By Kevin Lungwitz
Texas Senate Bill 12, passed during the most recent session of the Texas Legislature, enacts sweeping changes to parent rights, DEI, and student health and safety. It has been met with confusion, but some things are clear: There are new requirements for educators that, if violated, could result in mandatory discipline.
Parent Rights
Parents have always had supreme rights to their children’s education. This has become a focus of recent legislative sessions. SB 12 says a public school may not infringe upon a parent’s rights unless to provide life-saving care or to promote a compelling state interest.1
DEI is Banned
Except as required by law, a school district: “May not assign diversity, equity, and inclusion duties to any person; and shall prohibit a district employee, contractor, or volunteer from engaging in diversity, equity, and inclusion duties at, for, or on behalf of the district.”2 This specifically bans employees, contractors, and volunteers for DEI projects, except some student clubs. More on clubs below.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion duties means:
- influencing employment practices with respect to race, sex, color, or ethnicity except as required by law;
- promoting differential treatment of or providing special benefits to individuals on the basis of race, color, or ethnicity;
- developing or implementing policies, procedures, trainings, activities, or programs that reference race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation except for the purpose of student recruitment efforts by Historically Black Colleges and Universities or as required by law; and
- compelling, requiring, inducing, or soliciting any person to provide a DEI statement or considering any person based on the provision of a DEI statement.3
The law allows some DEI student clubs as long as each student has parental consent, but it specifically does not allow clubs based on sexual orientation or gender identity.⁴
The law cautions districts not to infringe upon a student’s First Amendment rights. The State: “Hey school districts, if you violate a student’s constitutional rights when you ban all the DEI stuff, remember, we told you not to.” One assumes it is still lawful for a student to wear a non-disruptive article of DEI clothing, for example. The law does not say a school employee’s First Amendment rights are protected.
Punishment: School districts shall adopt a policy and procedure for the discipline, including termination, of a district employee or contractor who intentionally or knowingly engages in or assigns to another person diversity, equity, and inclusion duties.
Student Health Care
A school employee or contractor must obtain parental consent before:
- providing health care services, tests, or treatments; or
- providing medication
Consent for “routine care”—as that term is defined by the district—provided by someone who is “authorized by the district” to provide health care services, can be obtained at the beginning of the year and will be effective unless withdrawn until the end of the year.⁵
The TEA created a model notice to parents to opt-in or opt-out of certain health care and related services. View “Model Language to Comply with Senate Bill (SB) 12 and Texas Education Code (TEC), §§26.0083 and 26.009.”
The TEA also developed a parental notification containing parental rights and options for a variety of programs, activities, and health care services.⁶ View “Parental Rights and Options Information.”
Be on the lookout for continued guidance from TEA and your district on parental notifications, opt-ins, and opt-outs.
Punishment: A school district shall take disciplinary action against an employee for providing health care services if the district did not obtain a parent’s consent for the child’s participation in that activity.
Conclusion
This article barely scratches the surface of SB 12. Until the confusion is clarified by the state, strict enforcement of the mandatory punishments will cause a hyper-conservative interpretation by those seeking to keep their jobs and certifications.
Kevin Lungwitz practices law in Austin and is a former Chair of the School Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.
Endnotes
1Tex. Educ. Code Sec. 1.009
2Tex. Educ. Code Sec. 11.005
3Tex. Educ. Code Sec. 11.005(a)
4Tex. Educ. Code Sec. 11.005e(5)(d); Tex. Educ. Code Sec. 38.0815
5Tex. Educ. Code Sec. 26.009(a-3)
6Tex. Educ. Code Sec. 26.001(e)
TEPSA News, November/December 2025, Vol 82, No 6
Copyright © 2025 by the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association. No part of articles in TEPSA publications or on the website may be reproduced in any medium without the permission of the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association.
Note: Information from Legal Ease is believed to be correct upon publication but is not warranted and should not be considered legal advice. Please contact TEPSA or your school district attorney before taking any legal action, as specific facts or circumstances may cause a different legal outcome.
