must prohibit the prayer or reading from occurring over a PA system

  • must specify that the prayer or reading may not be a substitute for instructional time

  • must include provisions ensuring a prayer or reading is not in the presence or hearing of anyone who has not signed a consent or has revoked the consent

  • may require that the prayer or reading occur before normal school hours or only in areas where every employee or student has submitted a consent form

• Allows an employee or parent to revoke consent they provided and no longer participate

• Requires the AG, at the request of a district, to provide advice on best methods for a district to comply with these provisions, a model consent form, and defend the district in a cause of action arising out of the adoption of such a policy

• Requires school districts to implement and comply with any legally required policies

• Prohibits the infringement of the right of parents to direct the moral and religious training of their child, make decisions concerning the child’ education, and consent to medical, psychiatric, and psychological treatment of the child unless the infringement is necessary to further a compelling state interest and narrowly tailored using the least restrictive means to achieve that interest

• Requires school district to report the following information to TEA for a report on facility usage:

  • the square footage of each district facility and acreage of the property on which it sits

  • total student capacity for each instructional facility

  • enrollment capacity and actual enrollment for each grade level at each campus and the total for each campus

  • whether a facility is used by one or more campuses and the campus identifier

  • what each facility is used for

  • whether each facility is leased or owned

• Requires the TEA to use the provided information to publish an annual report on district land and facilities

• Prohibits school districts from assigning DEI duties to any person and requires districts to prohibit any employees, contractors, or volunteers from engaging in DEI duties on the district’s behalf

• Defines DEI duties to include any of the following:

  • influencing hiring or employment practices with respect to race, sex, color or ethnicity

  • promoting differential treatment of or providing special benefits to individuals based on race, color, or ethnicity

  • developing or implementing policies, procedures, trainings, activities or programs that reference race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation except for student recruitment efforts by historically black colleges and universities or to comply with state and federal law

  • compelling, inducing, or soliciting anyone to provide a DEI statement

• Requires districts to adopt policies and procedures, including discipline for any employee or contractor who intentionally or knowingly violates the DEI prohibitions

• Clarifies that the DEI prohibitions do not limit districts from contracting with historically underutilized businesses, acknowledging or teaching the significance of state and federal holidays or commemorative months, affect a student’s 1st amendment rights, limit a school from analyzing and taking steps to eliminate unlawful discriminatory practices necessary to address achievement gaps, apply to classroom instruction that is consistent with the TEKS, collection and reporting of data, or a student club

• Requires districts to update trustee information on their websites and submit to TEA trustee information within 30 days of a new member being sworn in

• Requires districts to annually submit information to the TEA for each trustee and that identifies the chair of the board

• Allows school districts to recover attorneys fees in an administrative proceeding brought under state law or rules for a frivolous administrative proceeding, except for due process hearings or local grievance proceedings

• Prohibits districts from assisting a student with social transitioning, which means adoption of a different name, different pronouns, or other expressions of gender that deny or encourage a denial of the person’s biological sex at birth

• Requires boards to report any violations of this provision to the commissioner

• Makes charter schools subject to DEI provisions, the parental access to instructional materials requirements, parental engagement policy requirement, requirements related to parental rights regarding student mental, emotion, and physical health needs, and school health advisory council requirements

• Prohibits districts from exempting themselves from the requirement to have a school health advisory council using a local innovation plan

• Prohibits districts from exempting themselves from the requirement to provide parental notification of non-certified teachers

• Prohibits districts from withholding information from a parent regarding the parent’s child and clarifies that compliance with FERPA constitutes not withholding information

• Requires school districts to develop a plan for parental participation in the district to improve parent and teacher cooperation regarding homework, attendance, and discipline

• Requires districts to provide information on parental rights and options to parents upon their enrollment and at the beginning of each year

• Requires TEA to create a form for sue by school districts regarding providing the information and requires school districts to post the form on the district’s website

• Clarifies that parents have a right to access their student’s medical records and records relating to library materials

• Requires districts to post on the homepage of their website a notice that parents are entitled to review teaching and instructional materials

• Requires school districts to provide an instructional plan or course syllabus for each class on the website

• Requires teachers to provide an instructional plan or course syllabus to district administrators and the parent of every student in the class

• Requires school boards to adopt a policy for parental engagement that provides for an internet portal through which parents may submit comments to campus or district administrators and the board, requires the board to prioritize public comments by presenting those comments at the beginning of each board meeting and requires board meetings to be held outside of typical work hours

• Requires districts to notify parents within one business day after the dat a school district employee first suspects a criminal offense has been committed against the parent’s child

• Allows the State Board of Educator Certification to discipline an employee who encourages a student to withhold information from their parent

• Requires TEA to adopt a procedure for school districts to notify parents of changes in services provided to or monitoring of a student related to their mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being

• Requires district personnel to encourage a student to discuss issues related to the student’s well-being with the student’s parent or facilitate such a discussion

• Prohibits districts from prohibiting an employee from notifying a parent about information related to their student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being or services related to any of those items

• Clarifies that disclosure of the information is not required if a reasonably prudent person would believe disclosing the information would be likely to result in the student suffering abuse or neglect

• Requires districts to provide notice of each health-related service offered at the campus and the parent’s right to withhold consent prior to the first instructional day of each year

• Requires districts to provide a copy of and receive parental consent to administer any well-being questionnaire or health screening to a student

• Clarifies that school employees may still inquire about a student’s daily well-being without parental consent

• Requires TEA, the State Board of Education and the State Board of Educator Certification to review and revise school counseling frameworks and standards, educator practices and professional conduct principles, and any other student services personnel guidelines by June 30, 2026 to ensure compliance of those frameworks with the provisions of the act

• Requires district employees or contractors to receive written parental consent to do any of the following for their student:

  • conduct any method to elicit information regarding an attitude, habit, trait, opinion, belief, feeling, or mental disorder or condition that is thought to lead to a mental disorder

  • to conduct the planned, systematic use of a method or technique designed to affect behavioral, emotional, or attitudinal characteristics of an individual or group

  • to disclose a child's health or medical information to someone other than the parent

  • to collect, use, store or disclose the child's biometric identifiers

  • to provide health care services or medication

• Requires district to provide an annual notice prior to the first day of school that outlines the district’s collection, use, and storage a student’s health information and biometric identifiers, and the legal authority for the district to collect that data, and obtain a signed notice from the parent

• Requires a district to discipline any employee that allows a student to participate in health care services without obtaining parental consent

• Requires grievance procedures for parents to allow for grievances related to school board policies

• Requires a minimum of three levels of grievances with the first level being a review by the principal or their designee, or for non-campus issues a district-level administrator, second level being a review by the Superintendent or designee and third level being review by the Board

• Provides for an optional additional level, between the first and second levels, being a review by another district administrator

• The person conducting the grievance or appeal must have the authority to address the grievance

• Allows a board to delegate its authority to hear a grievance to a committee of at least three board members

• Requires grievance policies to include a timeline of at least 60 days after the person knew or should have known of the facts giving rise to the grievance or, if the parent engaged in informal attempts to resolve the grievance, the later of 90 days after the person knew or should have known of the facts giving rise to the grievance or 30 days after the district provided the person information regarding how to file the grievance

• Requires a 20 day timeline to file an appeal after the date of the decision

• Requires a hearing within 10 days after the date on which the grievance or appeal was filed and a written decision within 20 days after the date on which the hearing was held, except for hearings in front of the Board

• Requires written decisions to include any relief or redress being provided and information on filing an appeal, including the timeline

• Requires a hearing before the board within 60 days after the date on which the previous decision was made and a decision within 30 days of the meeting

• Prohibits districts from retaliating against a student or parent for filing a grievance

• Requires a person to recuse themselves from hearing the grievance if the grievance is about the person and for the grievance to be heard at a higher level of review

• Requires the creation and retention of a record of each grievance including documents submitted by the grievant and the decision, including an explanation of the basis and each document that supports the decision

• Requires districts to accept additional documents or claims during the grievance process

• Allows districts to remand a grievance to a lower level of review to develop the record at any time

• Requires districts to direct grievances filed with the incorrect person to the correct person

• Requires districts to issue decisions on the merits regardless of procedural errors

• Requires districts to allow the grievant to determine whether the hearing will be held in open or closed session, except as required by law

• Requires districts to provide any information the board of trustees intends to rely on related to the grievance that is not in the record to the grievant five business days prior to the hearing

• Requires board hearings of grievances to be video or audio recorded or transcribed by a court reporter

• If a grievance is appealed to the commissioner, allows the commissioner to investigate any alleged violation of state or federal law regarding confidentiality of student information and take any action necessary to compel district compliance with the law

• Requires school districts to annually submit a report to the TEA on grievances filed during the preceding year including the resolution of the grievance and any corrective action

• Requires the TEA to annually post online, aggregated statewide, the number of grievances filed, the number resolved and the resolution of those grievances, and any corrective actions taken

• Requires districts to post on the website and include in the student handbook information on the procedures for resolving grievances, standard forms for filing a grievance, and the method by which a grievance may be filed electronically

• Requires districts to submit to the TEA the location where a grievance can be filed electronically

• Requires a superintendent to testify at the State Board of Education if the commissioner finds against a school district in five grievances in a school year

• Requires districts to adopt a policy regarding the appropriate discipline for an employee or contractor who intentionally violates provisions related to the inculcation of certain topics

• Makes human sexuality instruction opt-in instead of opt-out and requires consent to be obtained as a standalone consent at least 14 days before instruction

• Prohibits instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity

• Requires districts to provide at least two opportunities for in-person conferences during each school year for each parent and their children’s teachers

• Prohibits school districts from authorizing or sponsoring a student club based on sexual orientation or gender identity

• Requires school districts to obtain parental consent for a student to participate in a student club authorized or sponsored by the school

• Requires school districts to annually certify that the district is in compliance with the prohibitions on DEI practices and the inculcation of certain topics

• Requires the certification to be approved by a majority vote of the board at a public meeting and to include a description of the policies and procedures and the manner in which district employee or contractors were notified of the policies and any cost savings resulting from actions taken by the school district

• Requires TEA to post certifications on their website

• Clarifies that a parent has a right to access records related to library materials their student checks out

• Prohibits school library materials from containing content that portrays sexual or excretory organs in a way that is patently offensive, includes grossly offensive language that is considered a public nuisance, or links to a website with any of the prohibited content

• Clarifies that school districts may adopt standards beyond those required by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission

• Requires school districts to provide access for parents to a catalog of available library materials at each library and to allow parents to submit a list of materials their student cannot check out

• Allows a district to use instructional materials allotment funds to pay comply with the catalog requirement

• Requires school districts that use a learning management system or online learning portal to include in the system or portal a record of each time the student checks out a library material, including the title, author, genre, and return date

• Allows schools to establish a local school advisory council to make recommendations regarding policies and procedures for acquisition of library materials, grade appropriateness of proposed library materials, joint use agreements with local public libraries, removal of library materials in accordance with the standards, policies and procedures for processing challenges, and the action taken in response to challenges

• Requires their establishment if requested by the lesser of parents of 10% of the district’s students, or 50 parents

• Requires the councils to be comprised of at least five members with each board trustee appointing an equal number of members and all members appointed by the board

• Requires a majority of the voting members to be non-employee parents and for one of those members to serve as chair, but imposes no requirements on who may be appointed for the remainder of the voting members

• In addition to the voting members, the board may appoint as many non-voting members as it desires who are teachers, librarians, counselors, administrators, business community members, or clergy

• Requires the council to meet at least twice per year and as necessary to fulfill the duties of the council

• Requires meetings of the council to be posted publicly at least 72 hours prior to the meeting

• Requires minutes of each meeting, vote, order, decision, or other action of the council

• Requires a video or audio recording of each meeting

• Requires the district to publicly post online the minutes and recording as soon as practicable after receipt of the minutes and recording which must be provided within 10 days of the meeting

• Requires school boards to consider the recommendation of the local school library council before adding material to a library catalog, removing library materials, or changing policies or guidelines related to library catalogs

• Requires the board to approve all library materials donated or purchased by the district after the list has been accessible for review by the public for at least 30 days, except for replacing damaged copies or ordering additional copies of previously approved books

• The school library advisory council may meet to consider its recommendation during the 30 day review period

• Allows parents, employees, or district residents to file written challenges to library materials in a school catalog

• Requires school districts to provide a copy of a challenge to the school library council within five days of receiving the challenge and requires the school library council to make a recommendation within 90 days after receipt from the district

• Allows school districts, if recommended by the library advisory council and approved by the board, to establish library material review committees separate from the school library advisory council to review challenged materials as long as each committee contains at least five members appointed by the board, a majority of whom are non-employee parents, and allows the library advisory council to base its recommendation on the recommendation of such committees

• Makes the library material review committees subject to the same posting, minutes, and recording requirements as school library advisory councils

• Requires the school board to take action on a challenge at the first open meeting of the board held after the 90th day after the date on which the challenge was received or at the first board meeting held after the school library council makes a recommendation

• Requires TEA to adopt and post a form for making a written challenge, which must require the person submitting the form to identify how the challenged material violates the standards, and requires districts to use the form

• Requires districts to prohibit students from accessing a material while the challenge is pending

• Requires the board to notify each teacher of any removals and direct them to remove the title from classroom libraries

• If a title is not removed in response to a challenge, the district and board are not required to take action to any future challenges to that title for a period of two years after the determination to maintain the title

• Requires the policy updates for acquisition of library materials to be complete before the first day of the 2025-2026 school year

• Increases the additional homestead exemption for elderly and disabled individuals from $10,000 to $60,000

• Provides additional state aid to offset lost interest and sinking revenue as a result of the increased homestead exemption

• Limits the additional state aid to only that needed for debt service on debt that was issued and on which a payment has been made by September 1, 2025

• Requires the State Board of Education to adopt social studies TEKS for grades 4 through 12 that develop student understanding of communist regimes and ideologies

• Requires the TEKS to include information on:

  • the history of and tactics used by communist movements in the US

  • historical events and atrocities attributable to communist regimes including:

    • the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward

    • the Ukrainian Famine (the Holodomor)

    • the Great Terror

    • the Cambodian genocide under Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge

    • the origins and policies of the Communist Party of Cuba

    • communist guerilla movements in Latin America

    • the oppression and suffering experienced by people living under communist regimes

  • a comparative analysis of ideologies of communism, totalitarianism, and collectivist ideologies contrasted with the United States’ founding principles of freedom, democracy, individual rights, merit-based advancement, and free enterprise

  • modern threats to the US posed by communist regimes and ideologies

  • common economic, industrial, and political events that historically precede communist revolutions

  • the evolution of communist ideologies

  • common historical and modern methods to spread communist ideologies, including propaganda, public shaming, censorship, and forced conformity

  • first-person accounts from victims of communist regimes

• Requires the SBOE to adopt and publish standards for the required instruction

• Requires the SBOE to seek input from victims of communism and nationally recognized organizations dedicated to commemorating victims of communism

• Prohibits schools from restricting physical activity as part of recess or PE in grades preK-8 as a penalty for students academic performance or behavior

• Requires health TEKS in K-8 to include nutrition instruction based on guidelines recommended by the Texas Nutrition Advisory Committee beginning in the 2027-2028 school year

• Requires school districts to provide an elective course in nutrition and wellness that can be a one-half elective credit beginning in the 2027-2028 school year

• Requires the Commissioner to establish recommendations regarding accommodations for students with IEPs or Section 504 plans during mandatory school drills and guidelines for documentation of such accommodations

• Requires the Commissioner to establish guidelines for required communications between campus administrators and staff regarding such accommodations, and required communications between campus administrators and the safety and security committee regarding students with disabilities for the purpose of updating the district’s multihazard emergency operations plan

• Requires school district safety and security committees to include at least one administrator of special education in the district

• Requires school district multihazard emergency operations plans to include recommended accommodations for a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan

• Requires the Commissioner to adopt the required rules, recommendations, and guidelines by June 1, 2026

• Requires the State Board of Education to develop a training on the rights of a parent regarding education of the parent’s child by April 1, 2026 and require school board trustees who are sworn in prior to January 1, 2026 to complete the training by September 1, 2026

• Requires the TEA to create and maintain a handbook that explains parents rights by January 1, 2026

• The handbook must be updated annually and made available in a searchable format online

Requires school districts to excuse student absences for appointments with mental health professionals

• Allows parents of students who are the subject of a parental child safety placement agreement to establish residency for enrollment by providing a copy of a letter from the Department of Family and Protective Services indicating that the child is subject to such an agreement and that the address of the student is located in the district

• Requires child safety placement agreements executed on or after the effective date of the act to include the letter that can be used for residency

Increases the school safety allotment to $20 per student in ADA, up from $10, and $33,540 per campus

• Prohibits school districts from providing any of the following foods in meals provided as part of a free or reduced-price meal under the national school lunch program:

  • brominated vegetable oil (BVA)

  • potassium bromate

  • propylparaben

  • azodicarbonamide

  • butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)

  • red 3

  • red 40

  • yellow 5

  • yellow 6

  • blue 1

  • blue 2

  • green 3

  • citrus red 3

  • orange B

  • ammonia caramel (Class III)

  • sulfite ammonia caramel (Class IV)

  • titanium dioxide

• Allows the Commissioner to issue waivers to school districts upon request

• Applies only to contracts entered into to provide food on or after September 1, 2026

Requires school districts to define “antisemistism” as a certain perception of Jews that may be expressed as hatred toward Jews and use the examples provided in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s “Working Definition of Antisemitism” adopted on May 26, 2016 when determining whether conduct that violates the district’s student code of conduct was motivated by antisemitism

• Requires school districts to allow non-enrolled students who otherwise meet UIL eligibility criteria to have the same opportunity to participate in UIL activities as an enrolled student, unless the school board adopts a policy declining to grant non-enrolled students the opportunity to participate

• If the school district in which a non-enrolled student resides adopts a policy not to grant such students the opportunity to participate in UIL activities, the student may participate in UIL activities in the closest district that does grant the opportunity to participate to non-enrolled students

• Requires board meeting minutes approved by school boards to reflect each member’s vote on any item that is voted on

• Requires the district to post minutes and any resolutions adopted by the board on the website within 7 days after the date of the meeting

• Requires school boards to record every meeting of the board

• Applies the requirement for school buses to include a three-point seat belt for each passenger to buses regardless of model year beginning September 1, 2029

• Exempts school districts from the seat belt requirement if the school board determines that the district’s budget does not permit the district to purchase a bus that has three-point seat belts, or if the warranty for a bus would be voided if the bus was equipped with three-point seat belts

• Requires school boards that make a determination that the district’s budget is insufficient to submit to the TEA and present in a public meeting of the board a report that includes:

  • the number of buses that do not have seat belts, have two-point seat belts, or have three-point seat belts

  • the estimated cost to the district to add three-point seat belts to all the buses that do not have them

• Requires the TEA to collect the information provided by school districts and calculate the total amount of financial assistance needed for all school districts to come into compliance with the three-point seat belt requirement, and to summarize the information and provide it to the legislature and the Governor by January 1, 2027

• Provides that a student receiving special education services can earn the distinguished level of achievement under the foundation high school program

• Clarifies that TEA is responsible for developing and revising a comprehensive system to ensure statewide and local compliance with federal and state laws related to special education, including through rulemaking, technical assistance, training, and ensuring appropriately trained teachers are in every special education classroom

• Requires school districts to annually discuss in a board meeting the performance of students receiving special education services, based on indicators adopted by the TEA

• Requires the Health and Human Services Commission to develop and provide materials regarding educational residential placement options for children who may qualify for placement in a state supported living center to the TEA and requires the TEA to provide the information to school districts

• Requires school districts to provide the information provided by the TEA to parents in ARD committee meetings where residential placement is discussed

• Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, requires the commissioner to set minimum standards for and develop and update a list of approved facilities that school districts may contract with for services in a residential or day placement program

• Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, requires contracts between school districts and residential or day placement programs to be approved by the commissioner

• Requires TEA monitoring of school district special education programs to include a comprehensive cyclical process and a targeted risk-based process

• Allows TEA to require a school district to obtain specialized technical assistance for a documented noncompliance issue or if a need is indicated by the data

• Provides the TEA more flexibility in imposing interventions and sanctions on school districts that are not in compliance with  the IDEA

• Expands the noneducational community-based support program to provide grants to students placed in a residential program or a day placement program if the student is at risk of being placed in a residential program

• Requires school districts to notify parents of students eligible for the grants of the availability and designate an employee to assist the parent in accessing the grant

• Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, adjusts the funding weight for a hospital-bound student to align with the new tiers of intensity of services

• Requires a school district to provide a video camera in any classroom or setting primarily used for delivery special education services to students who spend on average less than 50% of an instructional day in a general education classroom or setting on receipt of a written request from a parent

• Creates a waitlist of the parent-directed supplemental services grant program for students receiving special education services

• Guarantees autonomy in religious values and educational content for providers under the parent-directed supplemental services program

• Requires districts to submit evaluations of services for students who are deaf or hard of hearing to the TEA

• Requires school districts to regularly assess, using a commissioner-approved assessment tool, language acquisition of each child eight years old or younger who is deaf or hard of hearing and report those results to the Commissioner

• Exempts recapture-paying districts from paying for a share of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired or Texas School for the Deaf

• Beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, revises the special education funding weights to be based on intensity of services rather than instructional arrangement as follows:

  • requires the commissioner to define eight tiers of intensity of services including one tier specifically for students in a residential placement and one tier for students only receiving speech therapy

  • requires the commissioner to consider the type, frequency, and nature of services, the required certifications and licensures to serve the students, any relevant provider to student ratios, and any equipment or technology required in defining the tiers

  • increases funding for extended school year programs to be the full amount of the basic allotment multiplied by the weight and removes the funding cap for ESY programs

  • requires the commissioner to submit to the legislature proposed weights for the tiers by December 1 of each even-numbered year

  • requires the commissioner to establish four service groups to provide funding to school districts based on the number of students in each group

  • requires the commissioner to consider the type, frequency, and nature of services, the required certifications and licensures to serve the students, any relevant provider to student ratios, and any equipment or technology required in defining the groups

  • requires 55% of funding from the service groups allotment to be spent on special education programs

  • requires the commissioner to submit to the legislature proposed allotments for the groups by December 1 of each even-numbered year

• For the 2026-2027 school year, the commissioner has the authority to determine the weights and allotments providing that the total amount of special education funding for school districts increases by $250 million over what it would have been under current law

• Beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, makes students receiving accommodations for dyslexia eligible to generate the dyslexia allotment

• Increases the CCMR outcomes bonus for students in a special education program to $4,000

• Increases special education transportation allotment to the general education transportation allotment plus $0.13, which equals $1.13 for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school year

• Provides an allotment of $1,000 per child for whom a district conducts a full individual and initial evaluation for special education eligibility

• Provides an allotment for a qualifying day placement program established by an ESC, school distinct or charter school as follows:

  • $250,000 for the first year

  • $150,000, if at least three students are enrolled plus $100,000 per year of operation after the first year, for every year after the first year

• Makes a program qualifying if it complies with commissioner rules, offers services to students enrolled at any school district in the county, and has been designated by the agency for service in the county as increasing the availability of day service placement in the county

• Limits qualifying programs to one per county per year

• Provides an allotment of $6,925 per student for each student enrolled in a regional day school program for the deaf to the program administrator or fiscal agent

• Repeals the provision excluding time to provide information and seek consent for additional exams or tests for the evaluation of a child’s need for special education services from the 60 day timeline to complete an evaluation

• Repeals the provision that if a parent does not give consent to additional examination within 20 days of receiving information regarding the test and how it will be used the consent is considered denied

• Allows school districts, charter schools, a consortium of districts or charter schools, an institution of higher education, and regional education service centers to offer hybrid or virtual courses to students

• Allows school districts, charter schools, a consortium of districts or charter schools, an institution of higher education, and regional education service centers to offer virtual learning programs to students as follows:

  • full-time hybrid program which means students are in attendance in person for less than 90% of the instructional minutes and the instruction is delivered online either synchronously or asynchronously or in person

  • full-time virtual program which means students are in attendance in person minimally or not at all and instruction is delivered online either synchronously or asynchronously

• Requires districts to notify parents of the option to enroll in virtual or hybrid courses offered by the district or school in which the student is enrolled or by another district or school

• Prohibits districts from actively discouraging students from enrolling in a virtual or hybrid course

• Requires a district that denies a request of a student to enroll in a virtual or hybrid course to provide a written explanation of the reason and include notice of the student’s ability to appeal the decision

• Allows, but does not require, school districts to provide computer equipment and internet access for virtual courses offered by the district

• Requires school districts to allow students in virtual or hybrid programs to participate in extracurricular activities, including UIL, in the same manner as other students

• Require the Commissioner to adopt rules for attendance tracking for the purposes of funding that do not require in-person attendance or synchronous instruction to receive the same amount of funding pers student that the district would receive if the course was in-person

• Requires school districts that offer hybrid or virtual courses to certify that the course includes the appropriate TEKS, provide instruction at grade level, and meet any other standards adopted by the Commissioner, or if no such standards exist, the National Standards for Quality Online Courses published by the Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance, Quality Matters, and DLAC

• Requires hybrid or virtual courses offered to students receiving special education services to meet those students’ educational needs

• Prohibits districts from requiring teachers to teacher in-person and virtually simultaneously, but does allow live-streaming an in-person class as long as the teacher is not expected to interact with students viewing the live-stream

• Requires teachers of virtual or hybrid courses to receive professional development designated by the district or have sufficient previous experience to not require professional development

• Prohibits districts from reassigning teachers from an in-person assignment to a virtual or hybrid assignment without the teacher’s consent

• Requires students in virtual and hybrid courses to take the state assessment in the same manner as other students

• Allows districts to charge tuition and fees for a student who is not eligible to enroll in public schools or is not enrolled in the district offering the course

• Requires school districts to establish the participation level required to earn credit or a grade for a hybrid or virtual course

• Requires TEA to publish a list of virtual courses offered in the state including whether the course is available to students not enrolled in the offering district, the cost of the course, and information regarding any third-party provider involved in the course

• Allows districts and charter schools to establish full-time hybrid and virtual campuses at which at least 50% of students are enrolled in either a full-time hybrid program or a full-time virtual program if authorized by the Commissioner

• Requires the Commissioner to adopt rules related to establishing full-time hybrid and virtual campuses which must require districts to:

  • engage in a year of planning before offering a course

  • develop an academic plan that incorporates curriculum and instructional practices aligned with TEKS, progress monitoring, methods for meeting the needs of students in special populations, and compliance with state law requirements

  • develop an operations plan addressing staffing, designation of school leaders, professional development, family engagement, calendars and schedules, enrollment eligibility, cybersecurity and student data privacy, and education services provided by a third-party

  • demonstrate the capacity to execute the plan successfully

• Requires full-time virtual or hybrid campuses to include a grade level that is assessed with the state assessment, or sufficient grade levels to allow for the annual evaluation of the performance of students, or another performance evaluation measure approved by the Commissioner

• Prohibits a district from changing the designation requested for a full-time hybrid or virtual campus during or after the authorization process

• Allows the Commissioner to authorize a full-time hybrid or virtual campus only if the commissioner determines the authorization is likely to result in improved student learning opportunities

• Make authorization of a full-time hybrid or virtual campus continue indefinitely

• Requires the Commissioner to revoke authorization only if:

  • the campus has been assigned a needs improvement or unacceptable performance rating for three consecutive years

  • based on the results of a special investigation conducted by the Commissioner

  • if the third-party provider that is acting as a whole program provider is found to be ineligible, unless the Commissioner approves the district’s request to use an alternative provider

• Makes any student who is eligible to enroll in public schools eligible to enroll in a full-time hybrid campus

• Students are eligible to enroll in a full-time virtual campus if the student attended public school in Texas for at least six weeks the prior year, unless the student is either entering 1st grade, was not a resident of Texas the prior year, is a dependent of a deployed military service member, or is in the care of the state

• Prohibits districts from requiring a student to enroll in a full-time virtual or hybrid campus

• In calculating ADA for a full-time hybrid or virtual campus, the Commissioner must use the average attendance rate of the school district

• Requires school districts to provide notice to the Commissioner of the use and change in the use of any third party provider acting as a whole program provider

• Requires the Commissioner to adopt standards to determine if a third party provider is eligible to serve as a whole program provider and prohibits districts from using a provider determined to be ineligible except when specifically authorized by the Commissioner upon the request of a school district as a result of a determination that the reasons causing ineligibility will not affect the operation of the third party as a whole program provider

• Requires TEA to develop research-based professional development courses

• Requires TEA to provide grants and technical assistance to districts in the establishment of full-time hybrid and virtual campuses

• Requires school districts to consider placement in a full-time hybrid or virtual program or campus as an alternative to expulsion except for expulsion related to violent offenses and offenses related to firearms

• Provides the Commissioner authority related to emergencies affecting attendance in regions of or the entire state to ensure that funding continues to flow to school districts

• Excludes students enrolled in virtual programs from the fast growth allotment

• Repeals the existing virtual learning frameworks including the virtual school network, except that providers under the virtual school network may continue to operate under those provisions until the end of the 2026-2027 school year

• Provides for an expedited approval process for schools operating courses through the virtual school network, or operating an unfunded virtual program in the 2022-2023, 2023-2024, or 2024-2025 school years

• Requires the clerk of a court to notify the State Board of Educator Certification of the conviction or deferred adjudication of an educator for improper relationship with a student or distribution of harmful material or any equivalent law in another state

• Requires principals to report to the superintendent within 48 hours if the principal becomes aware of evidence the educator abused or otherwise committed an unlawful act with a student or minor, was involved in or solicited a romantic or sexual relationship with a student or minor, engaged in inappropriate communications with a student or minor, or failed to maintain appropriate boundaries with a student or minor, as defined by the Board

• Requires superintendents to report to the Board within 48 hours of becoming aware of the above evidence and when an educator is terminated and there is evidence of the above

• Requires the TEA to develop an internet portal for reports to the Board

• Applies the same reporting requirements to non-educator employees and service providers except that reports are made to the TEA for non-educators and service providers

• Requires the TEA to place educators for whom the Board places a notice of investigation on their public certification record in the do not hire registry and indicate that they are under investigation for alleged misconduct

• Requires people applying for employment with a school to submit consent for release of the person’s employment records and a pre-service affidavit disclosing whether the person has ever been investigated for the conduct for which a report must be made within 48 hours, has ever been included in the do not hire registry, has ever been or is currently employed by a service provider for a school, or has ever been terminated, discharged, or resigned in lieu of being terminated from a school

• Requires a person who answers affirmatively on the pre-service affidavit to include all relevant information about the situation

• Requires districts to fire employees if it is determined they failed to disclose the required information

• Allows the Board to revoke the certification of an administrator who employed a person knowing the person failed to disclose the required information

• Requires the TEA to make a preliminary determination, within 30 days of receiving a report, regarding whether a notice of alleged misconduct should be placed on an educator’s public certification records or if the non-educator should be placed on the registry with an indication that the person is under investigation for alleged misconduct

• Prohibits the Board from accepting the surrender of a certificate while the Board is investigating the educator for the misconduct that requires a report within 48 hours

• Requires school districts to terminate a person listed on the do not hire registry

• Requires superintendents to annually certify to the commissioner that the school district has complied with the educator misconduct and do not hire registry provisions

• Allows the TEA to temporarily include in the do not hire registry people whose continued employment at a school poses a continuing and imminent threat to the public welfare, or if a person is arrested for an offense which triggers a notice from a court clerk, without notice or hearing if proceedings at the State Office of Administrative Hearings are initiated simultaneously and a hearing is held within 17 days of the temporary inclusion to determine whether probable cause exists to keep the person in the registry

• Requires the TEA to refer any misconduct to law enforcement that has not already been referred

• Requires the TEA to review investigations regarding sexual misconduct conducted by school districts to ensure that the investigations are conducted using appropriate investigatory protocols

• Prohibits the issuance of certificates or permits for a conviction or deferred adjudication of an offense triggering registration as a sex offender, improper relationship with a student, distributing harmful material, public indecency, a felony offense involving school property, conviction for a title 5 felony, or an out of state crime that is equivalent

• Allows the Board to temporarily suspend an educator’s certificate by a majority vote determining that the educator’s continued certification constitutes an imminent threat to the public welfare, or if a person is arrested for an offense which triggers a notice from a court clerk, without notice or hearing if proceedings at the State Office of Administrative Hearings are initiated simultaneously and a hearing is held within 17 days of the temporary inclusion to determine whether probable cause exists to suspend the certificate

• Requires the TEA to post online a quarterly report on educator, employee, and service provider misconduct including the number of reports of alleged misconduct categorized by certification status, the number of preliminary reviews that resulted in a formal investigation categorized disposition, the number of formal investigations categorized by disposition, the number of individuals sanctioned or placed on the registry following a formal investigation

• Applies reporting requirements to private schools

• Adds improper relationship between educator and student to the definition of abuse

• Requires reports of child abuse or neglect to be made within 24 hours

• Requires reports of child abuse made to law enforcement agencies to be made to law enforcement agencies other than school district police departments

• Repeals the provision that allows superintendents to complete investigations of misconduct prior to reporting and not report if the investigation found the allegations were false

• Requires the TEA to create and maintain a database regarding bonds and bond-related projects and maintenance taxes

• Requires the database to include the following:

  • the language of the ballot proposition

  • the projected I&S tax rate associated with the proposed bond

  • the result of any election held to approve the issuance of bonds

  • a list of projects to be funded using the bonds

  • an accounting of the use of the proceeds, including a description of the project paid for with the proceeds

  • other data related to capital projects funded wholly or partly by the bond including funding sources for the projects, project costs, project budget, and project size

  • any increase in the I&S rate

  • each school districts proposed or approve tax rate

  • the language of any ballot proposition for a VATRE

  • the results of any VATRE

  • a report generation function to allow the information to be disaggregated by geographic area

  • a function that allows for the proposal of updates or corrections to information in the database

• Requires school districts to provide the required information to the TEA

• Requires school nurses, assistant nurses, athletic coaches, PE teachers, marching band directors, cheerleading coaches, and other employees specified by the Commissioner and every student who serves as an athletic trainer to participate in CPR training and maintain CPR certification

• Requires school districts to establish and implement a cardiac emergency response plan that establishes safety procedures to follow in responding to a cardiac arrest on district or school grounds

• In developing the plan, the district must work with local emergency services providers to integrate the plan with the providers’ protocols and incorporate evidence-based practices

• The plan must include:

  • the establishment of a cardiac emergency response team

  • procedures for activating the team in response to a cardiac arrest

  • the dissemination of the plan throughout the district

  • ongoing training for appropriate staff

  • annual practice drills

  • annual review of the plan

• Requires cardiac emergency response plans to be implemented by the first instructional day of the 2027-2028 school year

Allows uniformed school marshals to openly carry a handgun

Allows a policy adopted by a school board related to the administration of medication to permit a school employee to administer nonprescription medication without further authorization or written protocol from the student’s health care provider if the parent has provided a written request, the medication is unexpired and from a properly labeled and original container, and at a dose that is consistent with the instructions on the label

Prohibits the infringement on the right of a school employee to engage in religious speech on prayer except when necessary to further a compelling state interest and narrowly tailored using the least restrictive means to achieve that interest

• Allows teachers to serve as members of the appraisal review board

• Creates a criminal offense of a board member or an employee of a school district communicates with a teacher who is a member of an appraisal review board with the intent to influence the decision by that teacher in their capacity as a member of the appraisal review board

• Adds students who are “chronically absent” and students who fail to attend school without excuse for 10 or more days or parts of days within a six-month period in the same school year to the definition of students at risk of dropping out of school for the purposes of compensatory, intensive, and accelerated instruction

• Defines chronically absent to mean a student who is absent for more than 10% of the school’s required operation and instructional time within a school year or an enrollment period that exceeds 30 instructional days

• Requires school districts to report whether students who are absent without excuse for 10 or more days within a six-month period in the same school year are receiving compensatory, intensive, or accelerated instructional services

• Requires school districts to report the number of chronically absent students enrolled at each campus in total and whether those students are receiving compensatory, intensive, or accelerated instructional services

• Requires TEA to annually publish data for each campus and district related to the above requirements

• Requires school districts to excuse absences for students to attend a course in religious instruction offered by a private entity for at least 1, but no more than 5 hours per week, upon the request of a parent

• Requires school districts to adopt a policy for excusing such absences by January 1, 2026

• The policy must require the following:

  • the parent to provide written consent

  • the private entity to maintain attendance records and provide them to the district

  • the private entity, the parent, or the student to assume responsibility for transportation to and from any location

  • the private entity to make provisions for and assume liability for the student while the student is under the care of the private entity

  • the student to assume responsibility for any schoolwork issued during the absence

• The policy must prohibit the following:

  • the district from using district funds to facilitate the provision of the course

  • the private entity from offering the course on district policy, unless under a content-neutral policy that provides equal access to community organizations

• The policy may not interfere with the ability of the student’s parent to request or access such a course for the student

• Allows certain governmental entities to publish notices in a digital newspaper that:

  • has an audited paid-subscriber base

  • has been in business for at least three years

  • employs staff in the jurisdiction of the governmental entity

  • reports on local events and governmental activities in the jurisdiction of the governmental entity

  • provides news of general interest to people in the jurisdiction of the governmental entity

  • updates its news at least once each week

• Applies the digital newspaper option to governmental entities located in a county that does not have a newspaper that:

  • devotes at least 25% of its total column lineage to general interest items

  • is published at least once a week

  • is entered as second-class postal matter in the county

  • has been published regularly and continuously for at least a year prior to the entity publishing notice

Increases the threshold at which best value procurement methods must be selected from $50,000 to $100,000

• Requires the Commissioner to develop a standard method of computing a student’s high school GPA that provide equal additional weight to AP, IB, OnRamps and dual credit courses

• Excludes dual credit courses that are included in the Workforce Education Course Manual adopted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board from the requirement that the additional weight for courses be equal

• Requires the Commissioner to adopt the standard method as soon as practicable

• Requires the parenting and paternity awareness program adopted by the State Board of Education for high school health curriculum to include information related to adoption including information about:

  • the difference between private adoption and foster care

  • the process for adopting a child privately or through the foster care system

  • adoption as an alternative to becoming a parent and the process for placing a child for adoption

• Allows the research-based programs and curriculum materials developed or adopted by a school district for use in conjunction with the required parenting and paternity awareness program to include information regarding adoption

• Replaces references in statute to “ACT-Plan” with “PreACT” to align with the revised name of the assessment

• Updates references to the name of the SAT and ACT assessments to align with the current naming conventions of those assessment

• Redefines the “Rate to Maintain Same Level of Maintenance & Operations Revenue & Pay Debt Service” with regard to the I&S rate to be the rate that would provide the minimum dollar amount required to be paid to service the district’s debt

• Redefines “Current debt service” to mean the minimum dollar amount required to be expended for debt service for the current year

• Allows a governing body, by a 60% vote, to adopt a rate that exceeds the Rate to Maintain Same Level of Maintenance & Operations Revenue & Pay Debt Service for the I&S rate if the motion to approve such a rate states the Rate to Maintain, the proposed rate, the difference, and the purpose for which the excess revenue will be used

Changes the calculation for average daily attendance for adult high school charter programs to provide a 100% attendance rate for:

• 75% of instructional days, up from 50%, for students enrolled for between 50% and 75% of the school year

• 50% of instructional days, up from 25%, for students enrolled for between 25% and 50% of the school year

• 25% of instructional days, up from 10%, for students enrolled for between 10% and 25% of the school year

Allows governing bodies of political subdivisions, including school districts, that hold its general elections in May to change the date to the November uniform election date in odd-numbered years by December 31, 2025

Prohibits school districts from adopting a tax rate under the disaster exception in a year in which the district held a VATRE that failed

Adjusts reference to epinephrine to incorporate epinephrine nasal spray in addition to epinephrine auto-injectors

• Makes it a first degree felony punishable by life in prison to display, or cause to be displayed, in a school library, visual material that contains a visual depiction of a child engaging in sexual conduct if the person knows or should have known that the depiction is of a child

• Makes it a second degree felony punishable by at least 10 years in prison to display, or cause to be displayed, in a school library, visual material that contains a visual depiction of a computer-generated child engaging in sexual conduct if the person knows or should have known that the depiction appeared to be of a child or believes that the depiction is of an actual child

• Clarifies that the Health and Human Services Commission is the sole state agency responsible for administering the school health and related services program

• Requires the commission to oversee the participation of local education agencies as providers including providing training for schools and information and guidance regarding the program to schools, including guidance on applicable federal and state regulatory requirements

• Requires the commission to collaborate with regional education service centers to provide resources, information and other assistance to school districts as necessary

• Requires the commission and the TEA to enter into a memorandum of understanding that specifically identifies the responsibilities of each agency with respect to the program

• Allows the TEA to require school districts to include additional information related to and classify the alternative language education methods used by the information in PEIMS

• Allows the TEA to provide funds at the same weights as the bilingual allotment to school districts using alternative language education methods, with an overall cap of $10 million per biennium

• Allows funds from the bilingual allotment to be used for teacher salaries related to providing bilingual education

• Requires employment contracts with executive employees of political subdivisions, including superintendents of school districts, to limit severance pay provisions to 20 weeks pay, excluding paid time off or accrued vacation leave and prohibit paying severance pay when the employee is terminated for misconduct

• Requires political subdivisions to post severance agreements in a prominent place on the website

• Defines severance pay as income paid on termination of an employee that is in addition to the employee’s usual earnings from the employer at the time of terminations

• Applies requirements to contracts entered into after the effective date

• Requires TEA to develop a list of nonmedical academic accommodations a school district may offer to a student diagnosed with a concussion or other brain injury

• The agency has to develop a form for use by school districts describing accommodations and make the form available online

• Requires school districts that provide accommodations to make the TEA form available to district employees and students after receiving notice that a student has been diagnosed with a concussion or a request from the employee or student

• Clarifies that providing such accommodations is optional

• Requires school districts to adopt and implement policies regarding how to respond to a concussion sustained by a student while on school property or at a school activity, other than athletics

• The policy must provide for the immediate removal of the student from the activity, notice to the parent of the concussion, and the student’s return to the activity after completion of concussion protocol

In the year after the first year a person qualifies for a disabled or elderly homestead exemption, provides that the person shall be taxed at the lesser of the frozen tax levy amount or the amount of tax levied on the homestead by a school district

Clarifies that a verbal warning and persisting in inappropriate behavior is not required for a referee, judge, or other official of an athletic activity to eject a spectator from the activity

• Allows, but does not require, school districts to allow religious organizations to use school facilities to host religious services if the use of the facility does not interfere with the primary educational mission, the religious organization pays fair market rental value or reimbursement for costs, the religious organization agrees to be held liable for damage and the religious organization is subject to the same rental terms as any nonreligious organization

• Defines interfering with the primary educational mission if the organization engages in religious services during school hours, displays signs, symbols, books, or flyers on property at a time other than when being used for the religious services, or if the district or an employee promotes the religious organization’s use of the facility in any manner

• These provisions only affect contracts entered into, renewed, modified, or extended on or after the effective date of the act

See SB 4

Amends the Texas Constitution to affirm that a parent has the responsibility to nurture and protect the parent’s child and the corresponding fundamental right to exercise care, custody, and control of the parent’s child including the right to make decisions concerning the child’s upbringing

See SB 23