Education Bills Passed by the 88th Texas Legislature | Texas Association of School Administrators

The following bills related to K-12 education have been passed by the 88th Texas Legislature and sent to and/or signed by the governor. For bills sent to the governor within 10 days of final adjournment, which is May 29, 2023, the governor has until 20 days after final adjournment to sign the bill, veto it, or allow it to become law without a signature. If the governor neither vetoes nor signs the bill within the allotted time, the bill becomes law.

Please note that some bills were changed in conference committee in the final days of the session, so the following brief summaries were prepared with the information available. Look for final bill language/provisions to be outlined in TASA’s upcoming final bill report, which the Governmental Relations staff produces following each legislative session. (The 2023 final bill report will be published in summer 2023.)

Note: Bill status updated daily.

House Bills

Sent to the Comptroller May 30: HB 1 (Bonnen/Huffman), the state budget bill, calls for about $33 billion in general revenue and $63.5 billion in all funds for public education under TEA for the 2024-25 biennium. That is down from $41 billion in general revenue and $64.5 billion in all funds appropriated in SB 1 during the 2022-23 biennium. It is important to note that $8.5 billion of 2024-25 funding is dedicated to property tax relief through school district tax rate compression over the next biennium. The upcoming budget also anticipates $9.32 billion in recapture payments from local school districts compared to $5.65 billion anticipated in SB 1 last biennium. While there was $4 billion set aside for school funding and teacher compensation increases, no legislation passed that would have enacted that funding.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 3 (Burrows/Nichols), this session’s school safety bill, includes the requirement that districts have at least one armed security officer per campus, but a school board may claim a good cause exception due to the lack of funding or available personnel. Those claiming a good cause exemption must develop an alternative standard that may include a school marshal or other armed staff member. The bill also increases the school safety allotment 28 cents to $10 per student and includes a $15,000 per-campus allotment. HB 3 also requires most staff to complete mental health training; requires education service centers to serve as school safety resources for districts; and assigns TEA to monitor the implementation and operation of requirements related to school safety.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 5 (Hunter/Schwertner) is legislation to restore school district tax abatement programs for 10 years after the expiration of the ability for districts to approve new 313 tax agreements. The bill creates a mechanism in which a company would submit an application with an economic impact statement to a school district, which would then forward the application along with a school finance impact statement to the Office of the Texas Comptroller. The comptroller would review the information and make a recommendation to the district on whether to accept the offer or not. The school board would then need to take action to approve or disprove the offer but may only approve offers recommended for approval by the comptroller. HB 5 sets forth requirements for the number of jobs required by the project and the types of projects that are eligible for consideration.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 18 (Slawson/Hughes) requires digital service providers to obtain consent from parents and guardians before known minors could enter into certain agreements, give digital service providers certain duties when providing services to minors, and allow parents and guardians to take certain actions regarding a minor’s data.
Sent to the governor May 24: HB 63 (Swanson/Sparks) adds to the information an individual is required to include when making a report of abuse or neglect to identify: the facts that caused the individual to believe a child had been abused or neglected and the source of the information; the individual’s name and telephone number; and the individual’s home address or, if the individual is a mandatory reporter, the individual’s business address and profession.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 114 (Thompson/Parker) makes optional the removal of a student from class and placement within a DAEP for a student who possesses, uses, or is under the influence of marijuana on or within 300 feet of school property or while attending a school activity. Students who possess, use, or are under the influence of marijuana within 300 feet of school property or while attending a school activity must complete a drug and alcohol awareness program approved by TEA within 30 days after the conduct occurred.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 473 (Hull/Sparks) requires a school’s threat assessment and safe and supportive school team to notify the parent or person in parental relation to the student before conducting a threat assessment of a student. In conducting the assessment, the team must provide an opportunity for the parent or person to: participate in the assessment, either in person or remotely; and submit information about the student to the team. After completing a threat assessment of a student, the team must provide to the parent of or person standing in parental relation to the student the team’s findings and conclusions regarding the student.
Signed by the governor and effective September 1, 2023: HB 567 (Bowers/Miles) prohibits any student dress or grooming policy adopted by a school district or public institution of higher education, including a student dress or grooming policy for any extracurricular activity, from discriminating against a hair texture or protective hairstyle commonly or historically associated with race.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 621 (Shaheen/Hughes) requires SBEC to propose rules for the issuance of a temporary certificate to a person who served in the U.S. armed forces and was honorably discharged, retired, or released from active duty and met all other eligibility requirements for standard certification.
Sent to the governor May 25: HB 699 (Frank/Paxton) requires the UIL to apply the same student enrollment calculation formula to all schools whether or not the school allowed a non-enrolled student to participate in the league activity when assigning league classification to a public school.
Sent to the governor May 26: HB 900 (Patterson/Paxton) require the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to develop standards for school library collection development with which school districts must comply. School library vendors must rate books and cannot provide materials to a school that are sexually explicit. The bill also prohibits students from checking out sexually relevant materials without parental permission. Districts would need to review the sexually relevant materials in their libraries every two years and decide whether to retain those materials given the districts’ policies.
Sent to the governor May 25: HB 1002 (Price/Perry) provides for the inclusion of a licensed chiropractor or physical therapist on a concussion oversight team and expands the list of persons with authority to remove a student from practice or competition following a concussion.
Signed by the governor and effective immediately: HB 1212 (Jetton/Kolkhorst) prohibits a school district from requiring a note from a clergy member or other religious leader to excuse a student absence related to the observance of a religious holy day. The school district would be required to accept a note from the student’s parent or person standing in parental relation.
Signed by the governor and effective immediately: HB 1225 (Metcalf/Zaffirini) allows up to 3% of students in a district to take required state assessments in paper format at a parent’s request.
Sent to the governor May 24: HB 1263 (Thompson/Miles) prohibits a local authority from adopting or enforcing a measure to prohibit or preclude the designation of a crosswalk or school crossing zone at a high school located in a municipality with a population of two million or more.
Signed by the governor and effective September 1, 2023: HB 1297 (Dutton/Birdwell) requires rules developed by the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission relating to screening for special senses and communication disorders to allow an individual who attends a public or private school to be screened using an electronic eye chart as a substitute for a printed eye chart to assess visual acuity.
Sent to the governor May 24: HB 1416 (Bell/Paxton) requires at least 15 hours of accelerated instruction for students who fail to achieve satisfactory performance on state tests. If students perform significantly below satisfactory as determined by commissioner rule, schools must provide at least 30 hours of accelerated instruction. The bill increases student-to-teacher ratios to four students per teacher for this instruction and makes provisions for exceptions to this requirement.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 1590 (Burns/West) establishes the Texas Leadership Scholars Program for high-achieving students with financial need. The program is to be administered by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). THECB must award scholarships and provide academic achievement support to eligible students under the program. An eligible student is required to: have graduated from a Texas public high school; have either qualified academically for automatic admission to a general academic teaching institution or have been nominated by the student’s high school for participation in the program and hold another academic distinction recognized by THECB; be enrolled in a baccalaureate degree program at a general academic teaching institution; be economically disadvantaged; and comply with any additional requirement adopted by THECB.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 1605 (Buckley/Creighton) allows TEA to create an open resource instructional material program that districts may use. The bill creates posting and access requirements with which districts must comply and provides a small allotment for districts that use the state-created/approved materials.
Sent to the governor May 22: HB 1615 (Button/Birdwell) establishes a pre-K partnership program that would partner certain eligible child-care providers with local school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to provide required pre-K classes. The bill also establishes a scholarship program for current and prospective child care workers.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 1707 (Klick/Hughes) requires political subdivisions to consider charter schools as school districts for purposes of zoning, permitting, utility services, etc. The House amended the bill to consider charters governmental bodies for purposes of public information laws only with regard to these transactions; only apply to charters that certify in writing that no administrator, officer, or employee of the charter school and no member of its governing body or its charter holder derives any personal financial benefit from a real estate transaction with the charter school; require that charters provide notice of a new campus to local school districts and legislators within 20 business days of closing on the purchase or lease of real property for that campus; require a charter school comply with the same municipal requirements as a school district if it is considered a school district for exemptions provided in this the bill; and allow municipalities and charters to agree that the permitting exemptions are only in effect as long as the property is being used as a school and that land development standards return to normal after closure or relocation of a school. The House concurred in Senate amendments, sending the bill to the governor.
Signed by the governor and effective September 1, 2023: HB 1789 (Buckley/Flores) allows school district boards of trustees to exempt the appointment or employment of public school bus drivers from nepotism prohibitions if the board approved the appointment or employment.
Sent to the governor May 24: HB 1825 (Turner/Birdwell) relates to the consumption, possession, and sale of alcoholic beverages at certain performing arts facilities owned by certain school districts. The law extends the authority granted under Education Code sec. 11.179(a) to a county with a performing arts facility within two miles of two or more stadiums with a capacity of at least 40,000 people.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 1883 (Bhojani/Kolkhorst) a board of trustees or governing body must provide for alternative assessment dates for a student who was absent from school to observe a religious holy day or period of observance. TEA may adopt rules as necessary to ensure these provisions. The bill defines a “religious holy day or period of observance” as a holy day or period of holy days observed by a religion whose places of worship were exempt from property taxation, including All Saint’s Day, Christmas Day, Diwali, Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Fitr, Good Friday, Immaculate Conception, Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Vaisakhi, Vesak, and Yom Kippur. A school district’s board of trustees or an open-enrollment charter school’s governing body may make considerations for the above days and periods of observance likely to be observed by its students for the administration of assessments during that school year, with certain restrictions.
Sent to the governor May 26: HB 1905 (Talarico/West) allows a school district to provide school safety training courses, including certain active shooter training courses, available at no cost to employees of accredited private schools located in the district, child-care facilities, or other organizations providing out-of-school-time care to children younger than 18 years old who reside in the district.
Sent to the governor May 26: HB 1926 (Hull/Paxton) repeals the expiration date of the Supplemental Education Services Program.
Signed by the governor and effective immediately: HB 1959 (Noble/King) requires the board of trustees of a public school district or the board’s designee, on request of a peace officer who is a parent of or a person standing in parental relation to a student, to transfer the student to another district campus or to another district under an agreement prescribed by statutory provisions governing the transfer of students between districts or counties.
Sent to the governor May 22: HB 2012 (Oliverson/Hughes) specifies that a classroom teacher at a public elementary or secondary school, or a teacher or professor at an institution of higher education, cannot be prohibited from displaying in a classroom a poster or framed copy of the national motto that meets established requirements.
Sent to the governor May 26: HB 2102 (Goldman/Paxton) requires the commissioner of education to allow a charter holder to provide written notice of the establishment of a new charter school campus up to 36, rather than 18, months before the date on which the campus was expected to open. It also allows a charter holder to submit a request for approval for an expansion amendment up to 36, rather than 18, months before the date on which the expansion would be effective.
Signed by the governor and effective immediately: HB 2209 (Lozano/HInojosa) requires the commissioner of education to establish and administer the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP) program to incentivize and support rural college and career pathway partnerships that would be multi-district, cross-sector, and that would expand opportunities for underserved students to succeed in school and life while promoting economic development in rural areas.
Sent to the governor May 28: HB 2285 (Noble/Paxton) authorizes the board of trustees of specific districts to adopt resolutions, not later than December 31, 2023, changing the length of the terms of trustees.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 2484 (Guillen/Lamantia) prohibits a spectator of a UIL competition from attending any future extracurricular activity sponsored by the school district or UIL if the spectator engaged in violent conduct that caused bodily injury to a person serving as a sports official in retaliation for or as a result of the person’s actions while performing their duties. A school district or charter school that holds an extracurricular athletic activity or UIL competition on district or school property must provide a peace officer, school resource officer, administrator, or security personnel to ensure the safety of a sports official of the event until the official departed the property if: a participant or spectator of the event engaged in, attempted to engage in, or threatened violent conduct against the official or otherwise disrupted the official’s duties or free movement; or the district or school reasonably suspected that such an incident could occur at the event.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 2729 (Harris/Creighton) amends the qualifications under which a teacher is qualified to teach pre-K to include at least eight years’ experience in a Texas Rising Star program. It also creates requirements for each pre-K teacher for a class provided by an entity with which a school district contracted, establishing that a teacher must either have one of the qualifications established in code or be supervised by a person who met those requirements. A person who supervises a pre-K teacher may supervise multiple classes. The bill specifies that an entity contracted to provide a pre-K program must attempt to maintain an average ratio of no less than one qualified teacher or teacher’s aide for each 11 students. The condition that such a teacher be a “certified teacher” is replaced with “qualified teacher.”
Sent to the governor May 22: HB 2892 (Buckley/Middleton) would require a school district to transfer a child of a military service member to another campus within the district or to another district upon the service member’s request and to the campus requested.
Sent to the governor May 28: HB 2920 (Paul/Bettencourt) requires TEA to make certain information available to public and private school students regarding postsecondary education and career opportunities.
Sent to the governor May 24: HB 2929 (Lozano/West) amends the Education Code so that a classroom teacher’s continuing education requirements could not require that more than 25% of the training required every five years include instruction on: collecting and analyzing information that will improve effectiveness in the classroom; recognizing early warning indicators that a student could be at risk of dropping out of school; digital learning, digital teaching, and integrating technology in the classroom; educating diverse student populations; and understanding appropriate relationships, boundaries, and communications between educators and students.
Sent to the governor May 26: HB 3144 (Lujan/Campbell) designates October as Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Month to increase awareness of the dangers of fentanyl and potential overdoses.
Sent to the governor May 28: HB 3623 (Hefner/Middleton) authorizes a public school district, open-enrollment charter school, or private school to enter into a memorandum of understanding with another public or private primary or secondary school under which a school marshal appointed to a campus of the school may temporarily act as a school marshal at a campus of the other school for the duration of an event occurring at the campus of the other school at which both schools are participating.
Sent to the governor May 26: HB 3708 (Buckley/Paxton) entitles a school district, for each non-enrolled student who participated in a UIL activity for a school in a district that allowed participation of non-enrolled students as required by certain provisions, to an annual allotment of $1,500 per league activity in which the non-enrolled student participated.
Sent to the governor May 22: HB 3803 (Cunningham/Paxton) would allow parents and guardians to have their children repeat a grade up to grade 8 instead of grade 3. The parent or guardian of a high school student could elect for the student to repeat any course from the previous school year, unless the school district or charter school determined the student had met all the requirements for graduation.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 3908 (Wilson/Creighton) requires each public school district to annually provide research-based instruction related to fentanyl abuse prevention and drug poisoning awareness to students in grades 6 through 12.
Sent to the governor May 28: HB 3917 (Buckley/Middleton) relates to dismissal of a complaint alleging a parent contributing to nonattendance on the parent’s fulfillment of certain terms.
Sent to the governor May 24: HB 3928 (Toth/Parker) requires the board of trustees of each school district to adopt a grievance procedure under which the board would be required to abide by a parent’s due process rights under IDEA and address each complaint that the board received concerning: a violation of a right related to the screening and intervention services for dyslexia or a related disorder; or the school district’s implementation of the Texas Dyslexia Handbook, as published by TEA, and its subsequent amendments. The bill includes a number of other related provisions. Read the final bill.
Sent to the governor May 28: HB 3991 (Isaac/Alvarado) designates the first Friday in April as Texas Fruit and Vegetable Day in schools to promote awareness of the health benefits of fruits and vegetables and to encourage students to consume more fruits and vegetables during Texas Fruit and Vegetable Month.
Sent to the governor May 22: HB 4210 (Lujan/Campbell) amends the Education Code to revise statutory provisions relating to the governance of Randolph Field ISD.
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 4363 (Kuempel/Hinojosa) establishes the Future Texas Teachers Scholarship Program with the purpose of recruiting, preparing, and retaining a talented and diverse workforce of career teachers to be leaders in their field and providing assistance for tuition, mandatory fees, and other usual and customary costs of attendance at an eligible institution.
Sent to the governor May 26: HB 4375 (VanDeaver/Perry) requires students in grades 7-12 to be instructed on how to use automated external defibrillators (AEDs).
Sent to the governor May 30: HB 4456 (Harris/Bettencourt) relates to the calculation of the no-new-revenue maintenance and operations rate for school districts.
Sent to the governor May 26: HB 4520 (Harris/Bettencourt) adds a conviction or deferred adjudication community supervision granted on the basis of sale, distribution, or display of harmful material to a minor to the list of convictions brought to the attention of a school where an offender was employed. A person convicted of or placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for sale, distribution, or display of harmful material to a minor will have their teaching certificate revoked. The school district or charter school is required to immediately remove them from the campus or an administrative office to prevent the person from having any contact with a student and take certain employment actions. HB 4520 specifies that the sale, distribution, or display of harmful material to a minor is a qualifying felony and disqualifies the person from receiving a service retirement annuity. The applies only to a conviction or order granting deferred adjudication community supervision entered on or after the effect date of the bill. The bill would apply only to an offense committed on or after the effective date.

Senate Bills

Sent to the governor May 29: SB 10 (Huffman/Bonnen) provides a one-time cost-of-living adjustment for retired educators and a one-time “13th check” to certain retired educators.
Signed by the governor and effective September 1, 2023: SB 29 (Birdwell/Lozano) prohibits a governmental entity from implementing, ordering, or otherwise imposing a mandate to prevent the spread of COVID-19 that requires: a person to wear a face mask or other face covering; a person to be vaccinated against COVID-19; or the closure of a private business or a public, open-enrollment charter, or private school.
Signed by governor and effective immediately: SB 68 (Zaffirini/Murr) permits a school district to excuse a student who is a junior or senior in high school from school for a “career investigation day” that involves visiting a professional at their workplace for the purpose of determining the student’s interest in pursuing a career in the professional’s field.
Sent to the governor May 29: SB 133 (West/Hull) prohibits peace officers and school security personnel who are performing security-related duties on school property or at a school-sponsored or school-related activity from restraining or using a chemical irritant spray on a student who is 10 years old or younger unless the student poses a serious risk of harm to themselves or to another person.
Signed by governor and effective immediately: SB 294 (Johnson/Klick) allows school personnel and school volunteers who are authorized and trained to administer medication for respiratory distress. The bill also requires school districts and schools that adopt a respiratory distress policy to obtain written consent from a parent or guardian upon enrollment for returning and transfer students. It clarifies that the provision regarding written consent does not preclude a school personnel member or school volunteer from administering medication in good faith regardless of whether the student’s parent or guardian has provided written consent. It also clarifies that a school employee may not be subject to any penalty or disciplinary action for refusing to participate in the school district or school campus respiratory distress policy.
Sent to the governor May 23: SB 361 (Eckhardt/Shine) allows appraisal districts to hire teachers to serve on an appraisal review board.
Sent to the governor May 29: SB 544 (Blanco/Moody) allows SBEC to substitute two semesters of experience as a full-time instructor for the Community College of the Air Force for certification from another state when issuing a teaching certificate.
Sent to the governor May 29: SB 629 (Menendez/Talarico) permits the administration of opioid antagonists in public schools, charter schools, private schools, and institutions of higher education. The bill addresses the training of staff, reporting of administration of opioid antagonists, and immunity for those administering medication in good faith.
Sent to the governor May 29: SB 763 (Middleton/Hefner) allows school districts to employ or allow volunteer chaplains to perform the duties of school counselors.
Signed by the governor and effective September 1, 2023: SB 798 (Middleton/Buckley) states that the qualifications for certification as a school counselor may not include a requirement that a candidate for certification have experience as a classroom teacher.
Signed by governor and effective immediately: SB 838 (Creighton/Thierry) requires school districts and charters to provide panic alert devices in all classrooms.
Sent to the governor May 29: SB 999 (West/King) requires providers of active shooter training at public schools and institutions of higher education obtain a certificate issued by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.
Signed by governor and effective immediately: SB 1008 (Flores/Buckley) extends the deadline by which a person whose parent or guardian is an active-duty member of the U.S. armed forces and transferred to a military installation in or adjacent to a public school district’s attendance zone must provide proof of residence for purposes of public school admission to the district from the 10th day after the arrival date specified in the military transfer order to the 90th day after that arrival date.
Sent to the governor May 29: SB 1131 (Blanco/Ortega) allows the El Paso ISD Board of Trustees to move its board elections from May to the November uniform election date.
Sent to the governor May 22: SB 1471 (Bettencourt/Noble) requires TEA to subscribe to the criminal history clearinghouse and authorizes the agency to obtain from any law enforcement or criminal justice agency all criminal history record information and all records contained in any closed criminal investigation file that relate to a specific applicant for employment or current or former employee of certain entities, including a private school that is accredited by an accrediting agency that is a member of the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission.
Signed by governor and effective immediately: SB 1506 (Hughes/Clardy) requires TEA to post a form on the agency’s website that can be used by parents for submitting a seizure management and treatment plan to districts and specifies what information should be collected on the form.
Sent to the governor May 29: SB 1647 (Parker/Hefner) allows school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to use public or private community-based dropout recovery education programs to provide an alternative for students who are deemed by administrators, counselors, or teachers as being at-risk of dropping out.
Sent to the governor May 29: SB 1720 (Kolkhorst/Lozano) allows school employees who report a potential threat to the school’s threat assessment team to keep their identity confidential.
Signed by governor and effective immediately: SB 2032 (Creighton) would allow entities to create adult charter schools like the Goodwill Excel Center pilot. It sets a limit of 10 charter schools that can be created (in addition to those existing) to serve this purpose.
Filed without governor’s signature and effective September 1, 2023: SB 2069 (Bettencourt/Shaefer) reduces requirements on public schools by mandating that they post signs regarding human trafficking penalties only in conspicuous places likely to be viewed by all employees and visitors. The bill also removes private schools from those required to display these signs.
Signed by governor and effective immediately: SB 2124 (Creighton/Howard) requires school districts to establish an opt-out policy to enroll students who are performing in the top two quintiles (40%) on the fifth grade state standardized assessment or a local measure that includes class score and/or demonstrated proficiency in classwork, into accelerated math in sixth grade to improve chances of gaining access to Algebra I in eighth grade.
Sent to the governor May 22: SB 2139 (Parker/Longoria) establishes the Opportunity High School Diploma Program to provide an alternative means by which adult students enrolled in a workforce education program at a public junior college could earn a high school diploma.
Signed by the governor and effective September 1, 2023: SB 2294 (Creighton/Kuempel) expands the types of institutions of higher education eligible to participate in the Texas First Early High School Completion Program and in the Texas First Scholarship Program from only an institution of higher education designated as a research university or emerging research university under the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s accountability system to any public institution of higher education. The bill changes the authorization for a public school district or open-enrollment charter school to issue a high school diploma to a student under the Texas First Early High School Completion Program if the student meets the prescribed standards to a requirement for a district or charter school to allow a student to graduate and receive a high school diploma under the program if the student meets the standards.
Sent to the governor May 25: SB 2304 (Lamantia/Hernandez) requires districts and charter schools to provide information regarding the Texas Driving with Disability Program to certain public school students and parents and in the curriculum of driver education courses and driving safety courses.