89R5870 KRM-D
By: Schatzline H.B. No. 1655
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a policy prohibiting public school employees from
assisting a student with social transitioning and to the loss of
state funding for a violation by a public school.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 11, Education Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter I to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER I. ASSISTANCE WITH SOCIAL TRANSITIONING PROHIBITED
Sec. 11.401. SCHOOL DISTRICT POLICY: ASSISTANCE WITH SOCIAL
TRANSITIONING PROHIBITED. (a) In this subchapter, "social
transitioning" means a person's transition from the gender identity
associated with the person's biological sex assigned at birth to an
alternative gender identity through the adoption of a different
name, different pronouns, or other expressions of gender, including
clothing and hairstyles, that are:
(1) typically associated with the biological sex
opposite of the person's biological sex assigned at birth; and
(2) intended to communicate the person's alternative
gender identity.
(b) The board of trustees of a school district shall adopt a
policy prohibiting an employee of the district from assisting a
student enrolled in the district with social transitioning,
including by providing any information about social transitioning
or providing guidelines intended to assist a person with social
transitioning.
(c) A parent of a student enrolled in the district or a
district employee may report to the board of trustees of the
district a suspected violation of the policy adopted under
Subsection (b). The board shall investigate any suspected
violation and determine whether the violation occurred. If the
board determines that a district employee has assisted a student
enrolled at the district with social transitioning, the board shall
immediately report the violation to the commissioner.
(d) If the commissioner finds on an appeal under Section
7.057 that a school district has violated this section, or if the
board of trustees of a district notifies the commissioner about a
violation of the district's policy adopted under Subsection (b),
notwithstanding any other law, the commissioner shall withhold the
funding to which the district is entitled under Chapters 46, 48, and
49 for the school year during which the violation occurred. The
commissioner may adjust the district's entitlement to funding under
those chapters for subsequent school years as necessary to recover
any state funding already paid to the district for the school year
in which the violation occurred.
SECTION 2. Section 12.104, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (b-5) to read as follows:
(b-5) Section 11.401 applies to an open-enrollment charter
school as though the governing body of the school were the board of
trustees of a school district.
SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026
school year.
SECTION 4. 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, 2025.