BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center S.B. 1456
By: Uresti
AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Every year, there are over three million reports of suspected child abuse in this country, and of these, nearly one million of the reports are confirmed. Child abuse is a devastating problem that has far-reaching impact. Prevention is the key to this problem. The more people who are trained to identify the signs of child abuse and to prevent child abuse from occurring, the better equipped Texas becomes to tackle the problem. With teachers and other school personnel serving our children daily, teachers are doing a great job in the front lines against child abuse, but we must constantly equip them with all the latest tools and information necessary to combat this problem.
S.B. 1456 requires the Texas Education Agency to create a website that will provide information regarding the prevention of child abuse and to develop a training program related to the prevention of child abuse that a school district may use for staff development.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 38.004, Education Code, by adding Subsection (a-1), to require the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to maintain a list of links to websites on the TEA Internet website that provide information regarding the prevention of child abuse and to develop and periodically update a training program on prevention of child abuse that a school district may use for staff development.
SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2007.