BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 226

By: West

Public Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Parental child safety placement (PCSP) agreements are short-term temporary placements of a child with a relative or fictive kin that provide parents with the chance to divert that child from their care while having the opportunity to remedy deficiencies that resulted in the parents' temporary inability to care for the child. However, the bill sponsor has informed the committee that some caregivers for children under PCSPs have complained that both independent school districts and public charter schools have refused to accept the PCSP agreement as sufficient proof of a child's current residence for the purpose of admission to public school. S.B. 226 seeks to ensure that children under a PCSP have a clear pathway to enroll in the appropriate public school based on their temporary residence.

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. 226 amends the Education Code to authorize the parent or guardian of a child who is the subject of a parental child safety placement agreement to establish residency for purposes of the child's admission into a public school district by providing to the district a copy of a letter from the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) indicating that the child is the subject of such an agreement and that the address of the child's residence during the agreement is in the district. This provision applies beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.

S.B. 226 amends the Family Code to require a parental child safety placement agreement for a school-age child to include a letter provided by DFPS that contains the address of the child's residence during the parental child safety placement and language prescribed by the bill stating that the letter serves as proof of residence for purposes of the enrollment of the child or children named in the agreement in a public school in the school district or geographic area in which the child or children reside. This requirement applies only to a parental child safety placement agreement executed on or after the bill's effective date. An agreement executed before the bill's effective date is governed by the law in effect on the date the agreement was executed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2025.