Education Bills Passed by the 89th Texas Legislature | Texas Association of School Administrators

The following bills related to K-12 education have been passed by the 89th 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 June 2, 2025, 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 2025 final bill report will be published in summer 2025.)

Note: Bill status to be updated daily and additional bills added. Please check back.

House Bills

HB 2 (Buckley, Creighton) provides $8.5 billion in new funding to public schools. See a summary. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 6 (Leach/Perry) makes several changes to student discipline, including increasing the allowable days of in school suspension to ten; removing mandatory placements in DAEP for vape possession; and providing funding for virtual DAEP placements. 6-2-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 9 (Meyer, Bettencourt) increases the property tax exemption to $250,000 for tangible personal property a person owns that is held or used for the production of income (business personal property) and establishes that certain reporting is only required for individuals whose business personal property is greater than that amount. 5-22-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 20 (Gates, Schwertner) requires the commissioner of education to establish and administer the Applied Sciences Pathway program to provide opportunities for students to concurrently earn high school diplomas and certificates from institutions of higher education. The commissioner will be required to approve participation in program partnerships between school districts or open-enrollment charter schools and institutions of higher education. 6-2-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 22 (Noble, Hinojosa) establishes that all intangible personal property is not taxable. The bill also repeals provisions of the Tax Code related to the taxation of intangible personal property held by certain insurance companies, savings and loan associations, and transportation businesses and the taxation of intangible property by a taxing unit generally. 5-27-25 Signed by the Governor; 1-1-26 Earliest Effective Date
HB 27 (K. King, Flores) amends the curriculum requirements for the foundation high school program, requiring students to successfully complete at least one-half credit in personal financial literacy and one credit in economics, world geography, or world history for graduation. This provision applies only to students entering ninth grade during or after the 2025-26 school year. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 33 (McLaughlin, Flores), the Uvalde Strong Act, establishes and amends provisions in the Education Code, Government Code, Local Government Code, and Occupations Code regarding school security, law enforcement training, and mental health resources for first responders. 5-26-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 100 (Leo-Wilson, Middleton) prohibits a school district or open-enrollment charter school from adopting or using instructional material included on the list of rejected instructional materials maintained by the SBOE. The bill also prohibits the use of local funds and funds from the Instructional Materials and Technology Allotment to purchase instructional materials that are on the SBOE list of rejected instructional materials. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 117 (Schoolcraft, Campbell) establishes the Governor’s Task Force on Governance of Early Childhood Education and Care under TEA to address governance and operational challenges within Texas’ early childhood education system. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 120 (Bell, Schwertner) establishes various provisions on career and technical education, including expanding Financial Aid for Swift Transfer (FAST) program eligibility and increasing certain allotments under the Foundation School Program. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 121 (K. King, Nichols) authorizes TEA to commission as a peace officer an employee who had been certified as qualified to be a peace officer by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. An employee commissioned as a peace officer by TEA would have the powers, privileges, and immunities of a peace officer while carrying out peace officer duties. 6-2-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 163 (Cortez, Blanco) repeals legal provisions applying to the possession and administration of epinephrine by certain entities such as amusement parks, restaurants, child-care facilities, day camps or youth camps, private or independent institutions of higher education, restaurants, sports venues, and youth centers; and authorizes an entity in Texas, including government entities, to adopt a policy regarding the maintenance, administration, and disposal of epinephrine auto-injectors. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 210 (Guillen, Hinojosa) – Under the bill, a vendor that bid on or received a contract from a school district or open-enrollment charter school commits an offense if any individual serving on the board of trustees or governing body of the district or school: had a substantial interest in the vendor or a subcontractor hired by the vendor; was related in the second degree by consanguinity or affinity to an individual who had a substantial interest in the vendor; or had received or been promised a gift or in-kind services with a value of more than $250. 5-29-25 Signed by the Governor; 9-1-25 Earliest Effective Date
HB 229 (Troxclair, Middleton) requires a governmental entity that collects vital statistics information that identifies the sex of an individual for the purposes of complying with antidiscrimination laws or gathering public health, crime, economic, or other data to identify each individual as either male or female based on stated definitions. 5-30-25 Sent to the Governor
VETOED: HB 353 (Patterson, Hagenbuch) creates a criminal offense for trespass on or near school or day-care center property. 5-13-25 Sent to the Governor; 5-24-25 Vetoed by the Governor
HB 367 (Rosenthal, Menendez) requires a student or the student’s parent or guardian to provide on a required form a certification from a Texas-licensed physician specifying certain information, as determined by the physician, in order for a school district to excuse a student from attending school because of a serious or life-threatening illness or related treatment. 5-30-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 549 (Vasut, Johnson) requires each school district to make available at each campus at least one airway clearance device appropriate for use on the majority of students enrolled at the campus. A district would have to comply with the bill only if the district could obtain an airway clearance device through donation of the device in the original packaging or purchase or lease of the device using appropriated or donated money. 6-2-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 762 (Leach, Bettencourt) requires a political subdivision, other than a public or teaching hospital, that enters into a contract or employment agreement, including the renegotiation or renewal of an existing contract or agreement, that contained a provision for severance pay with an employee or independent contractor to: include a requirement that tax-funded severance pay could not exceed the amount of 20 weeks’ compensation, at the rate when the employment or contract was terminated, excluding paid time off or accrued vacation leave; and
prohibit an employee or independent contractor terminated as a result of misconduct from receiving severance pay. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 824 (Jones, Middleton) requires the SBOE, in adopting TEKS for the government component of the social studies curriculum for high school students, to adopt essential knowledge and skills to develop each student’s civic knowledge, including: the role of government officials, such as statewide elected and county officials and city councilors; the voting process and election laws in Texas; the eligibility requirements to run for elected office in the state; Robert’s Rules of Order; and the elected officials who represented the student at each level of government. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 1178 (Cunningham, Campbell) requires SBEC to establish a temporary certificate for educators certified by other states and immediately issue the certificate to a person who applied for a certificate of educators from outside the state. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 1188 (Manuel, Zaffirini) requires a school district, at a child’s first individualized education program (IEP) committee meeting, to provide the parent or guardian of a student who had an intellectual disability or developmental delay with information about services and public benefits provided by the local intellectual and developmental disability authority (LIDDA), including under home- and community-based service waiver programs established by the federal Social Security Act. 5-29-25 Signed by the Governor; 5-29-25 Earliest Effective Date
HB 1458 (Metcalf, Creighton) authorize a school district’s board of trustees to allow the chief of police of the school district police department to appoint reserve police officers for the district. The board could limit the number of reserve police officers the school district police chief could appoint. 5-28-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 1481 (Fairly, Creighton) requires a school district’s board of trustees or an open-enrollment charter school’s governing body to adopt, implement, and ensure the district or school complied with a written policy prohibiting a student from using a personal communication device while on school property during the school day. 5-28-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 1522 (Gerdes, Kolkhorst) requires the notice of a meeting of a governmental body to be posted in a place publicly accessible at all times for at least three business days, rather than 72 hours, before the scheduled meeting date, rather than the meeting time. A notice for a meeting at which a governmental body will discuss or adopt its budget would be required to include a physical copy of the budget unless the budget had been made clearly accessible on its website’s homepage. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 1533 (Button, Bettencourt) amends certain provisions related to the training of appraisal review board (ARB) members and notice and appeal procedures in taxpayer protests of property appraisals. 5-26-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 1586 (Hull, Kolkhorst) requires the Department of State Health Services to develop a blank affidavit form for a person to use in claiming an exemption from a required immunization and post the affidavit form in a printable format on its website. A person cannot be required to provide any information to obtain the affidavit form. 5-28-25 Sent to the Governor
VETOED: HB 2243 (Oliverson, Creighton) establishes the Texas Commission on Teacher Job Satisfaction and Retention to develop and make recommendations for improving teacher job satisfaction and retention. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor; 6-22-25 Vetoed by the Governor
HB 2310 (Ordaz, Parker) requires TEA, in collaboration with the Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Workforce Commission, to develop and implement a strategic plan to improve early learning and educational opportunities for young children with disabilities or developmental delays. 5-28-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 2495 (Dutton, Zaffirini) grants a parent (or a nonparent, licensed child-placing agency, or the Department of Family and Protective Services) appointed as sole managing conservator of a child the right to designate the school the child will attend and to enroll the child in the school, subject to any eligibility or admissions requirement. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
VETOED: HB 2520 (Johnson, Middleton) adds a board of managers to the entities defined as governmental bodies under the Open Meetings Act. It also amends the Open Meetings Act to require the written notice of a governmental body’s meeting to include an agenda for the meeting that was sufficiently specific to inform the public of each subject to be considered in the open portion of the meeting and describe any subject to be considered in the closed portion of the meeting, if applicable. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor; 6-22-25 Vetoed by the Governor
HB 2598 (Button, Zaffirini) amends certain provisions in the Education Code, Government Code, and Occupations Code to replace references to “licensed specialist in school psychology” with “school psychologist.” 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 2674 (Cook, Hagenbuch) prohibits TEA, the State Board of Education, or any educational institution from making any rule that had the effect of increasing the regulation of a homeschool program. 5-28-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 2757 (Frank, Hagenbuch) authorizes the board of trustees of a school district to adopt a policy to allow a person whose parent or guardian was an active-duty member of a foreign military force stationed in the state to establish the person’s age for purposes of determining eligibility by demonstrating that the person would turn the required age during the school year for which the person was seeking admission. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 2894 (Hickland, Flores) removes the requirement for a municipality to be adjacent to a U.S. military installation as long as the municipality’s loss of property tax revenue attributable to the disabled veterans’ homestead exemption was at least 10 percent of the municipality’s general fund revenue for a fiscal year. 5-26-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 3093 (Villalobos, Hinojosa) amends how certain ad valorum property tax rates are calculated for an affected taxing unit in counties located on the Gulf of Mexico with a population below 500,000. 5-24-25 Filed Without the Governor’s Signature; Effective Immediately
HB 3112 (Tepper, Perry) specifies that the Open Meetings Act does not require a governmental body to conduct an open meeting to deliberate a cybersecurity measure, policy, or contract solely intended to protect a critical infrastructure facility, as defined by the bill, in the governmental body’s jurisdiction. It exempts information from provisions of the Public Information Act requiring public information to be available to the public during the normal business hours of a governmental body if the information related to certain topics. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 3126 (Darby, Zaffirini) establishes provisions on small school district program participation in the TRS-ActiveCare program, which would only apply to school districts that elected to discontinue participation in the program effective September 1, 2022. The bill allows school districts that elected not to participate to rejoin the program before the fifth anniversary of the effective date of the discontinuation if the district meets certain requirements. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 3372 (Metcalf, Middleton) prohibits a school administrator from performing personal services or receiving any financial benefit for the performance of personal services for:
any business entity that conducted or solicited business with the school district that employed the administrator; an education business that provided services regarding the curriculum or administration of any school district; or another school district, charter school, or regional education service center. 6-2-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 3546 (Martinez, Hughes) changes the date by which a resolution under Education Code sec. 11.059(e) could be adopted to December 31, 2030, and would specify that such a resolution could only be adopted until the date the November election was canvassed. The section would expire January 1, 2036. It extends the authorization under Election Code sec. 41.0052(a-1) to any independent school district that held its general election for officers on a date other than the November uniform election date. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 3627 (Tepper, Sparks) authorizes the chair of the State Board of Education to: employ personnel as necessary to assist SBOE in performing its duties; prescribe the duties of personnel; compensate personnel through funds made available by the Legislature; and determine whether to promote, terminate, or take any other employment action regarding personnel. 5-28-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 3629 (Noble, Zaffirini) prohibits a person who was required to register as a sex offender from being eligible to serve as a trustee of an independent school district. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 3711 (Capriglione, Sparks) establishes that an offense under the Open Meetings Act committed by a county or municipal officer or school district board of trustees member is an offense against public administration under the investigative authority of the Public Integrity Unit within the Department of Public Safety. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 4214 (Curry, Middleton) requires each governmental body, each year by October 1, to notify the attorney general of the current mailing and email address designated for receiving written public information requests. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 4219 (Capriglione, Zaffirini) require a public information officer to notify a requestor in writing within 10 business days of receiving a request for public information if the applicable governmental body determined it had no information responsive to the request. Read more. 5-22-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 4236 (Martinez Fischer, Bettencourt) establishes a task force to examine the use and effect of the school district property value study and develop recommendations on the elimination or replacement of the study and alternative methods by which the purpose of the study could be accomplished. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 4310 (Vasut, Hughes) authorizes a member of the governing board of a governmental body or nongovernmental entity to inspect and duplicate public information maintained by the body or entity if the member was acting in an official capacity. For the bill’s purposes, a nongovernmental entity would mean an entity that executed a contract with a governmental body that had a stated expenditure of at least $1 million in public funds for the purchase of goods or services or resulted in such an expenditure in a fiscal year. 5-31-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 4623 (Little, Paxton) makes a public school liable for an act or omission that was committed by a professional school employee against a student enrolled in the school that was sexual misconduct, as defined by the bill, or failure to report suspected child abuse or neglect. 6-2-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 4687 (Gervin-Hawkins, Bettencourt) establishes that a member of the governing body of a charter school campus or program is immune from liability and suit to the same extent as a school district trustee. 5-30-25 Sent to the Governor
HB 4945 (Ashby, Nichols) requires TRS to conduct a study on the feasibility of offering members who were Texas A&M Forest Service wildland firefighters and were employed in positions related to wildland firefighting alternative service retirement benefits. 5-26-25 Sent to the Governor
HJR 34 (Guillen, Middleton) adds a proposal on the November 4, 2025, ballot that reads: “The constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature to provide for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of the amount of the market value of real property located in a county that borders the United Mexican States that arises from the installation or construction on the property of border security infrastructure and related improvements.” 11-4-25 Election date

Senate Bills

SB 2 (Creighton, Buckley) establishes an education savings account (ESA) program. Read more. 5-3-25 Signed by the Governor; 9-1-25 Earliest Effective Date
SB 4 (Bettencourt, Meyer) increases the school district residence homestead tax exemption from $100,000 to $140,000 of the appraised value of a residence homestead. A school district impacted by property tax reductions authorized by the bill would be eligible for additional state aid as outlined in the bill. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 10 (P. King, Noble) requires a public elementary or secondary school to display in a conspicuous place in each classroom a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments. The poster or copy must be at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall and has to include only the text of the Ten Commandments in a size and typeface legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 11 (Middleton, Spiller) authorizes a school district’s board of trustees or a charter school’s governing body that was not operated by or affiliated with a religious organization to, by record vote on a resolution, adopt a policy requiring every campus to provide students and employees with an opportunity to participate in a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text on each school day. 5-27-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 12 (Creighton, Bettencourt) establishes and amends Education Code provisions regarding parental rights, school district grievance policies, and the prohibition of diversity, equity, and inclusion duties, among other provisions. 6-20-25 Signed by the Governor; 9-1-25 Earliest Effective Date
SB 13 (Paxton, Buckley) establishes and amends Education Code provisions regarding the acquisition of school library materials, processes for challenging materials, school library standards, and parental access to information related to school libraries. 6-20-25 Signed by the Governor; 9-1-25 Earliest Effective Date
SB 24 (Campbell, Leach) requires the State Board of Education to adopt TEKS for grades 4-12 social studies that develops students’ understanding of communist regimes and ideologies, and includes age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate instruction. 5-27-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 25 (Kolkhorst, Hull) establishes a statewide nutrition advisory committee, manufacturer warning label requirements for food products with certain ingredients, nutrition curriculum and physical education requirements for public schools and higher education institutions, and nutrition and metabolic health continuing education requirements for certain health professionals. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 57 (Zaffirini, Gonzalez) requires the committee or team of a student with an IEP or a Section 504 plan to consider whether the student’s disabilities or impairments require the school district to provide any specific accommodations for the student during a mandatory school drill. If so, the committee or team must identify each disability or impairment that requires accommodation and specify required accommodations compliant with guidelines established by the education commissioner for each disability or impairment. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 127 (Hall, Money) reenacts and amends Code of Criminal Procedure provisions regarding statutes of limitations for certain offenses, including failure to report child abuse or neglect. 5-30-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 204 (Paxton, Leo-Wilson) requires TEA to create, not later than January 1, 2026, and maintain, a handbook that explains all rights of a parent regarding the education of the parent’s child, including a student’s rights that the parent may enforce on the student’s behalf. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 207 (Paxton, Leo-Wilson) requires a school district to excuse a student from attending school for a temporary absence resulting from an appointment with a mental health professional for the student or the student’s child if the student commenced classes or returned to school on the same day of the appointment. The bill applies beginning with the 2025-26 school year. 5-30-25 Signed by the Governor; Effective Immediately
SB 226 (West, Bernal) requires a parental child safety placement agreement to include a letter from the Department of Family and Protective Services that contains the child’s residence address during the placement. The bill prescribes specific language for the letter, including that the letter serves as proof of residence for the purposes of public school admission. 5-27-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 260 (Huffman, Bonnen) changes the amount of the school safety allotment to which a public school district is entitled. The allotment will be increased from $10 per ADA and $15,000 per campus to $20 per ADA and $33,540 per campus. 6-2-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 314 (Hughes, Harris Davila) prohibits certain food additives from being included in free or reduced-price meals provided by school districts. 5-27-25 Signed by the Governor; Effective Immediately
SB 326 (King, Capriglione) requires a public school district, open-enrollment charter school, and a public institution of higher education, in taking disciplinary action against a student for behavior that violates the applicable entity’s student code of conduct and that may reasonably be determined to have been motivated by antisemitism. 5-20-25 Signed by the Governor; Effective Immediately
SB 401 (Paxton, Frank) requires, rather than allows, a public school to provide an otherwise eligible, non-enrolled student the opportunity to participate in UIL activity on behalf of the school, unless the applicable school district board or the governing body of a charter school adopted a policy declining to grant the opportunity to participate. 5-30-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 412 (Middleton, Patterson) amends the Penal Code related to affirmative defense to prosecution for the sale, distribution, or display of harmful material to a minor that the sale, distribution, or exhibition was by a person having scientific, educational, governmental, or other similar justification. 5-19-25 Signed by the Governor; 9-1-25 Earliest Effective Date
SB 519 (Middleton, Metcalf) requires the Texas Historical Commission to create and administer a grant program to promote educational engagement with the history of Texas. The grants would be awarded annually to nonprofit entities that host a statewide Texas history competition for school-aged students and that publish works on Texas history written by students or faculty members. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 546 (Menendez, Craddick) revises exceptions to the requirement that a school bus, school activity bus, multifunction school activity bus, or school-chartered bus operated by or contracted for use by a public school district for the transportation of schoolchildren be equipped with a three-point seat belt for each passenger, including the operator. 5-30-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 568 (Bettencourt, Buckley) revises and set out provisions relating to special education in public schools, including funding for special education under the foundation school program. The conference committee report has been enrolled. It must be signed in the Senate and House before being sent to the governor. 6-20-25 Signed by the Governor; See Remarks at End of Bill for Effective Dates
SB 569 (Bettencourt, Bell) relates to the provision of virtual education in public schools and to certain waivers and modifications by the commissioner of education to the method of calculating average daily attendance in an emergency or crisis for purposes of preserving school district funding entitlements under the Foundation School Program during that emergency or crisis; authorizing a fee. 5-6-25 Signed by the Governor; Effective Immediately
SB 599 (West, Davis) prohibits a political subdivision from adopting or enforcing an ordinance, order, or other measure that requires a group day-care home or family home licensed, registered, or listed under Human Resources Code provisions relating to the regulation of certain facilities, homes, and agencies that provide child-care services to comply with health and safety standards that exceed the standards established by statute or HHSC rule. 5-15-25 Signed by the Governor; Effective Immediately
SB 765 (Kolkhorst, Landgraf) amends the Government Code to establish that information in the custody of a governmental body that relates to fraud detection and deterrence measures is confidential and excepted from the public availability requirement of state public information law. 5-19-25 Signed by the Governor; 9-1-25 Earliest Effective Date
SB 843 (Kolkhorst, Buckley) requires TEA to develop and maintain a database that includes current information regarding school district or open-enrollment charter school, including charter district, bonds, taxes, and bond-related projects. 5-28-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 865 (Alvarado, Leach) adds CPR training and certification to provisions requiring each school nurse, assistant school nurse, athletic coach or sponsor, physical education instructor, marching band director, cheerleading coach, and any other school employee specified by the commissioner of education and each student who served as an athletic trainer to participate in the instruction of and receive and maintain certification in the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED). 6-2-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 870 (Birdwell, Slawson) allows a school marshal to open carry a handgun (no longer must be concealed) if in uniform that identifies them as a school marshal. 5-19-25 Signed by the Governor; Effective Immediately
SB 920 (Sparks, Howard) allows a school district, charter school, or private school to adopt a policy permitting an employee, including a nurse, to administer nonprescription medication to a student without further authorization or written protocol from the student’s health care provider under certain conditions. 5-30-25 Signed by the Governor; 9-1-25 Earliest Effective Date
SB 965 (Parker, Leach) establishes that the right of an employee of a school district or charter school to engage in religious speech or prayer while on duty cannot be infringed upon by the district or charter school or another state governmental entity, unless the infringement was: necessary to further a compelling state interest; and narrowly tailored using the least restrictive means to achieve that interest. 5-27-25 Sent to the Governor
VETOED: SB 974 (Eckhardt, Turner) allows a person employed by a school district as a teacher to serve on the appraisal review board of an appraisal district. A member of a school district’s board of trustees or a school district employee would commit a class A misdemeanor (up to one year in jail and/or a maximum fine of $4,000) offense if the person communicated with a teacher who was a member of the appraisal review board with the intent to influence a decision by the member in the member’s capacity as a member of the appraisal review board. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor; 6-22-25 Vetoed by the Governor
SB 991 (Bettencourt, Gonzalez) relates to the inclusion of chronically absent students and truant students as students at risk of dropping out of school and the collection and reporting of data regarding those students. It defines a “chronically absent student” as a student who was absent from school for more than 10 percent of the school’s required operation and instructional time within a school year or an enrollment period that exceeded 30 instructional days. Read more. 5-22-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 1049 (King, Frank) requires a school district or open-enrollment charter school, on the request of a parent or legal guardian of a student enrolled at the district or school and subject to the adopted attendance policy, to excuse that student from attending school to attend a released time course, defined as a course in religious instruction offered by a private entity, for at least one but not more than five hours a week. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 1062 (Kolkhorst, Smithee) amends the Government Code to authorize a governmental entity, in lieu of publishing a notice in a newspaper in certain counties, to publish such notice in a digital newspaper if that digital newspaper meets certain criteria. 5-19-25 Signed by the Governor; Effective Immediately
SB 1173 (Perry, Spiller) relates to the amount of an expenditure made by certain political subdivisions for which a competitive procurement method may be paid. 5-21-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 1177 (Alvarado, Leach) requires a fire safety inspection of a public or private school, including an open‑enrollment charter school, required by a state or local law, rule, regulation, or ordinance to include an examination of each automated external defibrillator on the school campus to determine whether the defibrillator is fully functional. The bill requires a representative of the school campus to present each automated external defibrillator for inspection. 5-29-25 Signed by the Governor; 9-1-25 Earliest Effective Date
SB 1191 (Creighton, Harris Davila) requires, rather than allows, the education commissioner to develop a standard method of computing a student’s high school GPA that provides for additional weight to be given to each honors course, AP course, IB, or dual credit course completed by a student. The bill also would require the commissioner to provide for additional weight to be given to each OnRamps dual enrollment course. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 1207 (P. King, Leo-Wilson) requires the parenting and paternity awareness program that a public school district must use in its high school health curriculum and may use in its middle or junior high school curriculum to include information related to adoption, including information specified in the bill. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 1241 (Middleton, Leo-Wilson) revises the criteria that an applicant must meet to qualify for automatic admission as an undergraduate student at a general academic teaching institution. 5-23-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 1332 (Hancock, Hull) relates to a group health benefit plan policy or contract holder’s obligation to pay premiums on behalf of an individual after the individual’s eligibility for group coverage terminates. 5-21-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 1366 (Nichols, King) requires the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation (TCLR) by rule to require that information relating to construction or maintenance work zones be included in the curriculum of each driver education course or driving safety course. 5-19-25 Signed by the Governor; 9-1-25 Earliest Effective Date
SB 1418 (Campbell, Ashby) addresses the terminology and evaluation methods related to assessment instruments administered to Texas public school students. It replaces the term ACT-Plan with PreACT throughout the Education Code. The bill tasks the commissioner of education with determining how satisfactory performance on the PreACT will equate with other assessments for fulfilling end-of-course (EOC) requirements. If a student does not meet satisfactory performance standards on the PreACT, they will be required to take the appropriate EOC assessment. The bill states that the PreACT is included in the list of acceptable college preparation assessments. Section 39.202 is also revised to include the PreACT when evaluating the performance of students for the purpose of academic distinction designations concerning postsecondary readiness. The updated criteria require tracking and acknowledging student success in relation to the PreACT. 5-27-25 Signed by the Governor; 5-24-25 Earliest Effective Date
SB 1453 (Bettencourt, Meyer) authorizes the governing body of a taxing unit to approve a debt rate that exceeds the debt rate for the taxing unit as determined under relevant provisions of the Tax Code for calculating the debt rate if at least 60 percent of the governing body’s members approved a motion that: stated the determined and proposed rates and the difference between the two rates; and described the purpose for which the excess revenue collected from the proposed rate will be used. 5-27-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 1494 (Johnson, Anchia) amends the deadline from December 31, 2016, to 2025, by which a governing body of a political subdivision that held its general election for officers on a date other than the November uniform election date could change the date of its election to the November election date. The bill also would specify that a governing body could only change the date of its election to the November uniform election date in odd-numbered years. 6-20-25 Signed by the Governor; Effective Immediately
SB 1502 (Bettencourt, Troxclair) prohibits the governing body of a public school district from adopting, without an election, a tax rate in response to a disaster, including a tornado, hurricane, flood, wildfire, or other calamity, but not including a drought, epidemic, or pandemic, that has impacted the district, for certain tax years. 5-27-25 Signed by the Governor; 1-1-26 Earliest Effective Date
SB 1619 (Zaffirini, Cortez) expands and clarifies regulations surrounding the maintenance and administration of epinephrine delivery devices in Texas. 5-19-25 Signed by the Governor; Effective Immediately
SB 1858 (Hagenbuch, Leach) defines a law enforcement agency for the purposes of the bulletproof vest and body armor program as an agency of the state or an agency of a political subdivision of the state authorized by law to employ peace officers, including an independent school district. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 1952 (Paxton, Hull) requires HHSC to oversee the participation of local education agencies as SHARS program providers, including administering provider training and providing information and guidance regarding the program to those providers, including on applicable federal and state regulatory requirements. Read more. 5-22-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 2185 (Hinojosa, Dutton) mandates school districts benefiting from exceptions to submit additional data on their alternative language education methods to TEA. It establishes a structured system for financial support, wherein the agency reviews and approves districts for funding, capping the total allotment at $10 million per biennium. 5-22-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 2237 (Bettencourt, Bell, Cecil) requires a political subdivision that enters an employment agreement, or renewal or renegotiation of an existing agreement, that provides for severance pay with an executive employee to include: a requirement that severance paid from tax revenue could not exceed the compensation the employee would have been paid for 20 weeks, excluding paid time off or vacation leave; and a prohibition of severance pay if the employee was terminated for misconduct. For purposes of the bill, an executive employee of a political subdivision would mean a chief executive officer (CEO) of a political subdivision other than a school district, an agency or department head, a school district superintendent, or a charter school CEO. 5-27-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 2314 (Creighton, Wilson) requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to create, maintain, and administer, as a direct admissions and financial aid portal, an electronic platform and submission portal, known as My Texas Future (MyTexasFuture.Org), to facilitate the awareness and application of public high school students into institutions of higher education. 5-19-25 Signed by the Governor; Effective Immediately
SB 2398 (Campbell, Cunningham) requires TEA to: develop a list of nonmedical academic accommodations a public school district may offer to a student diagnosed with a concussion or other brain injury; develop a form for use by districts describing the accommodations a district may offer; and make the form available on TEA’s website for use by districts, district educators or administrators, students, and parents or guardians. Districts providing these accommodations must make the form describing the available accommodations available to employees and students under certain conditions. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 2520 (Bettencourt, Noble) revises statutory provisions relating to the limitation on the total amount of property taxes imposed by a public school district on the residence homestead of an individual who is disabled or elderly. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 2786 (Creighton, Lambert) exempts certain students from assessment requirements under the Texas Success Initiative. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SB 2929 (Creighton, Louderback) allows referees, judges, and other officials at school extracurricular athletic activities to eject spectators without first issuing a verbal warning. 5-19-25 Signed by the Governor; Effective Immediately
SB 2986 (Campbell, Leach) authorizes a school district, open-enrollment charter school, or institution of higher education to allow a religious organization to use the district’s or school’s facilities to a host religious worship, services, sermons, or assemblies under certain conditions. 6-1-25 Sent to the Governor
SJR 2 (Bettencourt, Meyer) proposes a constitutional amendment to increase the amount of the exemption of residence homesteads from ad valorem taxation by a school district. 11-4-25 Election date
SJR 34 (Hughes, Frank) proposes a constitutional amendment protecting the right of parents to raise their children. 11-4-25 Election Date