| |
| |
|
|
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. |