HB 1819 prohibits local governments from adopting curfew ordinances that limit the times of day a child can be outdoors, which violate parental rights and disproportionately affect homeschooled students. HB 1819 continues to uphold the philosophy that parents are the best decision-makers for their children.

HB 3993 ensures homeschool students are treated fairly in the college admission process when class rank is used for automatic admission. The bill says that if a college is granting automatic admission based on class rank, they must calculate the homeschool student’s class rank based on the average class rank of other students with the same SAT/ACT scores.

HB 3708 provides financial incentives for school districts to grant UIL extracurricular access to homeschool students, paving an easier road for more homeschool students to participate. For each school district that chooses to allow homeschool access to UIL, the school will receive a $1500 funding allotment per child per activity in which they participate.

HB 699 ensures that school districts that grant homeschool students access to UIL extracurricular activities won’t be punished for doing so. Previously, UIL has attempted to punish these districts by forcing them to play in higher brackets against bigger schools. HB 699 helps ensure that more schools will grant equal access to homeschool students.

HB 730 is a major CPS reform bill. The bill includes numerous due process protections to protect families from unfounded CPS investigations. Among other things, the bill requires CPS caseworkers to inform parents of their legal rights upon first contact with the family.

HB 793 vastly expands the options available to families who are ordered by a court to complete services in a CPS case. Rather than obtaining services only from CPS-contracted providers, the bill allows families to select any qualified provider for the services and have the expenses paid for by the state. This allows families to more quickly complete the services required for the return of their child.

HB 63 ends the practice of anonymous CPS reporting. Before this bill passed, it was a crime to make a false CPS report, however, it could rarely be prosecuted because the reporter’s name and information wasn’t gathered at the time of the report. The bill changes the law to ensure the reporter’s information is kept confidential from the public, but also ensures that information sufficient to verity the identity of the reporter is collected.

A CPS reporting reform priority would clarify who is required to file allegations of abuse or neglect with CPS and that such reports are not required because of the child’s behavior, truancy, or conditions of poverty. The bill clarifies that these types of conditions do not have to be reported to CPS and, instead, allows professionals to refer families experiencing these conditions to community-based service providers. For more on the legislation FFP supported, read HB 1667.

A parental presumption priority would require that courts give preferential weight to the opinions of parents (as opposed to a non-parent) regarding their children. This legislation would require courts to start with the presumption that a fit parent is acting in their child’s best interests. For more on the legislation FFP supported, read HB 3072.