TITLE: Relating to instruction on adoption in the parenting and paternity awareness program in public schools.

SUMMARY: Relating to instruction on adoption in the parenting and paternity awareness program in public schools.

FULL TEXT:
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.