In recent weeks, we have been celebrating the seven bills the Texas Legislature passed, which the Governor signed into law to protect homeschooling and families.

However, not every priority of the Texas Home School Coalition and the Family Freedom Project became law.

Here are 4 priorities that did not pass the legislature that we will continue to work on in the future:

1. Parental Choice in Education: While the Senate passed SB 8, which would have given 5.5 million students an opportunity to have funding to follow them to a private school, the bill died in the House. Under SB 8, homeschool families may utilize an ESA to fund costs like reading or speech therapy or to cover the cost of dual credit classes at a local community college. SB 8 would help empower parents by relieving some of the financial burden associated with these high-cost needs for their child. A small percentage of homeschool families express concern about ESA bills because they fear that the bills may cause government regulation. There are three important points to understand:
   • The bills are entirely voluntary. Each parent decides if they will participate.
   • The bills include strong language prohibiting government regulation.
   • Across 76 programs in 32 states going back multiple decades, no state has ever seen a regulation increase on homeschooling as a result of a parental choice program. In fact, as parental choice programs have proliferated in recent years, homeschool regulation has plummeted nationwide.

2. A Texas Constitutional Amendment (SJR 70): A constitutional amendment to protect the fundamental rights of parents to raise their children as they see fit passed the Senate with only three no votes – –  well beyond the ⅔ required. However, the measure did not receive a hearing in the House. We will bring this issue back in the next session. This is a Texas Constitutional Amendment that enshrines the right of parents to make decisions for their children. The amendment protects a parent’s right to make decisions in all areas but also specifically lists the areas of education, moral and religious training, and healthcare. SJR 70 recognizes what we all know intuitively: Freedom is fragile. SJR 70 protects parental rights that are already clearly established today, but could easily be gone tomorrow if appropriate care is not taken to preserve them. You can help by signing the Parental Rights Constitutional Amendment Petition.
3. HB 1086: HB 1086 would limit the use of ex-parte hearings by CPS to force parents to allow CPS access to the home passed the House by a vote of 131-7 but failed to have a hearing in the Senate. This critical issue will be raised again. HB 1086 bill ensures that aid of investigation is only issued if the court is presented with probable cause that an order is necessary to protect a child. It protects families from unnecessary breaches of their parental rights, specifically the right to refuse the release of private documents and the right to deny access to their children. When determining whether to issue an aid of investigation, this bill requires courts to use the standard of “probable cause” rather than the current standard of “good cause.” This changes the terminology from a subjective standard to a clearly defined one, making it harder to abuse or misuse.
4. HB 1667: HB 1667 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. The bill passed the House by a 123-14 and was passed out of the Senate Committee but did not receive a Senate vote. This critical measure, too, will be filed again.

These are just a few examples of important issues that did not make it to the finish line and why it is important for organizations like THSC and FFP to continue to work hard to Keep Texas Families Free! 

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Make sure you are signed up for our email and text messages to be ready to take immediate action to protect the parents and families of Texas. 

Please sign our petitions to support these measures and get updates as parental rights reforms move through the Texas Legislature.

Read the rest of The Family Freedom Caller