The Senate Education K-16 Committee advanced four bills during its hearing Tuesday. At the time of passage, committee substitute language was not publicly available. These bills are now eligible for consideration by the full Senate:

• Senate Bill (SB) 10 by Sen. Phil King (R–Weatherford): Requires elementary and secondary schools to display a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments in every classroom as outlined in the bill. Schools without the required posters must either accept donated copies or purchase them. ATPE submitted the following written testimony and Governmental Relations Director Monty Exter also provided oral testimony, which you can listen to at 2:19 in this video.
  

• SB 11 by Sen. Mayes Middleton (R–Galveston): Mandates that school boards of independent school districts and charter schools vote on a resolution to adopt a policy allowing students and employees the opportunity to pray or read religious texts on campus. Parents would need to sign a consent form waiving their right to bring legal claims under state or federal law related to the policy’s adoption.
• CSSB 13 by Sen. Angela Paxton (R–McKinney): Requires school districts to provide parents access to library material catalogs, the ability to restrict their children’s access to specific content, and—if the district uses a learning management system or online portal—a system to track their child’s checkouts. The bill also establishes local school library advisory councils and outlines procedures for challenging library materials.
• CSSB 569 by Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R–Houston): Expands virtual education by allowing school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to offer hybrid courses, virtual courses, full-time hybrid programs, and full-time virtual programs. It defines student and teacher rights in virtual learning environments and permits schools to collaborate with private or third-party providers for full-time hybrid or virtual programs. ATPE provided written testimony against the bill.

Additionally, on Tuesday, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee passed SB 412 by Middleton relating to affirmative defenses to prosecution for certain offenses involving material or conduct that is obscene or otherwise harmful to children. ATPE provided the following written testimony.

On Wednesday morning, the Senate Finance Committee favorably advanced CSSB 260 by Sen. Joan Huffman (R–Houston) to the full Senate. This bill would raise the safety and security allotment to $28 per student and $30,000 per campus. Although ATPE believes there should be a new mental health allotment and understands that districts need more funding for safety and security, we supported CSSB 260 because it is a step in the right direction to better funding the underfunded mandates imposed by HB 3 from the 2023 session.

ATPE will continue to track and report on these bills and others as they flow through the Senate to the House.