Several Ed. Bills Still In Play in Final Week of Session | May 29, 2025

With the 89th Texas Legislature set to adjourn sine die on Monday, June 2, there is little time remaining to send bills to the Governor's desk, and several key education bills remain in limbo. 

Many major deadlines passed this week, including the deadlines for bills to be considered by either chamber on 2nd or 3rd reading. Bills that have been approved by both houses still remain, though any differences between the versions passed need to be reconciled before they can be sent to the Governor. Friday, May 30, is the deadline for the House to act on Senate amendments, while Sunday, June 1, is the final day the Senate can take action on House amendments. 

As of Thursday morning, 106 public education bills were still alive, with 80 having been agreed upon by both chambers but awaiting the Governor's signature and another 26 passed but with differences between the House and Senate. 

Among the bills still awaiting reconciliation is House Bill 2, the session's major public school funding bill, which received significant amendments from the Senate compared to the version originally passed by the House. HB 2 could still go to a conference committee to allow the two chambers to work out the differences before being approved by both houses, or the House could choose to concur with the Senate's amendments. Click here for an overview of the latest version of the bill. 

On Tuesday, HB 4 was passed by the Senate with significant amendments. As passed by the House, HB 4 would eliminate the STAAR test and replace it with through-year testing in the form of three, norm-referenced tests – similar to the MAP testing that Keller ISD employs – to provide educators with quicker results and more varied data points. It also would have overhauled the state's school accountability system. The Senate's changes, however, substituted in language more closely to that of SB 1962, which would retain STAAR and give the Commissioner of Education more authority over the state's accountability system. While a conference committee may be formed to resolve the differences, it's also possible the Senate will refuse to more any closer toward the House's version of the bill and choose not to appoint conferees, thus killing the bill. 

After being passed by the House on Sunday, SB 12 is set to go before a conference committee. Conferrees for both houses were appointed Wednesday. SB 12 is a broad parental rights bill that includes requirements for districts to complete facility usage reports and submit them to TEA, to provide updated trustee information within 30 days of an election, to refrain from assigning DEI duties to any employee, and for TEA to develop rules to govern school district notification to parents of any change in services provided to or monitoring of the student related to a student's mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being. It also includes updates to school district grievance procedures. 

SB 13 passed late Wednesday by the House and is focused on student access to certain library books. It requires districts that have not already done so to set up processes for parents to view what books their students are checking out at the library. It would also establish school library advisory councils that would be involved in reviewing books identified as potentially being harmful, profane, or inconsistent with local community values. A conference committee will likely be necessary to negotiate differences between the versions passed by the Senate and House.