By: King, et al. S.B. No. 1207
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to instruction on adoption in the parenting and paternity
awareness program in public schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 28.002(p) and (p-2), Education Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(p) The State Board of Education, in conjunction with the
office of the attorney general, shall develop a parenting and
paternity awareness program that a school district shall use in the
district's high school health curriculum. A school district may
use the program developed under this subsection in the district's
middle or junior high school curriculum. At the discretion of the
district, a teacher may modify the suggested sequence and pace of
the program at any grade level. The program must:
(1) address parenting skills and responsibilities,
including child support and other legal rights and responsibilities
that come with parenthood;
(2) include information related to adoption,
including information about:
(A) the differences between private adoption and
foster care;
(B) the process for adopting a child privately or
through the state foster care system; and
(C) adoption as an alternative to becoming a
parent and the process for placing a child for adoption;
(3) address relationship skills, including money
management, communication skills, and marriage preparation; and
(4) [(3)] in district middle, junior high, or high
schools that do not have a family violence prevention program,
address skills relating to the prevention of family violence.
(p-2) A school district may develop or adopt research-based
programs and curriculum materials for use in conjunction with the
program developed under Subsection (p). The programs and
curriculum materials may provide instruction in:
(1) child development;
(2) parenting skills, including child abuse and
neglect prevention; [and]
(3) the information regarding adoption described by
Subsection (p)(2); and
(4) assertiveness skills to prevent teenage
pregnancy, abusive relationships, and family violence.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026
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, 2025.