86R9176 GCB-D
By: Allison H.B. No. 3429
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the inclusion of instruction about mental health,
suicide prevention, bullying, cyberbullying, and harassment in the
required curriculum for public school students.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 28.002(a) and (s), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) Each school district that offers kindergarten through
grade 12 shall offer, as a required curriculum:
(1) a foundation curriculum that includes:
(A) English language arts;
(B) mathematics;
(C) science; and
(D) social studies, consisting of Texas, United
States, and world history, government, economics, with emphasis on
the free enterprise system and its benefits, and geography; and
(2) an enrichment curriculum that includes:
(A) to the extent possible, languages other than
English;
(B) health, including mental health, with
emphasis on the importance of:
(i) proper nutrition and exercise;
(ii) the relationship between physical and
mental health; and
(iii) suicide prevention;
(C) physical education;
(D) fine arts;
(E) career and technology education;
(F) technology applications;
(G) religious literature, including the Hebrew
Scriptures (Old Testament) and New Testament, and its impact on
history and literature; and
(H) personal financial literacy.
(s) In this subsection, "bullying" and "cyberbullying" have
[has] the meanings [meaning] assigned by Section 37.0832, and
"harassment" has the meaning assigned by Section 37.001. In
addition to any other essential knowledge and skills the State
Board of Education adopts for the health curriculum under
Subsection (a)(2)(B), the board shall [adopt for the health
curriculum], in consultation with the Texas School Safety Center,
adopt essential knowledge and skills that include:
(1) evidence-based practices that will effectively
address awareness, prevention, identification, self-defense in
response to, and resolution of and intervention in bullying,
cyberbullying, and harassment; and
(2) information about potential criminal consequences
of bullying, cyberbullying, and harassment and the requirement
under Section 37.0832 for each school district to adopt a bullying
prevention policy.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2019-2020
school year.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2019.