HB 5381

By: Lowe, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Middleton)
  H.B. No. 5381
         (In the Senate - Received from the House May 15, 2025;
  May 16, 2025, read first time and referred to Committee on
  Education K-16; May 27, 2025, reported favorably by the following
  vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 27, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
  A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
  AN ACT
  relating to the interstate compact on educational opportunity for
  military children and other protections for certain military
  dependents enrolled in a public school.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  This Act may be cited as Rocky's Law.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 25.906 to read as follows:
         Sec. 25.906.  PROTECTIONS FOR CERTAIN MILITARY DEPENDENTS.
  (a) In this section:
               (1)  "Compact" means the Interstate Compact on
  Educational Opportunity for Military Children executed under
  Section 162.002.
               (2)  "Uniformed services" means:
                     (A)  the United States Army, Navy, Air Force,
  Space Force, Marine Corps, National Guard and Reserve, or Coast
  Guard;
                     (B)  the Commissioned Corps of the National
  Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; or
                     (C)  the Commissioned Corps of the United States
  Public Health Service.
         (b)  The provisions of Articles IV, V, VI, and VII of the
  compact apply to the following children as if those children were
  children described by Article III of the compact:
               (1)  a child of a veteran of the uniformed services who
  was discharged or released through retirement, for a period of four
  years after the date of the veteran's retirement, if the veteran
  returns to the veteran's home of record on military orders; and
               (2)  a child of a member of the uniformed services who
  dies on active duty or as a result of injuries sustained on active
  duty, for a period of four years after the member's death.
         (c)  Each school district and open-enrollment charter school
  that maintains an Internet website shall post on the district's or
  school's Internet website home page an easily accessible link
  entitled "MIC3" that leads to information regarding the compact and
  the additional protections provided by this section.
         (d)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school
  that enrolls a child of a member of the uniformed services shall
  comply with all applicable provisions relating to persons not
  eligible for employment in public schools under Chapters 21 and 22.
         SECTION 3.  Article II(A), Section 162.002, Education Code,
  is amended to read as follows:
         A.  "Active duty" means:  full-time duty status in the
  active uniformed service of the United States, including members of
  the National Guard and Reserve on active duty orders pursuant to 10
  U.S.C. Chapters [Sections] 1209 and 1211.
         SECTION 4.  Section 162.006(b), Education Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (b)  The State Advisory Council consists of:
               (1)  the commissioner of education or the
  commissioner's designee;
               (2)  a superintendent of a school district with a high
  concentration of military children designated by the agency;
               (3)  the governor or the governor's designee;
               (4)  the chair of the senate committee on education or
  the chair's designee;
               (5)  the chair of the house of representatives
  committee on public education or the chair's designee;
               (6)  a representative from each branch of the armed
  services of the United States that maintains an installation in the
  state, appointed by each respective branch; [and]
               (7)  a classroom teacher who is or was employed at a
  school operated by the United States Department of Defense
  Education Activity designated by the agency; and
               (8)  representatives of other offices and stakeholder
  groups the agency deems appropriate.
         SECTION 5.  This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026
  school year.
         SECTION 6.  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.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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