Relating to parental rights in public education, to the creation of the office of inspector general at the Texas Education Agency, and to the reporting of certain misconduct and child abuse and neglect; creating a criminal offense.
HB 7 is a broad education and child-safety bill that expands parental rights in public education and creates new oversight and reporting structures within Texas education law. It requires school districts and charter schools to provide parents with more information about their rights, board trustees, instructional plans, teacher certification status, library materials, and consent requirements for certain student activities. It also requires written parental consent before human sexuality instruction, strengthens parent access to student records, and creates a formal grievance process with multiple levels of review and deadlines for district responses.
The bill also establishes an Office of Inspector General within the Texas Education Agency to investigate complaints from parents about school districts, charter schools, and TEA-related issues. That office would have subpoena power, access to records, confidentiality protections, and authority to investigate alleged legal violations, unethical conduct, and retaliation. In addition, the bill creates or revises procedures for appeals, remands, dispute resolution facilitation, and injunctive relief in district court for certain Education Code violations, while also requiring annual reporting on grievances and investigations.
HB 7 would significantly revise the Education Code by adding new parental-notice and grievance provisions, transferring and renumbering multiple sections, and creating new chapters governing complaints, appeals, and misconduct reporting. It would also expand TEA oversight of school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, districts of innovation, and in some cases private schools, especially regarding educator misconduct, employee background checks, and child abuse reporting. The bill creates new criminal penalties for intentional failures to report certain misconduct and for some failures to disclose required information, and it adds new administrative consequences such as certification sanctions, registry placement, and bond-related consequences for retaliation or noncompliance.
The bill’s overall framing is strongly pro-parental-rights and pro-accountability, with the caption and structure emphasizing transparency, consent, and stronger enforcement against misconduct. Even without recorded committee testimony or votes in the provided materials, the bill’s extensive reporting, notice, and enforcement provisions suggest it is designed to appeal to concerns about school transparency, student safety, and parental control over education decisions. The committee status indicates it advanced out of the House Public Education Committee and was sent to Calendars, suggesting at least committee-level support.
The most likely points of contention are the bill’s breadth and the level of state intervention it creates in local school governance. School districts and charter schools may object to the expanded grievance system, mandatory posting and reporting requirements, and the new inspector general’s investigative authority, including access to records and subpoena power. Another likely area of dispute is the bill’s treatment of human sexuality instruction, which requires written parental consent, and its new rules on student records, instructional plans, and library materials. The misconduct-reporting provisions also create significant compliance burdens and criminal or administrative penalties, which may raise concerns among educators, administrators, and private schools about due process, confidentiality, and implementation costs.