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• HB103-Landgraf, requiring DPS to create a Texas Active Shooter Alert System to notify the public via text messages and other means about a nearby active shooter situation. Effective 9/1/21

• HB1082-Phil King, extending to local elected public officials the rights afforded to legislators and statewide elected office holders to choose to withhold from public disclosure certain personal information, including their home address, home telephone number, emergency contact info and whether the person has family members.

• HB1118-Capriglione, revising current law related to state agency and local compliance with cybersecurity training requirements — including by mandating the training for any governmental official or employee who uses the government’s computers or databases for at least 25 percent of their required duties.

• SB346-Paxton, adding charter schools to the list of entities (that currently includes ISDs and public higher-ed institutions) that are eligible for Jobs and Education for Texans (JET) grants.

• SB785-Creighton, making school marshal license two-year renewal dates expire on uniform Aug. 31 dates instead of being tied to the license holder’s birth date. Effective 9/1/21

• SB788-Creighton, authorizing a state-adopted model agreement that would ensure compliance with state and federal student privacy requirements that could be incorporated into dual-credit agreements between school districts, higher-ed institutions and other entities. Effective 9/1/2021

• SB879-Lucio, allowing a dropout recovery school’s student population to consist of at least 50 60 percent of students who are at least 17 16 years of age or older, and requiring the education commissioner to include these schools under an alternative accountability system.

• HB159-Mary González, requiring improvements in the training and staff development for educators who work with students with disabilities.

• HB189-Canales, making charter schools subject to the same financial penalties that ISDs could face for paying their departing superintendents a severance package amounting to more than a years pay.

• HB690-Metcalf, requiring school board members — under State Board of Education adopted rules — to take a school safety course using a Texas School Safety Center curriculum to be developed by Jan. 1, 2022.

• HB699-Rosenthal, requiring schools to grant excused absences to students due to their long-term illness or related treatment that makes attendance not possible, as reflected in documentation presented to the school by a medical professional — and prohibiting the affected students from being referred to truancy authorities. The bill is named Riley’s Rule in honor of a Cypress-Fairbanks ISD student with a chronic health issue.

• HB725-Patterson, requiring PK-age children who were in foster care before moving to Texas to qualify for free PK.

• HB781-Sanford, allowing junior college school marshals to have their weapons with them at all times on campus — and prohibiting them from being required to lock their weapons in a secure location on campus.

• HB785-Allen, requiring that: 1) parents of special-ed students be notified if their child has been subjected to a restraint, 2) behavior intervention plans (BIP) included in a student’s IEP be reviewed at least annually (and revised if needed) and 3) a student’s BIP (if the student has a BIP) must be reviewed before the student is assigned to a DAEP, JJAEP or is expelled.

• HB1062-Cecil Bell, allowing 17-year-olds, with parental permission, to enlist in the Texas National Guard.

• HB1147-Huberty, adding enlistment in the Texas National Guard as an indicator of military readiness under the College, Career and Military Readiness (CCMR) bonus program for schools.

• HB1476-Keith Bell, addressing billing disputes between governmental entities and vendors, including by allowing for the partial payment of an invoice while the dispute is being resolved.

• HB1522-Frank, adding Midwestern State University to the Texas Tech University System.

• HB1603-Huberty, making individual graduation committees (IGC) permanent in law, and allowing the education commissioner to investigate campuses where at least 10 percent of students are cleared for graduation by IGCs.

• HB1788-Hefner, granting ISDs, charters, private schools and the security personnel they employ immunity from liability for any damages resulting from reasonable actions taken to maintain the safety of a school campus, including actions relating to the possession or use of a firearm. “Security personnel” is defined as school district peace officers, school marshals, school resource officers and retired peace officers who are hired (or volunteer) to provide security.

• HB2941-Burns, requiring property appraisal review board members to be appointed by a local administrative district judge.

• HB3165-Meyer, making a student’s absence from school due to the abuse of the child at home an affirmative defense to a truancy charge.

• HB3489-Parker, requiring school boards to adopt policies for effectively integrating digital devices in their schools. The policies may be based on a model state policy.

• HB3583-Paddie, revising the law related to energy savings performance contracts entered into by local governmental entities.

• HB3610-Gervin-Hawkins, requiring that cities, counties, etc., must treat charters the same as ISDs when it comes to building permits and other regulations for state-funded charter property.

  The bill also: 1) does not grant charters eminent domain authority and 2) specifies that property leased to charters and ISDs is exempt from property taxation as long as the property owner provides a proportional reduction in the “facility common area maintenance fees” for the leased property.

• HB3959-Buckley, allowing for the creation of a Texas Youth Livestock Show Grant Program.

• SB58-Zaffirini, allowing local governments to purchase cloud computing services via financing agreements.

• SB89-Menéndez, enacting a COVID-19 Special Education Recovery Act to require districts to prepare individualized education program (IEP) supplements for students with disabilities whose School Year 2019-20 or 2020-21 IEPs were interrupted, reduced, delayed, suspended or discontinued.

• SB179-Lucio, mandating that school district policies must require that school counselors spend at least 80 percent of their total work time on duties that are the components of the school’s comprehensive school counseling program as defined in Texas Education Code §33.005. The bill specifies that:

  -- Time spent administering assessment instruments or providing other assessment assistance — except time spent interpreting test data — is not considered time spent performing counseling duties.

  -- A school board can exempt its district from the 80 percent requirement if the school board determines that a counselor must spend less than that amount of time on those duties because of district or school staffing needs.

• SB338-Powell, expanding the authority of the Texas Facilities Commission (TFC) over construction standards for state buildings to include making recommendations that school districts can optionally adopt — and giving the Texas Association of School Boards and Texas Association of School Administrators representation on a TFC committee.

• SB481-Kolkhorst, specifying that when a school district informs a parent that the district will offer virtual instruction only for more than one grading period during a school year, the parent has the right to transfer the student to another district that offers in-person instruction (if the district accepts the student’s transfer) — under rules to be adopted by the education commissioner.

• SB560-Lucio, requiring the creation of a state bilingual education strategic plan.

• SB742-Birdwell, clarifying that business property doesn’t have to be physically damaged in a declared disaster area before a taxing unit can optionally allow payment of property taxes on an installment plan.

• SB776-Lucio, requiring the UIL to ensure students with intellectual disabilities have the opportunity to participate in team athletic activities.

• SB797-Hughes, requiring the display of a durable poster or framed copy of the “In God We Trust” national motto that includes a representation of the U.S. and Texas flags in a conspicuous place in each public school and public higher-ed entity if the poster or framed copy is either: 1) donated to the school or institution or 2) purchased from private donations and made available to the school or institution.

• SB1225-Huffman, narrowing the circumstances by which a governmental entity is entitled to temporarily suspend public information law requirements during a catastrophe.

• SB1245-Perry, requiring the state comptroller to distribute an easy-to-understand guide to help in the accurate completion of a farm and ranch land survey used in the comptroller’s annual study of school district property values.

• SB1257-Birdwell, expanding the info that appraisal district chief appraisers would have to report regarding “Chapter 313” property tax abatement agreements.

• SB1277-West, requiring that dual credit agreements between school districts and higher-ed entities include at least one employee of either entity to provide academic advising to a student before the student begins the course.

• SB1444-Taylor, allowing districts to drop out of the TRS-ActiveCare health insurance program if they notify TRS of their intention to do so by Dec. 31 before the start of the next plan year that begins the following Sept. 1.

  The first time districts could leave ActiveCare would be Sept. 1, 2022, if they notified TRS by Dec. 31, 2021.

  Once a district leaves ActiveCare, it could not rejoin the program for five years. A district could not offer TRS-ActiveCare and an alternative health plan for employees at the same time.

• SB1615-Bettencourt, allowing for additional charters to be approved to serve adults who are high school dropouts. The program currently includes one charter (The Goodwill Excel Center) affiliated with Goodwill Industries in Austin.

• SB1677-Buckingham, allowing the higher-ed coordinating board to streamline and/or repeal requirements for reports, plans, etc. related to higher-ed entities and school districts.

• SB1697-Paxton, creating a parental option (subject to limitations in the bill) that allows a parent — for the 2021-22 school year — to have his/her child retained in the same elementary or junior high grade the student was in during School Year 2020-21, and for high school students to repeat a course taken in School Year 2020-21 (if requested by the parent).

  Districts that disagree with a parent’s choice regarding retention can convene a retention committee to discuss the issue with the parent, but must abide with the parent’s final decision.

• SB1821-Huffman, closing a loophole that the bill’s author says resulted in some school districts avoiding a requirement that the state attorney general review most types of contingent fee contracts for legal services entered into by political subdivisions.

• SB1860-Powell, modifying a 2019 law to delay, from 2022-23 to 2023-24, the introduction of an electronic version of the state college financial aid application so that the state application can be coordinated with the upcoming simplification of the federal financial aid form. There is no change in the requirement that, starting with School Year 2021-22 12th graders, students must complete and submit either a state or federal financial aid form as a graduation requirement, unless their parent (or a school counselor) opts them out.

• SB1955-Taylor, prohibiting school districts, cities, etc., from regulating or otherwise restricting learning pods in which groups of parents have arranged to have their children assemble at a central location (such as at a home or child care facility) to facilitate their children’s studies, including by hiring tutors, teachers, etc.

• SB2158-Campbell, requiring the TEA to provide inkless in-home DNA/fingerprint child identification kits for distribution to all parents/guardians of grades K-8 students that the parent/guardian can optionally submit to a law enforcement agency.

• HB773-VanDeaver, requiring the TEA to include students who successfully complete a career and technical education program as a student achievement indicator in the state accountability system.

• HB1585-Lambert, implementing Texas Sunset Advisory Commission recommendations for TRS. We’ll include a summary of the bill in an upcoming issue.

• SB346-Paxton, adding charter schools to the list of entities (that currently includes ISDs and public higher-ed institutions) that are eligible for Jobs and Education for Texans (JET) grants.

• HB3-Burrows, creating a Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute and a 16-member Pandemic Disaster Legislative Oversight Committee consisting of key House and Senate members who will have the authority to review and terminate pandemic-related emergency orders issued by the governor for more than 30 days.

• HB41-Talarico, extending the grades K-4 maximum 1/22 teacher/student ratio to PK programs.

• HB130-Rodriguez, exempting Texas public school buses from toll road charges.

• HB144-Mary González, enacting a COVID-19 Special Education Recovery Act to require districts to prepare individualized education program (IEP) supplements for students with disabilities whose School Year 2019-20 or 2020-21 IEPs were interrupted, reduced, delayed, suspended or discontinued.

• HB244-Mary González, authorizing (if funding is available) a grant program for public school teachers to obtain computer science certification and/or receive continuing professional development in computational, cybersecurity and/or computer science education.

• HB424-Ken King, requiring (and setting a timeline for) the State Board of Education to narrow the scope of Foundation TEKS courses.

• HB572-Dutton, allowing charter schools to operate a dropout recovery competency-based educational program.

• HB746-Bernal, allowing all Bexar County residents with homestead exemptions to make quarterly property tax payments.

• HB750-Burns, requiring school districts to post their employment policies on their websites, including the full text of all regulations or forms referenced in the policies.

• HB1032-Thierry, allowing school districts to use their career and technical education (CTE) funds to contract with community-based organizations to reimburse private employers for paid internships for 11th/12th grade CTE students.

• HB1206-Guillen, allowing districts to use their instructional materials/technology allotment to pay costs associated with distance learning.

• HB1252-Moody, increasing the one-year deadline Texas parents have to file special-ed complaints seeking a special-ed hearing to the two-year maximum deadline set in federal law.

• HB1302-Guillen, providing additional pathways for students and districts to receive recognitions and academic distinctions under the state public school accountability system.

• HB1476-Keith Bell, specifying the procedures governmental entities must follow in billing disputes with vendors.

• HB1504-Christina Morales, adding ethnic studies — including Mexican American and African American studies — to social studies courses school districts must offer, and allowing an ethnic studies course to substitute for World Geography or World History for one of the three required social studies graduation credits.

• HB1568-Middleton, revising the calculations used in the comptroller’s school district property value study.

• HB1744-Guerra, creating a career and technology education program and authorizing financial incentives to encourage high school students to become bilingual education teachers.

• HB1754-Hernandez, requiring student ID cards for students in grades 6 to 12 to include suicide prevention contact info.

• HB1810-Capriglione, revising public information laws relating to materials provided in an electronic format.

• HB2022-Darby, allowing Medicare-eligible TRS retirees who voluntarily ended their TRS-Care membership between Jan. 1, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2019 (inclusive), to re-enroll in TRS-Care no later than Aug. 31, 2024 (under rules to be adopted by TRS by Nov. 1, 2021).

• HB2156-Raymond, requiring state and local governments, when buying U.S. and Texas flags, to give first preference to flags produced in Texas, and second preference to flags produced elsewhere in the U.S.

• HB2295-Wu, allowing the Harris County JJAEP to be abolished upon a vote to do so by the county’s commissioners’ court.

• HB2344-Zwiener, allowing school districts to use non-multiple-choice writing portfolio assessments as a substitute for the English I/English II end-of-course (EOC) state assessments.

• HB2391-Dominguez, allowing charter school student admission and ISD campus student assignment/transfer lotteries to be weighted to favor the admission of special-ed and bilingual-ed students.

• HB2554-Gates, creating a new vocational education high school graduation pathway for high school students.

• HB2664-Martinez, allowing ISD school boards to switch their board election dates to the November general election.

• HB2681-Wilson, allowing schools to offer elective classes in the Bible and/or the Hebrew scriptures to students starting in grades 6 (instead of grade 9), and revising the certification requirements for teachers of these courses.

• HB2688-VanDeaver, requiring a school board member to seek re-election at the next regularly scheduled trustee election, regardless of the time remaining in the trustee's term, if the board member votes in favor of making a severance payment to a superintendent less than one year after the trustee voted in favor of accepting or extending the superintendent's contract or increasing his/her salary.

• HB2756-Allen, clarifying provisions for school-related surplus food donations to nonprofits.

• HB2769-Campos, requiring the K-12 technology applications TEKS to include instruction on coding for video games.

• HB2802-Dean, requiring the education commissioner to apply for federal student testing waivers during any school year in which a statewide disaster that significantly disrupts public school operations has been declared by the president or the governor.

• HB2815-Chris Turner, allowing high school ROTC students who graduate early to be eligible for Texas Armed Forces Scholarships.

• HB2975-Hull, prohibiting a peace officer and school security personnel, while in the performance of school security duties on school property and at school events, from restraining or using a chemical irritant spray on a student 10 years of age or younger unless the student poses a serious risk of harm to themself or another person.

• HB3298-Allison, requiring the TEA to establish a computer science strategic advisory committee to recommend how to increase computer science instruction and participation in public schools.

• HB3449-Price, revising current UIL law regarding interscholastic athletic activity concussion oversight teams.

• HB3456-White, classifying the state schools for the blind/visually impaired and deaf, the Windham prison school system and JJAEPs as being a part of the Foundation School Program (FSP) that would not be subject to state-agency budget cuts that specifically exclude FSP programs.

• HB3462-Morales Shaw, requiring public higher-ed entities to appoint liaison officers to assist their students who are parents of a child younger than 18.
• HB3485-Goodwin, expanding the PEIMS reporting requirement of data regarding student disciplinary measures taken by charters and ISDs.

• HB3489-Parker, requiring districts to adopt policies for the effective integration of digital devices in their schools, and for the state to adopt a model policy.

• HB3583-Paddie, limiting the purposes for which a governmental entity can enter into energy savings performance contracts.

• HB3819-Klick, clarifying the conditions by which a school nurse may administer prescription asthma medicine to a student.

• HB3880-Dutton, revising requirements for districts to screen students for dyslexia.

• HB3889-Morales Shaw, requiring that students receiving free or reduced price school meals receive free internet broadband access under any TEA-created program to provide broadband to students.

• HB3929-Bernal, loosening TRS return-to-work provisions for retirees serving in public school special-ed positions, or who return to work in schools in declared disaster areas.

• HB3932-Bernal, establishing a State Advisory Council on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.

• HB3959-Buckley, establishing a Texas youth livestock grant program.

• HB4023-Martinez, establishing a life skills counselor pilot program for addressing emotional and mental health concerns of high school students in certain counties.

• HB4124-Hinojosa, allowing military dependents — who attended Texas public schools before moving from Texas due to their parents’ military deployment or transfer — to be served by remote public school programs operated by Texas Tech and UT Austin.

• HB4525-Gates, requiring the State Board of Education to consider relevant economic and market conditions affecting the state workforce when reviewing career and technology courses.

• HB4545-Dutton, restructuring requirements for the accelerated instruction of students who fail to perform satisfactorily on state student assessments.

• SB487-Hughes, providing that charter schools are on the same footing as ISDs with regard to various regulations and fees that may be imposed by a city, county or other governmental entity — and that the governmental entity may not take any action that would prohibit an open-enrollment charter school from operating within the entity’s jurisdiction that it could not take against a school district. The bill prohibits charters from having eminent domain authority.

• SB2081-Menéndez, extending the maximum grades K-4 1/22 teacher/student class size ratio to PK.

• SB2094-Taylor, repealing the Algebra II and English III end-of-course (EOC) state assessments and enacting revised requirements for districts to provide accelerated instruction for students who fail to achieve satisfactory performance on certain assessment instruments.

  The bill (if funds are appropriated) would provide “bonuses” to districts ranging from $250 to $1,000 per student for each “successfully accelerated student” above a minimum established in the bill. The highest bonuses would be paid for educationally disadvantaged students.

• HB1082-Phil King, allowing locally elected officials to withhold certain personal information from public disclosure via public information requests and property tax records, including their home address, home telephone number, emergency contact info, and info that reveals whether the person has family members.

• SB785-Creighton, making school marshal license renewal dates expire on uniform dates instead of being tied to the license holder’s birth date.

• SB788-Creighton, requiring the adoption of state-approved model data sharing agreements — that take into account federal student privacy requirements — for voluntary use by school districts and postsecondary institutions involved in dual credit and similar arrangements.

• SB879-Lucio, requiring a dropout recovery school’s student population to consist of at least 50 60 percent of students 17 16 years of age or older, and revises the accountability criteria for dropout recovery schools.

• HB5-Ashby, creating a statewide broadband initiative.

• SB1438-Bettencourt, relating to the effect of a disaster on the calculation of certain property tax rates and the related procedure for the adoption of a tax rate by a taxing unit.

• HB159-Mary González, adding requirements for ed-prep programs and staff development related to students with disabilities.

• HB189-Canales, making the financial penalty imposed on ISDs for superintendent severance agreements amounting to more than a year’s pay plus benefits also applicable to charter schools.

• HB246-Murr, clarifying that public and private schools may not release to the general public the name of an employee accused of an improper educator/student relationship until the employee has been indicted, and clarifying what is meant by “sexual contact” in the relevant law.

• HB269-Cortez, allowing the issuance of speciality license plates to classroom teachers with at least 15 years of teaching in public schools and to retired educators with at least 20 years of teaching in public schools.

• HB278-Canales, requiring the TEA to perform criminal background checks on persons to be appointed by the education commissioner for appointed boards of managers that replace elected school boards.

• HB622-Gervin-Hawkins, requiring SBEC to adopt rules to create abbreviated ed-prep programs for individuals to teach marketing or health science technology courses.

• HB1014-Bucy, requiring student ID cards for students in grades 6 and higher, and in public higher-ed entities, to provide suicide prevention contact info.

• HB1027-Parker, requiring public higher-ed entities to disclose to students info regarding various fees, costs of course materials, etc.

• HB1080-Patterson, prohibiting students who are enrolled in public schools from being barred from participating in UIL activities solely because they are receiving outpatient mental services from a mental health facility.

• HB1207-Guillen, requring SBEC to create a school turnaround endorsement certificate program for principals to receive training to assist struggling school districts and campuses.

• HB1726-Allison, requiring ISDs to submit PEIMS reports on bullying (including cyberbullying) to the TEA each year.

• HB2256-Guerra, requiring SBEC to establish a bilingual special education certification program.

• HB2281-Hefner, providing a clearer definition of what constitutes the “premises” of a school or postsecondary institution where the possession of a weapon is a crime.

• HB2287-Senfronia Thompson, authorizing the TEA to request certain info from ISD/charters, education service centers, and other entities to assist the Collaborative Task Force on Public School Mental Health Services in preparing reports to be released biennially.

• HB2721-Lucio III, requiring a student to be permanently banned from UIL competitions and public performances if the student intentionally, knowingly or recklessly caused bodily injury to a referee, judge or other official of an extracurricular activity as a retaliatory act for the official’s duties in the extracurricular contest or performance.

• HB3033-Klick, requiring PEIMS reporting of the number of students transported from an ISD or charter for a mental health emergency detention.

• HB3256-Harless, allowing full-time public school employees to keep their home address confidential in publicly accessible tax and other records, and to substitute the employee’s school address on the records.

• HB3261-Huberty, firming up the state’s plans to administer nearly all student assessments electronically starting with School Year 2023-24, and authorizing a matching grant program for schools. The full Senate passed a similar bill, SB1171-Taylor.

• HB3400-Paddie, requiring a district to grant a police officer’s request to have the officer’s child, due to the officer’s fears over the safety of his/her child, transferred to another campus within the district or to another district (under conditions specified in the bill).

• HB3535-Hunter, requiring birth dates to be released as a part of public information requests, except under specified circumstances.

• HB3597-Metcalf, clarifying aspects of requirements to implement public school safety plans and emergency management procedures.

• HB3610-Gervin-Hawkins, specifying that real property leased to an ISD, community college district or charter school is exempt from property taxes, if the leased property is used exclusively for the operation or administration of a school or for other educational functions. The bill requires the owner of the leased property to transfer the amount of the tax savings to the tenant — or reduce the common area maintenance fee — in proportion to the square footage of the exempt portion of the property.

• HB3864-Murr, allowing schools to grant a limited number of excused absences to an 11th or 12th grader to visit a professional’s workplace for career investigation purposes.

• HB4242-Meyer, extending the Texas Economic Development Act’s end date of Dec. 31, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2024.

• HB4465-Dutton, establishing a pandemic relief disaster program to allocate federal and state funds for school districts, ESCs, etc. to provide services to students resulting from a disaster.

• SB123-Johnson, incorporating social and emotional learning competencies into an existing character traits instructional program in the K-12 TEKS.

• SB348-Kolkhorst, ensuring parents have the right to observe their child’s virtual instruction — and to review instructional materials and teacher aids provided to the parent’s child while the child is participating in virtual or remote learning.

• SB838-Kolkhorst, providing additional regulations for school guardian programs in districts that have authorized individuals to carry weapons on campus.

• SB1082-Campbell, making it clear that parents are entitled to review their child’s sex education curriculum materials.

• SB1109-West, requiring public schools to provide instruction and materials (and adopt policies) addressing child abuse, family violence, and dating violence.

• SB1227-Taylor, standardizing the process for public college students to earn course credit via the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP).

• SB1232-Taylor, allowing the State Board of Education to delegate its responsibilities to manage the Permanent School Fund to a new Texas Permanent School Fund Corporation governed by nine members appointed by the SBOE, land commissioner and governor — and limiting the School Land Board’s authority to manage and invest in the PSF if the corporation is created.

• SB1365-Bettencourt, making certain accountability decisions by the education commissioner, including the appointment of a board of managers to a district, final and not appealable.

• SB1444-Taylor, allowing, as of Sept. 1, 2022, a school district to withdraw from participating in TRS-ActiveCare by giving notice to TRS by the deadline specified in the bill, and prohibiting districts from offering alternative health care plans to employees while participating in ActiveCare. A district that dropped out of ActiveCare would have to wait at least five years to rejoin the program.

• SB2026-Taylor, requiring instruction in public schools on “informed American patriotism.”

• SB632-Buckingham, allowing the Lower Colorado River Authority to use its facilities and infrastructure to provide fiber capacity to facilitate broadband service connectivity. Effective immediately

• HB332-Talarico, allowing the use of comp-ed funds for programs that build skills related to managing emotions, establishing and maintaining positive relationships, and making responsible decisions, and clarifying how comp-ed funds can be used for child-care expenses for students who are parents.

• HB363-VanDeaver, restricting the use of personally identifiable student information by a school vendor who operates a website, online service, online application, etc.

• HB624-Shine, increasing the punishment for a person convicted of certain criminal offenses if the offense was committed against a public servant or the public servant’s family in retaliation for the public servant’s status or action.

• HB781-Sanford, removing the requirement that junior college school marshals must lock their weapons in a locked secured safe if their primary duties involve “regular, direct student contact,” and instead allow them to carry their concealed weapons on campus at any time.

• HB988-Shine, revising certain property tax appraisal review board procedures/practices — including by making it a state jail felony for a governing board member, officer or employee to directly or indirectly communicate with the chief appraiser or another appraisal district employee to try to influence the value of property to be appraised.

• HB1068-Allen, allowing a school employee to choose to be paid for unused personal leave time during otherwise unpaid school holidays.

• HB1468-Keith Bell, setting numerous requirements for districts offering local remote learning instruction.

• HB1493-Herrero, allowing governmental entities to successfully sue an entity whose name falsely implies governmental affiliation.
• HB1709-Neave, making a child’s running away from home no longer a criminal offense.

• HB1804-Meyer, prohibiting state and local governmental entities (including ISDs and charters) from using public money to settle or pay sexual harassment claims.

• HB2120-Keith Bell, setting requirements for school boards and administrators to process grievances and complaints.

• HB2766-Rogers, creating a pilot rural college dual-credit program.

• HB2827-Mary González, formalizing the transfer of the OnCourse college and career advising program for public school students and counselors from UT Austin to the higher-ed coordinating board.

• HB3207-Herrero, prohibiting TRS from withholding pension benefits from retirees who return to work in an educational institution located in a disaster-declared area.

• HB3557-Ken King, giving parents, due to the severe student learning declines caused by the pandemic, a pathway (under specified circumstances) to choose to have their elementary or middle school child retained next school year in the same grade that the student was in this school year, or (for high school students) to repeat a course next school year that the student took this school year.

• HB3643-Ken King, creating a Texas Commission on Virtual Education.

• HB3853-Anderson, providing a pathway for the use of an electrical utility’s infrastructure to assist in providing broadband service to unserved/underserved areas.

• SB58-Zaffirini, allowing governmental entities to finance the purchase of cloud computing services.

• SB215-Bettencourt, creating a TEA Office of the Inspector General.

• SB275-Hinojosa, allowing governmental entities to successfully sue an entity whose name falsely implies governmental affiliation.

• SB279-Hinojosa, requiring the inclusion of suicide prevention contact info on grades 7 to 12 student ID cards.

• SB282-Alvarado, preventing state and local governments from paying money to settle a sexual harassment claim.

• SB483-Schwertner, requiring ERS and TRS to issue biennial reports that include specified investment return info.

• SB560-Lucio, requiring the creation of a state bilingual education strategic plan.

• SB741-Birdwell, amending the school marshal law by allowing school board policies to specify whether the marshal can carry a concealed handgun or must keep it locked in a secured safe. Current law requires school marshal weapons to be kept locked if the marshal’s duties involve regular contact with students.

• SB746-Miles, setting requirements for parents to supply their current contact info to schools.

• SB776-Lucio, requiring the UIL to establish an inclusive sports program for students with intellectual disabilities.

• SB879-Lucio, redefining requirements for dropout recovery programs and specifying how they are to be accounted for in the accountability system.

• SB1191-Seliger, clarifying the definition of a school resource officer.

• SB1225-Huffman, clarifying public information law requirements during catastrophes.

• SB1277-West, revising what must be included in dual credit agreements between a school district and a college.

• SB1351-Miles, specifying requirements for school-related food donations.

• SB1590-Bettencourt, giving ed-prep programs the flexibility to conduct field-based observation of certification candidates either entirely in person or via a mixture of in-person and virtual observations.

• SB1716-Taylor, making permanent the Supplemental Special Education Services (SSES) program that provides parents of students with disabilities $1,500 stipends to obtain services, curriculum and other supplies. (Criticized by the public-ed establishment as being a voucher bill.)

• SB1776-Campbell, requiring schools to offer a “Founding Fathers” elective high-school social studies course.

• SB1860-Powell, requiring the creation of an electronic student financial aid application.

• SB1879-Bettencourt, requiring that political subdivisions can’t spend money on activities to influence the outcome of pending legislation without their governing board first voting to approve the expenditure. There’s also a Texas Ethics Commission reporting requirement.

• SB1888-Creighton, replacing the Early High School Graduation Scholarship Program with an enhanced Texas First Early High School Completion Program and a related scholarship program.

• SB1889-Creighton, specifying what must be taught in public college American history and Texas history courses.

• SB1955-Taylor, prohibiting municipalities from regulating or banning “learning pods” that have become popular (because of the pandemic) whereby children, usually from different households, learn together in a single home.

• SB2050-Menéndez, requiring districts to incorporate a model bullying (including cyberbullying) prevention policy approved by the education commissioner into student handbooks, and for bullying incidents to be reported annually to TEA via PEIMS.

• SB2066-Menéndez, replacing references in the state Education Code of “limited English proficient” and “English learner” with what the author says is the now-preferred term of “emergent bilingual” student.

• SB2158-Campbell, requiring the TEA to provide inkless in-home DNA/fingerprint child identification kits for distribution to all parents/guardians of K-8 students that the parent/guardian can optionally submit to a law enforcement agency.

• SB2202-Creighton, setting numerous requirements and restrictions on what can be taught in specified social studies courses, such as prohibiting teachers from being required to discuss current events or widely debated and currently controversial issues, and prohibiting teaching that one’s race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex. (This is a very controversial bill.)