By: Perez of El Paso H.B. No. 752

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a limit on the cost to a student of participating in an extracurricular activity offered by a public school and to an allotment under the Foundation School Program for extracurricular participation costs.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 11.158, Education Code, is amended by adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:

(a-1) A fee authorized by Subsection (a) that a student is required to pay in connection with the student's participation in an extracurricular activity is subject to Section 33.0815.

SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 33, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 33.0815 to read as follows:

Sec. 33.0815. LIMIT ON COST OF PARTICIPATION IN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY. (a) In this section:

(1) "Booster club" means an organization, however named, that is organized wholly or partly to provide money, goods, services, or other support to an extracurricular activity or to students who participate in an extracurricular activity.

(2) "Extracurricular activity" means an activity, club, organization, team, ensemble, or program that is sponsored, sanctioned, or approved by a school district or a campus of a school district and in which a student enrolled in the district may participate, including an activity sanctioned by the University Interscholastic League. The term includes athletics, band, orchestra, choir, mariachi, a dance or drill team, cheerleading, theater arts, speech and debate, an academic or robotics competition, and a career and technical student organization.

(3) "Fundraising activity" means an activity conducted to raise money for an extracurricular activity, including the sale of goods or services.

(4) "Participation cost" means an amount of money, or the value of goods or services, that a student or a student's parent is required to pay, raise, provide, purchase, or sell as a condition of the student's participation in an extracurricular activity, including:

(A) a fee, due, assessment, deposit, or fair share or similar required contribution;

(B) the cost of a uniform, costume, item of apparel, footwear, accessory, instrument, prop, or equipment that the student is required to obtain;

(C) an entry, audition, tryout, or competition fee;

(D) the cost of travel, lodging, or meals required for the activity;

(E) the cost of a camp, clinic, workshop, or practice session that the student is required to attend;

(F) the value of goods or services the student is required to purchase or sell; and

(G) an amount the student is required to raise through a fundraising activity.

The term does not include an item or service that a student may purchase at the student's option and that is not required for the student's participation in the activity.

(b) A school district may not require a student to pay, raise, or provide participation costs that in the aggregate exceed $500 for a single extracurricular activity during a school year.

(c) A school district, a campus of a school district, an employee or volunteer of a school district, a sponsor or coach of an extracurricular activity, or a booster club may not:

(1) require a student to participate in a fundraising activity or to raise a minimum amount of money as a condition of the student's participation in an extracurricular activity;

(2) condition a student's participation in an extracurricular activity, or the student's playing time, position, role, rank, or receipt of apparel, equipment, instruction, travel, or recognition, on the payment of an amount that exceeds the limit prescribed by Subsection (b) or on the student's or the student's family's participation in or contribution to a fundraising activity;

(3) impose a participation cost that, when combined with other participation costs imposed for the same extracurricular activity during the same school year, exceeds the limit prescribed by Subsection (b); or

(4) arrange for or direct a booster club or another person to impose on a student a cost or obligation that the school district could not impose under this section.

(d) This section does not prohibit a school district, a campus of a school district, an extracurricular activity, a booster club, or another person from:

(1) conducting a fundraising activity for the benefit of an extracurricular activity, including the sale of food, candy, merchandise, advertising, tickets, or services;

(2) donating money, goods, or services to a school district or to an extracurricular activity; or

(3) offering a student the opportunity to participate in a fundraising activity on a voluntary basis.

(e) An opportunity described by Subsection (d)(3) must be voluntary in fact. A school district, a campus of a school district, an employee or volunteer of a school district, a sponsor or coach of an extracurricular activity, or a booster club may not:

(1) treat a student who declines to participate in a fundraising activity differently from a student who participates;

(2) use the amount of money a student raises, or a student's decision not to participate in a fundraising activity, as a basis for a decision affecting the student's participation in an extracurricular activity or the student's receipt of apparel, equipment, instruction, travel, or recognition; or

(3) assign to a student an individual fundraising goal, quota, or share of the cost of an extracurricular activity.

(f) Money a student raises in a voluntary fundraising activity may be applied to reduce a participation cost owed by that student. A student who does not participate in a fundraising activity may not for that reason be charged a participation cost, be denied participation in the extracurricular activity, or be required to pay an amount that exceeds the limit prescribed by Subsection (b).

(g) Before a student begins participation in an extracurricular activity, a school district shall provide to the student and the student's parent written notice of:

(1) an itemized statement of each participation cost for the activity;

(2) the limit prescribed by Subsection (b);

(3) the procedures adopted under Section 11.158(f) for waiving a cost that the student or the student's parent is unable to pay; and

(4) the fact that participation in a fundraising activity is voluntary and that a student who declines to participate may not be treated differently.

(h) A school district shall post the notice described by Subsection (g) for each extracurricular activity offered by the district on the district's Internet website.

(i) A student or a student's parent may submit a complaint to the commissioner alleging a violation of this section. The commissioner shall adopt rules for the investigation and resolution of a complaint submitted under this subsection and may order a school district to refund to a student or the student's parent an amount collected in violation of this section.

(j) Not later than a date prescribed by commissioner rule, a school district shall report to the agency, for each extracurricular activity offered by the district, the participation costs imposed during the preceding school year. The agency shall publish the information reported under this subsection on the agency's Internet website.

(k) The commissioner by rule shall adjust the amount prescribed by Subsection (b) for each state fiscal biennium by the percentage increase, if any, in the consumer price index during the preceding state fiscal biennium. In this subsection, "consumer price index" means the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor.

(l) The limit prescribed by Subsection (b) applies for a school year only if the allotment under Section 48.162 is funded for that school year at the amounts prescribed by Section 48.162(a). Not later than January 1 preceding each school year, the commissioner shall determine and publish on the agency's Internet website whether the limit applies for that school year.

SECTION 3. Section 12.013(b)(3)(N), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(N) extracurricular activities under Sections 33.081 and 33.0815;

SECTION 4. Section 12.056(b)(2)(G), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(G) extracurricular activities under Sections 33.081 and 33.0815;

SECTION 5. Section 12.104(b)(3)(I), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(I) extracurricular activities under Sections 33.081 and 33.0815;

SECTION 6. Subchapter D, Chapter 48, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 48.162 to read as follows:

Sec. 48.162. EXTRACURRICULAR PARTICIPATION ALLOTMENT. (a) A school district is entitled to an annual allotment equal to the sum of the following amounts or a greater amount provided by appropriation:

(1) $50 for each student in average daily attendance; and

(2) $50 for each student in average daily attendance who is educationally disadvantaged.

(b) Funds allocated under this section may be used only to pay a cost that would otherwise be a participation cost under Section 33.0815, including the cost of:

(1) a uniform, costume, item of apparel, footwear, accessory, instrument, prop, or equipment provided to a student;

(2) an entry, audition, tryout, or competition fee;

(3) travel, lodging, and meals for an extracurricular activity;

(4) a camp, clinic, workshop, or practice session;

(5) a stipend for a sponsor or coach of an extracurricular activity; and

(6) transportation and facility costs for an extracurricular activity.

(c) A school district may not impose a participation cost under Section 33.0815 for an item or service purchased with funds allocated under this section.

(d) Funds allocated under this section must be used to supplement and may not be used to supplant other money used by the school district for extracurricular activities.

(e) Funds allocated under this section that are not expended in the school year for which the funds are allocated may be carried forward and expended for a purpose described by Subsection (b) in the following school year.

(f) In addition to the allotment under Subsection (a), and from funds appropriated for that purpose, the commissioner may provide supplemental assistance to a school district for which the allotment under Subsection (a) is insufficient to pay the costs described by Subsection (b). In providing supplemental assistance under this subsection, the commissioner shall give priority to a school district with a small enrollment and to a school district with a high proportion of students who are educationally disadvantaged.

(g) A school district shall annually report to the agency the manner in which funds allocated under this section were expended and the number of students who participated in each extracurricular activity offered by the district.

(h) The commissioner may adopt rules to administer this section.

SECTION 7. Sections 33.0815 and 48.162, Education Code, as added by this Act, apply beginning with the 2027-2028 school year.

SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2027.