Bill Text: TX HB360 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to requiring the disclosure of certain information regarding public school teaching materials and activities.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 10-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-02-23 - Referred to Public Education [HB360 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB360-Introduced.html
88R202 ANG-D | ||
By: Toth | H.B. No. 360 |
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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 or | ||
open-enrollment charter school, 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 (h), not later than the fifth day | ||
of each month, each school district and open-enrollment charter | ||
school shall make available to the public on the district's or | ||
school'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 or school's | ||
students during the preceding month in: | ||
(A) a course for which students receive academic | ||
credit; or | ||
(B) an educational event that the district or | ||
school requires students to attend or in which a majority of | ||
students participate; | ||
(2) the district's or school's procedures for | ||
documenting, reviewing, or approving a teaching 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 or | ||
open-enrollment charter school 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 or school 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 or | ||
open-enrollment charter school's Internet website under Subsection | ||
(b) must be maintained on the website for not less than one year. | ||
(e) A school district or open-enrollment charter school may | ||
use collaborative online document or spreadsheet software to | ||
prepare or post on the district's or school's Internet website the | ||
information required under Subsection (b). | ||
(f) If requested by the parents of five or more enrolled | ||
students who are not siblings, a school district or open-enrollment | ||
charter school shall conduct: | ||
(1) an administrative review to determine whether the | ||
information required to be posted on the district's or school's | ||
Internet website under Subsection (b) was posted as required by | ||
that subsection; or | ||
(2) a review of the teaching materials and activities | ||
described by Subsection (b) to determine whether each teaching | ||
material and activity is: | ||
(A) appropriate for the grade level at which the | ||
material or activity is used; and | ||
(B) aligned with the essential knowledge and | ||
skills for the grade level at which the material or activity is | ||
used. | ||
(g) This section does not require a school district or | ||
open-enrollment charter school to reproduce a teaching material or | ||
activity described by Subsection (b)(1). | ||
(h) This section does not apply to: | ||
(1) a school district or open-enrollment charter | ||
school with a student enrollment of less than 300 students; or | ||
(2) a teaching 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. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024 | ||
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, 2023. |