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.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 10)
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. | ||
