Senate Bill 12 | Effective: 9-1-25 |
Senate Author: Creighton et al. | Senate Committee: Education K-16 |
House Sponsor: Leach | House Committee: Public Education |
Senate Bill 12 amends the Education Code to revise and set out provisions relating to parental rights in public education, student clubs, and certain public school requirements and prohibitions regarding instruction, social transitioning, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) duties. Among other provisions, the bill does the following:
- requires a public school and its governing body and employees to implement and comply with each policy the school is required to adopt under law;
- prohibits a public school or state governmental entity from infringing on parental rights, with an exception for infringement necessary to further a compelling state interest;
- establishes reporting requirements for public school districts and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) regarding district facility usage;
- prohibits a district from assigning DEI duties to any person, requires a district to prohibit a district employee, contractor, or volunteer from engaging in DEI duties at, for, or on behalf of the district, and sets out provisions relating to the discipline of an employee or contractor who violates these provisions;
- requires a district to submit certain board of trustee information to TEA annually;
- makes provisions regarding frivolous suits against a district or district officer also applicable to administrative proceedings;
- requires a district's board of trustees to adopt a policy prohibiting a district employee from assisting a student enrolled in the district with social transitioning, including by providing any information about social transitioning or providing guidelines intended to assist a person with social transitioning;
- codifies a parent's entitlement to choose the educational setting for their child, including public school, private school, or home school;
- expressly entitles a parent to access to written district records relating to library materials checked out by the parent's child;
- requires each district and open‑enrollment charter school to post on its website home page a notice regarding a parent's entitlement to review teaching materials;
- requires each district to develop a parental engagement policy and a plan for parental engagement, to provide parents with certain information about parental rights and options, and to adopt a policy to make available on the district's website at the beginning of each semester an instructional plan or course syllabus for each class offered in the district for that semester;
- entitles a parent to notification not later than one school business day after the date a district employee first suspects that a criminal offense has been committed against the parent's child;
- sets out provisions regarding a parent's right to information regarding mental, emotional, and physical health and health‑related services, including:
- a requirement for TEA to adopt a procedure for districts to notify a student's parent regarding any change in services provided to or monitoring of the student related to the student's mental, emotional, or physical health or well‑being;
- a prohibition against a district employee discouraging or prohibiting parental knowledge of or involvement in critical decisions affecting a student's mental, emotional, or physical health or well‑being;
- a requirement for a district to provide a student's parent annual written notice of each health‑related service offered at the district campus the student attends; and
- a requirement for parental consent before administering a student well‑being questionnaire or health screening form;
- requires a district employee or contractor to obtain parental consent for the following activities and sets out related procedures:
- conducting a psychiatric examination or test or psychiatric treatment;
- disclosing a child's health or medical information to any person other than the child's parent or collecting, using, storing, or disclosing to any person other than the child's parent a child's biometric identifiers; and
- providing health care services or medication or conducting a medical procedure;
- requires a district's board of trustees to adopt a grievance policy and sets out provisions relating to such a policy, including provisions regarding the policy's content, the timelines for filing and appeal, actions the commissioner of education may take if a grievance is appealed, and annual grievance reports by districts and TEA;
- requires a district or charter school to adopt a policy and procedure for the appropriate discipline of an employee or contractor who intentionally or knowingly engages in or assigns to another person certain instructional acts prohibited by state law;
- requires parental consent before a student may be provided with human sexuality instruction;
- prohibits a district, charter school, or district or charter school employee from providing or allowing a third party to provide instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to students enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade;
- requires at least two opportunities for in‑person conferences during each school year between a parent and their child's teachers;
- prohibits a district or charter school from authorizing or sponsoring a student club based on sexual orientation or gender identity and requires written parental consent before a student may participate in a student club;
- requires annual certification to TEA by superintendents of compliance with state laws that prohibit DEI duties and establish certain public school instructional requirements and prohibitions; and
- subjects a charter school to provisions regarding DEI duties, parental access to instructional materials and curricula, the adoption of a parental engagement policy, the establishment of a local school health advisory council and health education instruction, and parental rights to information regarding a student's mental, emotional, and physical health‑related needs and related services.