Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 946 amends the Education Code to allow school districts to provide character education programs and sets forth criteria that such programs must meet, including a listing of the specific positive character traits that those programs must stress. The bill requires a district developing or selecting a character education program to consult with a district-selected committee consisting of parents of district students, educators, and other community members. The bill also requires the Texas Education Agency to (1) maintain a list of character education programs that school districts have implemented and that meet the program criteria; (2) annually designate each school that implements an approved character education program as a Character Plus School; and (3) based on district data, include in its comprehensive biennial report to the governor and the legislature the impact of such programs on student discipline and academic achievement and any other program-related data the agency deems appropriate to include in that report.