86R2561 MEW-F
By: Blanco, Guillen H.B. No. 391
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to student access to public school instructional materials
and technology.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 26.006, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read
as follows:
(c) A student's parent is entitled to request that the
school district or open-enrollment charter school the student
attends allow the student to take home any instructional materials
used by the student. Subject to the availability of the
instructional materials, the district or school shall honor the
request. A student who takes home instructional materials must
return the instructional materials to school at the beginning of
the next school day if requested to do so by the student's teacher.
A school district or open-enrollment charter school must provide
the instructional materials to the student in printed book format
if the student does not have reliable access to technology at the
student's home. In this subsection, "instructional material" has
the meaning assigned by Section 31.002.
(d) A school district or open-enrollment charter school
must document each parental request made under Subsection (c) to
allow a student to take home instructional material used by the
student that the district or school denies. The documentation must
include each reason for denying the request. Not later than the
30th day after the date the district or school receives the request,
the district or school must report to the agency that the request
has been denied and each reason for the denial.
(e) Not later than September 1 of each year, the agency
shall submit an annual report to the legislature that includes the
number of parental requests made under Subsection (c) to allow a
student to take home instructional material used by the student
that each school district and open-enrollment charter school denied
and the reasons for denial.
SECTION 2. Section 26.006, Education Code, as amended by
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.