89th Texas Legislative Session - Updates

April 29, 2025

The Senate Education K-16 Committee will meet at 11 a.m. or upon adjournment of the Senate on Tuesday, April 29, to hear invited and public testimony on the following bills:

SB 205 (Paxton) requires the SBOE to adopt rules requiring seventh- and eighth-grade students to receive instruction on fetal development.

SB 582 (West) requires certain preliminary reports of certain special investigations conducted by TEA to be subject to the Public Information Act.

SB 625 (Flores) requires high school students to take at least one half-credit course in personal financial literacy and economics. Students would also be able to take a full-credit economics course, world geography course, or world history course to fulfill their social studies requirements.

SB 2600 (Middleton) prohibits school districts from charging a fee to transport students who live within two miles of a campus.

SB 2617 (Creighton) requires school boards and charter boards to adopt policies requiring the use of the terms Anno Domini (AD) and Before Christ (BC) when expressing dates during student instruction. Districts may not purchase or select curricula that expresses dates in any other manner.

SB 111 (Hall) prohibits a school district from spending more than $10,000 in legal fees in a special education legal proceeding. If the district nears $8,000 in fees, the superintendent shall make a report to the board outlined in the bill.

SB 3061 (Creighton), filed on Monday, relates to the eligibility of children of certain elected officials for an education savings account program. There was no language posted, but a similar provision in last session’s ESA bill prohibited children of legislators from taking part in an ESA program. The House Public Education Committee will meet at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, April 29, to hear invited and public testimony on the following bills:

The House Public Education Committee meets at 8 AM today, Tuesday, April 29.

HB 4 (Buckley) makes several changes to the state accountability system, including:

  • Removing a board’s discretion in using the commissioner’s improvement and evaluation tool if the district is subject to commissioner action.
  • Moving authority to create and implement the state assessment system from the SBOE to TEA.
  • Requiring TEA to redesign the assessment system incorporating recommendations from the formative assessment pilot program to reduce test length and begin in with the 2026 spring administration.
  • Inclusion of classroom teachers in the process of scoring non-multiple choice questions.
  • Allowing the commissioner to exclude performance indicators if he determines they are not valid or reliable.
  • Adjusting how military readiness is determined.
  • Making several changes to how indicators are evaluated and adjusted, including requiring the commissioner to increase rigor and change certain indicators every fifth year.
  • Requiring TEA to keep an industry certification list with several provisions for updating and maintaining it.
  • Prohibiting the commissioner from assigning all schools across the state a rating of “Not Rated.”
  • Creating a local accountability grant program to help at least one district in each ESC region develop a local accountability program.
  • Requiring the commissioner to appoint a conservator to a district that takes action against the state, TEA, or an officer of the state.
  • Requiring the commissioner to continue with any sanctions or interventions even if ratings are enjoined.
  • Changing how districts and charters could pay attorneys in actions against TEA, SBOE or SBEC.
  • Removing the provision requiring the commissioner to provide an accountability manual outlining accountability performance measures, methods and procedures to be used in evaluation performance for each school year.
  • Requiring the commissioner to issue ratings each year.

HB 54 (Gerdes) requires schools to add into the student code of conduct prohibitions on non-human behaviors by students except for on exempt days such as Halloween or dress-up days. The bill defines non-human behaviors and human being.

HB 775 (Frank) allows non-enrolled students to participate in district UIL activities unless a board adopts a policy prohibiting that participation.

HB 850 (Lalani) requires districts to have an automated external defibrillators available so that a person may provide emergency care within three minutes of being notified. The bill adds several provisions to the emergency response plans required of public and private schools and creates a TEA grant program to assist districts in acquiring AEDs.

HB 1122 (Lopez, J.) creates a glide path so that by the 2033-34 school year, districts with 300 or more students to employ at least one counselor per campus and one counselor for every 300 students.

HB 1249 (Zwiener) allows a school district to use a writing portfolio assessment to assess writing performance for students as an alternative to state writing assessments.

HB 1405 (Reynolds) makes several changes to bullying and cyberbullying policies, including reporting requirements and supports for students.

HB 2336 (Allen) gives all school district employees the right to present grievances directly to the school board.

HB 2757 (Frank) allows school districts to adopt policies enabling children of active-duty foreign military members stationed in Texas to establish their age for school admission based on their age during the school year they seek admission.

HB 3372 (Metcalf) prohibits school district administrators from engaging in personal services or receiving financial benefits from entities that have business dealings with their school district or are involved in educational services.

HB 3622 (Landgraf) modifies funding calculations and increases funding for optional flexible school day programs intended to assist with dropout recovery initiatives.

HB 4442 (Bhojani) requires districts and charters to offer an elective mindfulness course for middle and high school students.

HB 4687 (Gervin-Hawkins) extends immunity from liability currently provided to districts to charter school campuses, programs, and their governing bodies.

HB 4893 (Bowers) establishes a structured support system for students who are first-generation college attendees or are from low-income families by mandating the creation of performance goals, community funding bases, and cooperative efforts between educational agencies and local programs.

HB 5089 (Geren) establishes a voter threshold and petition process for districts wishing to detach property to create a new district.

HB 5515 (Buckley) requires instructional material publishers to align prices with the lowest offered in the country, prohibits inflated shipping charges, and enforces quality and factual accuracy standards.

HB 5606 (Wilson) creates a sick leave bank for school district and charter school employees, allowing retired employees’ unused sick leave to be accessed by current employees who have exhausted their own sick leave.

SB 10 (King) requires elementary and secondary schools to display in each classroom a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments as presented in the bill. Schools without posters in each classroom must either accept a gift of posters or purchase the posters.

SB 24 (Campbell) would require the SBOE to adopt social studies TEKS that develop each student's understanding of communist regimes and ideologies across all grade levels from kindergarten through grade 12.

HB 1573 (Jones, V.) requires school boards to adopt a policy regarding custodian workload for district facilities that establish benchmarks for the amount of square feet that may be assigned to a properly equipped school custodian for maintenance and custodial services during an eight-hour shift.

HB 3369 (Louderback) allows a referee or other official to remove a spectator of a UIL competition or activity without prior verbal warning or persistent inappropriate behavior.

April 15, 2025

The House Public Education Committee passed two bills during its hearing on Tuesday:

  • CSSB 260 (Huffman) increases the per-student school safety allotment from $10 to $28 and the per-campus allotment from $15,000 to $30,000, though it was announced during the hearing that the bill was substituted with HB 124 (Bonnen) that increases school safety allotments from $10 per student to $14 per student and from $15,000 per campus to $37,000 per campus
  • SB 569 (Bettencourt) is a broad virtual education bill that allows a school district or open-enrollment charter school to deliver instruction through hybrid courses, virtual courses, full-time hybrid programs, and full-time virtual programs. It lays out rights of students and teachers in virtual programs and allows schools to partner with a private or third-party provider to offer a full-time hybrid or full-time virtual program.

The bills now go to the full House for consideration.

The Senate Education K-16 Committee passed several bills out of committee on Tuesday. Those related to public K-12 education include:

  • SB 2623 (Creighton) creates "school safety zones" 1.5 miles around a public school's property line within which facilities providing homeless services, as defined in the bill, are prohibited from operating. "Homeless services" are defined in the bill. The attorney general is tasked with enforcement of the legislation, and offending municipalities or counties would have their sales tax collections halted, a prohibition on adoption of a tax rate over the no-new-revenue rate, and a civil penalty of $50,000 each day after they have received notice of violation.
  • SB 843 (Kolkhorst) requires TEA to establish and maintain a comprehensive database of school district bonds, taxes, and related projects. The proposed database will centralize critical financial data, making it more accessible to the public and allowing for greater transparency and accountability in school district financial management. Districts would be required to submit the information to TEA.
  • SB 2392 (King) expands the list of conduct for which reporting is required to include misconduct related to sexual coercion, human trafficking, obscenity, and child pornography, among others. Additionally, the bill makes the provision excepting a principal from reporting if the principal "reasonably believes that the activity does not constitute a criminal offense" inapplicable to sexual offenses. SB 2392 also requires that the principal report misconduct immediately upon, or not later than 72 hours after, becoming aware of it.
  • SB 1418 (Campbell) replaces the outdated reference to "ACT-Plan" in the Texas Education Code with the current name, “PreACT.”
  • SB 2788 (Menéndez) adds the PSAT test to the list of tests with which a student may qualify for automatic exemption from the requirements under the Texas Success Initiative when applying to a dual credit program.

April 9, 2025

The Texas Senate on Monday passed SB 568 by Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), which makes several changes to special education funding, including moving to an intensity of service model featuring eight tiers of funding for students. The bill also provides support for transportation services, initial evaluations of students, grants to train and hire more teachers qualified in special education and dyslexia instruction, and other increases to special education services. SB 568 now heads to the House for consideration.

The Senate Education K-16 Committee voted out pending legislation during its hearing on Tuesday. There were some committee substitutes introduced, but language was not publicly available at the time. Those that pertain to K-12 education include:

  • SB 1490 (Bettencourt) corrects an error to previously adopted legislation to create and fund an adult charter high school. The bill adjusts and aligns funding levels linked to attendance tiers of the program.
  • CSSB 1262 (Nichols) allows TEA to commission peace officers. The bill also requires school boards to reevaluate good cause exceptions to portions of school safety laws, including requirements for armed security officers and facilities, every five years, at which time the board must reevaluate whether the district can comply and, if not, renew the exemption. SB 1262 also calls for TEA to report to the legislature a report on vulnerability assessments and intruder detection audits.
  • CSSB 2314 (Creighton) amends current law relating to the online platform and submission portal, known as My Texas Future, to facilitate the awareness and application of public high school students into institutions of higher education using the electronic common admission application form.

The Senate Education K-16 Committee will meet at 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 10, to discuss legislation, including the following bills pertaining to K-12 public schools:

  • SB 2788 (Menéndez) adds the PSAT test to the list of tests with which a student may qualify for automatic exemption from the requirements under the Texas Success Initiative when applying to a dual credit program.

April 3, 2025

The House Public Education Committee met Thursday in a formal meeting to take action on HB 2 (Buckley), related to school funding, and SB 2 (Creighton), related to education savings account vouchers. After much discussion, the committee passed HB 2 by a vote of 13 to 2 and SB 2 by a vote of 9 to 6. The bills now go to the full House for consideration.

CSHB 2 (Buckley) provides $7.7 billion in public education funding to do the following:

• Increases the basic allotment (BA) by $395 to $6,555.
• Includes an ongoing, automatic increase to the BA every biennium.
• Increases automatic teacher pay increases by mandating that 40% of new BA funding go to raising salaries.
• Prioritizes salary increases for teachers with 10+ years, then 5+ years experience.
• Includes a formula transition grant to ensure every district receives at least $200 per student.
• Adds prekindergarten to the early education allotment.
• Increases funding weights for emergent bilingual students.
• Provides one-time funding to expand teacher certifications.

Chair Buckley removed provisions from the original bill that provided funding for high school advising because it is addressed in another bill and that funded a teacher preparation allotment in favor of grow your own programs.

CSSB 2 (Creighton) establishes an education savings account (ESA) voucher program that would allocate state funds to an account for a family to use for approved educational expenses such as private school or home school. Read more about HB 3 (Creighton), which was substituted into SB 2.

The committee substitute for SB 2 includes the following changes from HB 3:

• Caps the ESA program at $1 billion for the first biennium.
• Limits ESA funding for students without disabilities or from non-low-income households to 20% of the program until after the 2026-27 school year.
• Exempts private school students below 3rd grade from testing requirements.
• Makes various changes suggested by the Comptroller for program implementation.
• Requires students to be U.S. citizens or lawfully admitted to the U.S. to be eligible for the program.
• Excludes from accountability students returning to school districts in the middle of the year after using an ESA.

April 2, 2025

House Public Education Committee
This committee is scheduled to meet on April 4, 2025 at 8 AM. They will discuss, but take no public testimony, on the following bills:

  • HB 2 (Buckley) increases public education spending by almost $8 billion through a boost to the basic allotment, the small- and mid-size allotments, and special education funding among other items.
  • SB 2 (Creighton) creates an education savings account voucher program that would allocate state funds to an account for a family to use for approved educational expenses such as private school or home school.

Senate Education K-16 Committee
This committee voted several bills out of committee on April 2nd. Committee substitutes were not publicly available during the hearing.

  • SB 1191 (Creighton) requires the commissioner to develop and school districts to use a standard method for calculating high school GPA that provides for an equal amount of additional weight for AP, IB, and dual credit courses.
  • SB 1786 (Creighton) with respect to the Financial Aid for Swift Transfer (FAST) program, clarifies that high school students who are educationally disadvantaged at the time they are taking dual credit courses may not be charged tuition and fees for those courses.
  • SB 226 (West) states that the parent or guardian of a child who is the subject of a parental child safety placement may establish residency within a district by providing a letter to the school from the Department of Family and Protective Services required by the department in any safety placement proving the child's residence.
  • SB 326 (King) would require schools to consider whether a public school or higher education student's code of conduct violation was motivated by antisemitism.
  • SB 570 (Bettencourt) requires each school district to establish and implement an attendance policy to inform parents and students at the beginning of the school year about the importance of attending school. The attendance policy must inform parents and students about the benefits and possible detriments of not attending school, including any criminal repercussions. SB 570 also requires the school to adopt a notification system to notify parents whenever there is an excused or unexcused absence via text, email, or first-class mail. The bill requires a meeting between a parent of a student enrolled in the district or school with a school counselor, principal, or appropriate administrator at the school when a student becomes at risk of being truant. If the parent fails to attend the meeting, then a school attendance officer can make a home visit or contact the parent to investigate the student's behavior and living conditions to report back to the appropriate staff member at the school. SB 570 requires schools to establish guidelines to identify students in need of additional support and refer the student to in-school or out-of-school services aimed at addressing their failure to attend school regularly.
  • SB 870 (Birdwell) allows a school marshal to openly carry a handgun if they are wearing a uniform identifying them as a school marshal.

  • SB 991 (Bettencourt) adds chronically absent students to the list of students at risk of dropping out of school, which has many implications including funding under the compensatory education program and accelerated instruction. The bill defines chronic absenteeism as being absent more than 10% of the school year or 6-weeks grading period. SB 991 also requires districts to report data on chronically absent students to TEA.