From a cell phone ban to Ten Commandments posters, new state laws bring big changes to Texas schools

This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune.

The 2025 legislative session was transformative for public education in Texas.

Lawmakers approved a $1 billion school voucher program that will let Texas families use taxpayer funds to pay for their children’s private schooling. They invested back into the public school system with a $8.5 billion boost after years of stagnant state funding. In addition, they passed legislation that banned cell phones; barred diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in K-12 schools; and ordered that they display Ten Commandments posters in classrooms.

Here is a look at some of the biggest changes students, parents and teachers can expect as they return for a new school year:

$8.5 Billion Boost Will Pay for Teacher Raises and More

House Bill 2, among other things, establishes a long-term teacher pay raise system.

Teachers with three to four years of experience in districts with 5,000 or fewer students will receive a $4,000 raise, while those with five or more years of experience will receive a $8,000 raise. In districts with more than 5,000 students, teachers with three to four years of experience will receive a $2,500 raise, while those with five or more years of experience will receive a $5,000 raise.

The law also expands the Teacher Incentive Allotment, a state program that awards raises to educators who demonstrate they have improved student’s academic performance.

Additionally, the bill overhauled the way Texas funds special education in school districts. The state will now give funding based on the individual needs of a student with disability, which public education advocates and lawmakers consider a more equitable way to distribute funds. Districts will also receive $1,000 for each evaluation they conduct assessing a student for a disability.

Students Will Be Banned From Using Their Cell Phones

House Bill 1481, authored by Rep. Caroline Fairly, R- Amarillo, will limit the use of personal wireless devices by students during school hours. The proposal received bipartisan support in both chambers.

“That's a pretty substantial change…especially for high school students. Probably less of a change for the younger grades,” said Brian Woods, deputy executive director of the Texas Association of School Administrators.

The legislation requires districts to implement disciplinary actions for students who violate the policy. It gives them flexibility on how to enforce the new rules. School districts are ironing out their policies as the new school year begins, Woods said.

Supporters of the law say it will help with students' focus levels, improve their mental health and reduce bullying.

Critics say the legislation limits the ability of students to contact their parents or emergency services — and parents’ ability to keep track of their children's whereabouts.

The legislation allows students to use their cell phones outside of school hours, so students will be able to contact their parents about extracurricular activities and other issues as necessary, Woods said.

“I don’t see that school safety is materially, negatively impacted by students not having access to their cell phones. In my experience, virtually every classroom has a phone in it, and also has an alternative method of contacting an office area in the school,” Woods said.

Ten Commandments and Other Bills To Push Religion in Public Schools

Next month, students will start seeing the Ten Commandments displayed in their classrooms as part of a larger push from Republican lawmakers to infuse more religion in schools.

Senate Bill 10, will require classrooms to visibly display a poster sized by at least 16 by 20 inches. The poster can’t include any text other than the language laid out in the legislation. The law mandates that schools accept and hang up the posters if they are privately donated but does not require districts to purchase the materials.

A federal court deemed a similar bill in Louisiana unconstitutional. Louisiana is appealing the decision.

The American Civil Liberties Union and a group of parents have filed a lawsuit against the Texas legislation. A U.S. district court in San Antonio started hearing oral arguments on the case Friday.

Lawmakers also passed Senate Bill 11, a measure that will allow a school district to provide students and employees time to pray or read religious texts during the school day.

The law bans reading any religious text or prayer over a school’s speakers, or in the presence of a student that does not have a signed consent form.

Lawmakers Extend DEI Ban to K-12 Grades

Senate Bill 12, authored by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, eliminates DEI programs in K-12 schools. It prohibits schools from considering race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation in hiring and training practices. The law also prohibits public schools from sponsoring or authorizing a club based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

The legislation upholds parental authority by allowing them to make choices for the programs their children can partake in, Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said in May.

Critics of the law argue that the legislation disproportionately targets marginalized groups, especially LGBTQ+ students, could limit the students' sense of belonging and harm their mental health. The legislation could also lead to teachers self-censoring, which could hamper students' education, critics said.

In June, the ACLU and other civil rights groups announced plans to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the legislation.

The ban comes two years after legislators passed Senate Bill 17, which eliminated DEI offices, programs and training at public universities in Texas.

School Boards and Parents Will Have More Oversight on Library Materials

The Legislature passed Senate Bill 13, authored by Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, which will allow parents and school boards to challenge any school library material.

The law will allow school boards to delegate this responsibility to parents if 50 parents or 10% of parents in the district — whichever is less — sign a petition calling for the creation of a local school advisory council.

“No child should pick up a book in their school library of all places and be exposed to inappropriate, harmful material within its pages,” Paxton said in March. “These young brains cannot unsee what they see.”

The law will ban schools from keeping library materials that contain “indecent content or profane content.”

Critics say SB 13 will lead to the banning of books that have topics of sexuality and gender identity and limit stories from marginalized groups. Texas banned 540 books during the 2023-24 school year, according to PEN America, an organization that tracks book bans throughout the country.

Schools Will Have More Flexibility With Disciplinary Actions

As teachers struggle to manage the rise in student violence since the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas lawmakers said their solution was in giving schools more flexibility to punish students.

House Bill 6 expands when schools can dole out out-of-school suspensions to Texas’ youngest and homeless students. It does this by undoing state laws from 2017 and 2019 that put limitations on when and how those students could be disciplined.

The legislation also extends how long students can face in-school suspensions — from three days to as long as schools see fit, so long as the placement is reviewed every 10 days.

HB 6 wades into when schools can send students to alternative education settings, strict environments that often remove children from their regular school buildings and lean on computer-based work. While students caught vaping were previously required to go to alternative education settings, schools can now discipline those students less severely if it is their first offense.

Schools can also teach students in alternative education programs remotely — a mode of instruction that was shown to contribute to learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lawmakers shepherding the legislation emphasized that removing students from the classroom is a way to protect other students and allow learning to continue. Critics worry more discipline won’t change the behavior of the student acting out, which can often signal underlying emotional needs.

Sneha Dey contributed to this story.

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