Bill Text: TX SB57 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to provisions and plans by public schools to ensure the safety of individuals with disabilities or impairments during a mandatory school drill or a disaster or emergency situation.

Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)

Status: (Passed) 2025-06-20 - Effective immediately [SB57 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-SB57-Enrolled.html

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S.B. No. 57

AN ACT
relating to provisions and plans by public schools to ensure the
safety of individuals with disabilities or impairments during a
mandatory school drill or a disaster or emergency situation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 37.108(f), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(f) A school district shall include in its multihazard
emergency operations plan:
(1) a chain of command that designates the individual
responsible for making final decisions during a disaster or
emergency situation and identifies other individuals responsible
for making those decisions if the designated person is unavailable;
(2) provisions that address physical and
psychological safety for responding to a natural disaster, active
shooter, and any other dangerous scenario identified for purposes
of this section by the agency or the Texas School Safety Center;
(3) provisions for ensuring the safety of students in
portable buildings;
(4) provisions for ensuring that students and district
personnel with disabilities are provided equal access to safety
during a disaster or emergency situation based on the
recommendations and guidelines established by the commissioner
under Section 37.1086;
(5) provisions for providing immediate notification
to parents, guardians, and other persons standing in parental
relation in circumstances involving a significant threat to the
health or safety of students, including identification of the
individual with responsibility for overseeing the notification;
(6) provisions for supporting the psychological
safety of students, district personnel, and the community during
the response and recovery phase following a disaster or emergency
situation that:
(A) are aligned with best practice-based
programs and research-based practices recommended under Section
38.351;
(B) include strategies for ensuring any required
professional development training for suicide prevention and
grief-informed and trauma-informed care is provided to appropriate
school personnel;
(C) include training on integrating
psychological safety and suicide prevention strategies into the
district's plan, such as psychological first aid for schools
training, from an approved list of recommended training established
by the commissioner and Texas School Safety Center for:
(i) members of the district's school safety
and security committee under Section 37.109;
(ii) district school counselors and mental
health professionals; and
(iii) educators and other district
personnel as determined by the district;
(D) include strategies and procedures for
integrating and supporting physical and psychological safety that
align with the provisions described by Subdivision (2); and
(E) implement trauma-informed policies;
(7) a policy for providing a substitute teacher access
to school campus buildings and materials necessary for the
substitute teacher to carry out the duties of a district employee
during an emergency or a mandatory emergency drill;
(8) the name of each individual on the district's
school safety and security committee established under Section
37.109 and the date of each committee meeting during the preceding
year; and
(9) certification that the district is in compliance
with Section 37.117.
SECTION 2. Section 37.1086, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 37.1086. RECOMMENDATIONS AND GUIDELINES FOR SCHOOL
DRILL ACCOMMODATIONS AND MULTIHAZARD EMERGENCY OPERATIONS PLAN
PROVISIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES OR IMPAIRMENTS. (a)
The commissioner by rule [agency] shall establish:
(1) recommendations regarding accommodations for a
student with an individualized education program or a plan created
under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Section
794) during a mandatory school drill required under Section 37.114;
and
(2) guidelines for:
(A) the documentation of accommodations for a
student described by Subdivision (1) in the provisions in a school
district's multihazard emergency operations plan under Section
37.108(f)(4) to ensure the safety of students and district
personnel with disabilities or impairments during a mandatory
school drill required under Section 37.114 or a disaster or
emergency situation;
(B) required communications between campus
administrators and staff regarding the accommodations described by
Paragraph (A); and
(C) required communications between campus
administrators and the school district's school safety and security
committee established under Section 37.109 regarding students or
district personnel with disabilities or impairments for purposes of
providing recommendations for updating the district's multihazard
emergency operations plan required by Section 37.108(a).
(b) In establishing recommendations and guidelines under
Subsection (a), the commissioner shall consult[, in consultation]
with:
(1) the Texas School Safety Center;
(2) regional education service centers;
(3) public school educators and administrators who
work with students with disabilities or impairments; and
(4) advocacy groups representing individuals with
disabilities or impairments.
(c) [(b)] A school district must follow the guidelines
established by the commissioner [agency] under Subsection (a)(2)
[(a)] in adopting and implementing the district's multihazard
emergency operations plan under Section 37.108.
SECTION 3. Sections 37.109(a-1), (b), (c), and (d),
Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a-1) The committee, to the greatest extent practicable,
must include:
(1) one or more representatives of an office of
emergency management of a county or city in which the district is
located;
(2) one or more representatives of the local police
department or sheriff's office;
(3) one or more representatives of the district's
police department, if applicable;
(4) the president of the district's board of trustees;
(5) a member of the district's board of trustees other
than the president;
(6) the district's superintendent;
(7) two [one] or more designees of the district's
superintendent, one of whom must be a classroom teacher in the
district and one of whom must be an administrator of special
education in the district;
(8) if the district partners with an open-enrollment
charter school to provide instruction to students, a member of the
open-enrollment charter school's governing body or a designee of
the governing body; and
(9) two parents or guardians of students enrolled in
the district.
(b) The committee shall:
(1) participate on behalf of the district in
developing and implementing emergency plans consistent with the
district multihazard emergency operations plan required by Section
37.108(a) to ensure that the plans reflect specific campus,
facility, or support services needs, including recommended
accommodations for a student with an individualized education
program or a plan created under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of
1973 (29 U.S.C. Section 794);
(2) periodically provide recommendations to the
district's board of trustees and district administrators regarding
updating the district multihazard emergency operations plan
required by Section 37.108(a) in accordance with best practices
identified by the agency, the Texas School Safety Center, or a
person included in the registry established by the Texas School
Safety Center under Section 37.2091;
(3) provide the district with any campus, facility, or
support services information required in connection with a safety
and security audit required by Section 37.108(b), a safety and
security audit report required by Section 37.108(c), or another
report required to be submitted by the district to the Texas School
Safety Center;
(4) review each report required to be submitted by the
district to the Texas School Safety Center to ensure that the report
contains accurate and complete information regarding each campus,
facility, or support service in accordance with criteria
established by the center; and
(5) consult with local law enforcement agencies on
methods to increase law enforcement presence near district
campuses.
(c) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, the
committee shall meet at least once during each academic semester
and at least once during the summer and as necessary to provide
recommendations, based on communications with campus
administrators described by Section 37.1086(a)(2)(C), for updating
the district multihazard emergency operations plan required by
Section 37.108(a) to include recommended accommodations for a
student with an individualized education program or a plan created
under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Section
794). A committee established by a school district that operates
schools on a year-round system or in accordance with another
alternative schedule shall meet at least three times during each
calendar year, with an interval of at least two months between each
meeting.
(d) The committee is subject to Chapter 551, Government
Code. The committee shall meet in executive session when
discussing information regarding a student's individualized
education program or a plan created under Section 504,
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Section 794) for a student[,]
and may otherwise meet in executive session as provided by Chapter
551, Government Code [that chapter]. Notice of a committee meeting
must be posted in the same manner as notice of a meeting of the
district's board of trustees.
SECTION 4. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act but not later than June 1, 2026, the commissioner of
education shall adopt rules establishing the recommendations and
guidelines required by Section 37.1086, Education Code, as amended
by this Act.
SECTION 5. 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.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 57 passed the Senate on
March 20, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 30, 2025, by the
following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 57 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 27, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 107,
Nays 31, two present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor