In this edition:
- Final Week of Session Ahead
- House Bill 2, Priority School Funding Bill Close to Governor’s Desk
- Major Education Bill Updates!
- HB 6, School Discipline BillSB 12, Anti-Diversity in Public Schools
- SB 37, Censorship in Higher Ed Bill
- Other Bill Updates
Make sure you keep receiving these notices by subscribing to IDRA’s Texas Education Policy Alert!
Summary: Final Week of Session
This week marks the final week of the legislative session. A whirlwind of bills is still moving through the process while others are unfortunately almost across the finish line. Certain politicians are trying to do the Texas three-step: defunding public schools, demonizing the curricula and what students can learn, and privatizing public schools by diverting public money away for private school vouchers.
The House must pass all remaining bills today, Tuesday. The Senate must pass all remaining bills by the end of the day Wednesday.
After that, any bills that had major changes made by a chamber can either be agreed upon or go to a conference committee. Conference committees are joint committees made up of members from both the House and Senate who must arrive at a compromise on the changes that both chambers can accept.
The final day, or Sine Die, is Tuesday, June 2, 2025.
House Bill 2, Priority School Funding Bill Close to Governor’s Desk
House Bill 2, the priority school funding bill, was passed by the Senate with many changes and after weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations by the House and Senate. The bill now heads back to the House for members to concur with changes before the measure goes to the Governor’s desk.
Here are the major changes that are included in the near-final version of the bill:
- Per-Student Funding Increase: Adds $55 per student to the basic allotment for two years and adds adjustments for property tax growth going forward.
- This change falls far from the House changes of a direct basic allotment increase of $340 per student, and even further from the $1,300 per student increase needed to account for inflation since 2019. Imposes a new “fixed cost allotment” of $106 per student ($1.3 billion) for school district operational expenses outside of instruction and includes a fluctuating adjustment due to rising property values in the basic allotment.
- Teacher and Staff Pay Raises: Allocates $4.2 billion for teacher salary increases, with experienced teachers in larger districts receiving up to $5,000 and those in smaller districts up to $8,000. An additional $500 million is designated for support staff raises. Creates new teacher workforce allotments, such as the teacher retention allotment and teacher preparation funding.
- Special Education Funding Additions: HB 2 also changes the special education funding model to more appropriately fund special education to account for each individual student need, adding $850 million to that allotment.
Additional funding for charter school facilities, early learning plans and materials, and increased school safety allotment for hardening measures were among the other provisions included in the bill.
Major Education Bill Updates
Over the weekend, the Texas Senate and House continued to work through passing bills that would have huge implications for students in public schools.
House Bill 6 is a school discipline bill passed by the Senate. It includes important amendments that make punishments more appropriate for first-time offenses for students with e-cigarettes or vapes, add a parent involvement policy for student disciplinary hearings, and apply some guardrails to when very young children may be suspended out of school.
Action: The bill still has to head back to the House for members to concur with the Senate’s changes.
Senate Bill 12 is a broad ban against diversity, equity and inclusion. It was passed by the House and now goes back to the Senate for approval to go to the Governor for his signature.
SB 12 bans school districts and charters from including any consideration, policies, protocols or activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion. It adds stricter provisions for parent notification and consent over student instruction; bans conversations related to gender and sexuality and imposes reporting procedures against employees who affirm students’ gender identities; and requires annual certification of classroom censorship and the ban on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Several amendments were proposed by lawmakers to ensure that topics, such as the real history of enslaved people, are still taught in classrooms and to protect students’ rights despite the broad banning nature of the bill. All those amendments, unfortunately, failed.
Action: The bill still has to head back to the Senate for members to concur with the House changes. If they don’t agree, the bill goes to a conference committee.
SB 37 would shift power over what is taught in college classrooms away from professors and academic leaders and give it to university boards of regents. The bill passed the House floor and now heads back to the Senate for approval and then to the Governor’s desk.
Action: If Senators don’t agree, the bill heads to a conference committee.
Other Bill Updates
SB 10 would mandate the posting of the Ten Commandments on display in all Texas classrooms if a specified poster is donated. The bill was passed by the House and now goes to the Governor. This bill infringes on the religious freedoms of all students, faculty and campus staff and blurs the lines of separation of church and state.
SB 11 allows school districts to adopt policies that permit specific time for prayer in schools over the Bible or other religious texts. Policies must require parent consent and cannot allow prayer time to take place during instructional hours. SB 11 was passed by the House and will now head to the Governor’s desk for approval.
SB 13 permits school districts to adopt policies and assemble local school library advisory councils to make recommendations on restricting books that students want to read. When students are denied access to books, they are denied the opportunity to learn valuable lessons about themselves and people who are different. SB 13 has one more House floor vote before heading to the Governor’s desk for approval.
Coming Up: Week of May 27, 2025
Texas House: Tuesday
- No more hearings scheduled.
- Watch hearings live
- Watch past hearings
Texas Senate: Tuesday
- Senate Education K-16 Committee
- 9:00 a.m. (See notice)
- Watch hearings live
- Watch past hearings
Tools & Resources
Learn more about IDRA’s policy recommendations for Texas
See our Infographic: 5 Data Snacks on IDRA’s Policy Priorities
The Big Cost of Proposed Voucher Legislation, Data Map
How to Testify before the Texas Legislature, Infographic
Get more advocacy tips and videos on IDRA’s SEEN website.
Welcoming Immigrant Students, Infographic
