2025S0042-1 01/27/25
By: King S.B. No. 1049
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to excused absences from public school for the purpose of
attending a released time course.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 25.087(b), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) A school district shall excuse a student from attending
school for:
(1) the following purposes, including travel for those
purposes:
(A) observing religious holy days;
(B) attending a required court appearance;
(C) appearing at a governmental office to
complete paperwork required in connection with the student's
application for United States citizenship;
(D) taking part in a United States naturalization
oath ceremony;
(E) serving as an election clerk; [or]
(F) if the student is in the conservatorship of
the Department of Family and Protective Services, participating, as
determined and documented by the department, in an activity:
(i) ordered by a court under Chapter 262 or
263, Family Code, provided that it is not practicable to schedule
the participation outside of school hours; or
(ii) required under a service plan under
Subchapter B, Chapter 263, Family Code; or
(G) attending a course under Section 25.0875;
(2) a temporary absence resulting from an appointment
with health care professionals for the student or the student's
child if the student commences classes or returns to school on the
same day of the appointment; or
(3) an absence resulting from a serious or
life-threatening illness or related treatment that makes the
student's attendance infeasible, if the student or the student's
parent or guardian provides a certification from a physician
licensed to practice medicine in this state specifying the
student's illness and the anticipated period of the student's
absence relating to the illness or related treatment.
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 25.0875 to read as follows:
Sec. 25.0875. EXCUSED ABSENCE TO ATTEND RELEASED TIME
COURSE. (a) In this section, "released time course" means a course
in religious instruction offered by a private entity.
(b) A school district or open-enrollment charter school
shall, on the request of a parent or legal guardian of a student
enrolled at the district or school and subject to the policy adopted
under Subsection (c), excuse the student from attending school to
attend a released time course for at least one but not more than
five hours a week.
(c) Each school district and open-enrollment charter school
shall adopt a policy for excusing a student enrolled at the district
or school from attending school to attend a released time course.
The policy:
(1) must require:
(A) the student's parent or legal guardian to
provide written consent for the student to attend the released time
course;
(B) the private entity offering the released time
course to maintain attendance records and make the records
available to the district or school at which the student is
enrolled;
(C) the private entity, parent or legal guardian,
or student to assume responsibility for transportation, including
transportation for a student with a disability, to and from any
location at which the released time course is offered;
(D) the private entity to make provisions for and
assume liability for the student enrolled in the released time
course while the student is under the private entity's care; and
(E) the student to assume responsibility for any
schoolwork issued during the student's absence;
(2) must prohibit:
(A) the district or school from using district or
school funds, excluding de minimis costs, to facilitate the
provision of a released time course; and
(B) the private entity from offering the released
time course on district or school property, unless permitted under
a neutral policy of equal access that allows community
organizations to use district or school property; and
(3) may not interfere with the ability of the student's
parent or legal guardian to request or access a released time course
for the student.
SECTION 3. Not later than January 1, 2026, each school
district and open-enrollment charter school shall adopt the excused
absence policy required by Section 25.0875, Education Code, as
added by this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.