BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 595

By: Kolkhorst

Public Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

In 1995, the 74th Legislature established the requirement for parental consent for certain activities involving the parent's child in public school, including requiring parental consent before an employee of a public school district conducts certain psychological examinations, tests, or treatment. A Dallas Morning News report highlighted a recent controversy over districts, such as Fort Worth Independent School District, introducing social media and technology programs like Rhithm into the classroom without explicit parental consent. According to the company's website, Rhithm, a Texas startup, is an online program that uses emoji-based assessments to launch "an ideal one-three minute activity or skill development video based on wellness check-in data." According to the report, parents are raising concerns that the inclusion of software like Rhithm into the classroom is a form of psychological examination, and parents should be afforded their right to consent. While the federal Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment provides a definition of "psychological or psychiatric examination, test, or treatment," there is no codified definition of the term in applicable Education Code provisions.

S.B. 595 seeks to define "psychological or psychiatric examination, test, or treatment" in a similar manner as the federal Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment and to establish a process for a district to receive parental consent for certain activities while ensuring that the requirement for parental consent does not affect a child's established ability to consent for certain counseling or a person's duty to report child abuse or neglect.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

S.B. 595 amends the Education Code to revise a provision that requires the written consent of a child's parent before a public school district employee may conduct a psychological examination, test, or treatment of the child or may make or authorize the making of a videotape of the child or record or authorize the recording of the child's voice. The bill, as follows:

· specifies that the provision applies with respect to a psychological or psychiatric examination or test and psychological or psychiatric treatment, with certain exceptions;

· requires written consent for a parent's child to participate in any such activity to be signed by the parent and returned to and obtained by the district for each separate activity; and

· prohibits a child's participation in any such activity unless the district receives the parent's signed written consent to that activity.

S.B. 595 defines the following terms for purposes of the revised provision:

· "psychological or psychiatric examination or test" as a method designed to elicit information regarding an attitude, habit, trait, opinion, belief, feeling, or mental disorder or a condition thought to lead to a mental disorder, regardless of the manner in which the method is presented or characterized, including a method that is presented or characterized as a survey, check-in, or screening or embedded in an academic lesson; and

· "psychological or psychiatric treatment" as the planned, systematic use of a method or technique that is designed to affect behavioral, emotional, or attitudinal characteristics of an individual or group.

The bill expressly does not require a district employee to obtain the written consent of a child's parent before verbally asking the child about the child's general well-being. The bill clarifies that, for purposes of a psychological or psychiatric examination or test, the term "check-in" does not include such an inquiry.

S.B. 595 establishes that none of its provisions may be construed to affect a child's consent to counseling for suicide prevention, chemical addiction or dependency, or sexual, physical, or emotional abuse or the duty to report child abuse or neglect or an investigation of abuse or neglect under applicable Family Code provisions. The bill's provisions apply beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2023.