87R7597 MLH-D
By: Toth H.B. No. 3987
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requiring the disclosure of certain information
regarding public school teaching materials and activities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 26, Education Code, is amended by adding
Section 26.0061 to read as follows:
Sec. 26.0061. REQUIRED DISCLOSURE REGARDING TEACHING
MATERIALS AND ACTIVITIES. (a) In this section:
(1) "Activity" includes a presentation, assembly,
lecture, or other event facilitated by a school district, other
than a student presentation.
(2) "Teaching material" includes:
(A) instructional material, as that term is
defined by Section 31.002;
(B) teaching aids; and
(C) any other material a student is given the
option to select for the student's instruction.
(b) Subject to Subsection (g), not later than the fifth day
of each month, each school district shall make available to the
public on the district's Internet website:
(1) a list disaggregated by subject area and grade
level that states all information, including the title, author,
organization, or Internet website, as applicable, necessary to
identify a teaching material or activity that was assigned,
distributed, or otherwise presented to the district's students
during the preceding month in:
(A) a course for which students receive academic
credit; or
(B) an educational event that the district
requires students to attend or in which a majority of students
participate;
(2) the district's procedures for documenting,
reviewing, or approving a material or activity described by
Subdivision (1); and
(3) any changes made in the preceding month to the
procedures described by Subdivision (2).
(c) For purposes of Subsection (b)(1), a school district is
not required to list the individual components of teaching
materials produced as a single volume except that for a volume that
contains works by multiple authors, the district shall include in
the list under that subsection:
(1) a table of contents for the volume; or
(2) a link to an Internet website that discloses the
title and author of each work included in the volume.
(d) Information posted to a school district's Internet
website under Subsection (b) must be maintained on the website for
not less than one year.
(e) A school district may use collaborative online document
or spreadsheet software to prepare or post on the district's
Internet website the information required under Subsection (b).
(f) This section does not require a school district to
reproduce a material or activity described by Subsection (b)(1).
(g) This section does not apply to:
(1) a school district with a student enrollment of
less than 300 students; or
(2) a material or activity described by Subsection
(b)(1) that is selected independently by teachers employed at a
campus with a student enrollment of less than 50 students for use
only at that campus.
SECTION 2. Section 12.104(b), Education Code, as amended by
Chapters 262 (H.B. 1597), 464 (S.B. 11), 467 (H.B. 4170), and 943
(H.B. 3), Acts of the 86th Legislature, Regular Session, 2019, is
reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(b) An open-enrollment charter school is subject to:
(1) a provision of this title establishing a criminal
offense;
(2) the provisions in Chapter 554, Government Code;
and
(3) a prohibition, restriction, or requirement, as
applicable, imposed by this title or a rule adopted under this
title, relating to:
(A) the Public Education Information Management
System (PEIMS) to the extent necessary to monitor compliance with
this subchapter as determined by the commissioner;
(B) criminal history records under Subchapter C,
Chapter 22;
(C) reading instruments and accelerated reading
instruction programs under Section 28.006;
(D) accelerated instruction under Section
28.0211;
(E) high school graduation requirements under
Section 28.025;
(F) special education programs under Subchapter
A, Chapter 29;
(G) bilingual education under Subchapter B,
Chapter 29;
(H) prekindergarten programs under Subchapter E
or E-1, Chapter 29;
(I) extracurricular activities under Section
33.081;
(J) discipline management practices or behavior
management techniques under Section 37.0021;
(K) health and safety under Chapter 38;
(L) public school accountability under
Subchapters B, C, D, F, G, and J, Chapter 39, and Chapter 39A;
(M) the requirement under Section 21.006 to
report an educator's misconduct;
(N) intensive programs of instruction under
Section 28.0213;
(O) the right of a school employee to report a
crime, as provided by Section 37.148;
(P) bullying prevention policies and procedures
under Section 37.0832;
(Q) the right of a school under Section 37.0052
to place a student who has engaged in certain bullying behavior in a
disciplinary alternative education program or to expel the student;
(R) the right under Section 37.0151 to report to
local law enforcement certain conduct constituting assault or
harassment;
(S) a parent's right to information regarding the
provision of assistance for learning difficulties to the parent's
child as provided by Sections 26.004(b)(11) and 26.0081(c) and (d);
(T) establishment of residency under Section
25.001;
(U) [(T)] school safety requirements under
Sections 37.108, 37.1081, 37.1082, 37.109, 37.113, 37.114, 37.115,
37.207, and 37.2071;
(V) [(T)] the early childhood literacy and
mathematics proficiency plans under Section 11.185; [and]
(W) [(U)] the college, career, and military
readiness plans under Section 11.186; and
(X) the disclosure of certain information
regarding a teaching material or activity described by Section
26.0061.
SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2021-2022
school year.
SECTION 4. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
over another Act of the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, 2021,
relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
codes.
SECTION 5. 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, 2021.