Educators speak out on new laws they face in classrooms, including a ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion and a “Parental Bill of Rights” that makes it easier for conservatives to interfere in public schools.
School is back in session in Texas, and teachers walked into classrooms that look a lot different than the ones they walked out of last school year.
Over the summer, lawmakers drastically reshaped public education by passing a slew of bills impacting Texas schools—leaving teachers to navigate new rules and policies with little help or guidance.
“ I’ve started this year more stressed and more unsure than I ever have in my 10 years of teaching,” April Jones, who teaches Algebra 1 at Northeast ISD in San Antonio, told COURIER Texas. “I have not seen—from any of these bills—some kind of positive impact where educators are thinking, ‘This is going to make my classroom better or safer.’”
The new school year started as Senate Bill 12 took effect on Sept. 1. The bill bans diversity, equity, and inclusion measures in K-12 public schools and creates a “Parental Bill of Rights,” a broad directive backed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that makes it easier for conservatives to challenge school curriculum, library materials, and move students to other schools.
SB 12 prevents schools from developing or using policies that reference race, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation, bans them from using DEI as a factor in hiring decisions, creates an avenue for parents to file complaints about violations, and requires districts to create policies for disciplining employees who engage in DEI-related tasks.
”There’s a real concern about students’ mental health,” said Andrew Kirk, a ninth grade World Geography teacher in Dallas ISD. “We have teachers and students who are nonbinary or transitioning, and we’ve only had one meeting where we directly addressed any of these laws, but there was pushback because of concerns over mental health and bullying and what this will mean for those students.”
Under the bill, teachers are prohibited from using they/them pronouns, and must call students by the name given to them at birth.
“Part of the DEI bill is that you can’t call a student by a name other than what’s on your roster, or that could insinuate a different gender, and that was the biggest issue we’ve seen this year,” Jones said. “I have students who have gone by nicknames their whole life and now they’re trying to figure out what constitutes a boy or a girl name.”
“It’s become a gray area, because what if Samantha wants to go by Sam, and someone says Sam’s a boy name? And so it’s become this kind of snowball of, ‘What? That’s what you’re deciding to nitpick on? It doesn’t make sense,” she added.
The bill also includes provisions focused on parents that require Texas schools to get written approval from parents before offering routine health assistance. Additionally, district employees are not allowed to restrict parental knowledge of a student’s mental, emotional, or physical health.
“ They don’t want us talking to students,” Jones said. “If a student comes out to me and tells me that they’re gay or trans or anything like that, I’m supposed to report it to their parents. And they used to be able to talk about those things with me or a counselor and it was safe. But now the counselors legally have to tell students that they should discuss that with their parents first, or report it to parents, so we can’t even create a safe space for them anymore. Now we have to read from a script.”
Some districts are even refusing to offer immediate first-aid care, such as bandages for scrapes and cuts, as districts are required to take disciplinary action against any employees who provide any of these services without consent.
“There’s such a high threat of violating this bill that a lot of school districts are over complying,” said Hayden Cohen, the state policy lead at Students Engaged in Advancing Texas.
The bill also prohibits school districts from authorizing or sponsoring student clubs based on sexual orientation or gender identity, meaning LGBTQ+ groups and gay-straight alliances are now prohibited in schools.
“ We had a large amount of students who wanted to be involved in the GSA when I was in high school, who wanted to find community, who wanted to meet others that were like them, and wanted to hear about resources and our history and culture and hang out together,” Cohen said.
“That’s what our GSA was, it was really innocent,” Cohen added. “We would listen to music together, we’d decorate cookies. I don’t know what about that sounds harmful to parents or lawmakers, but apparently it’s a problem for Texas legislators. And now teachers are refusing to use preferred names and pronouns, GSAs are not allowed to exist, and mental health clubs have been asked to change their name and mission.”
The new law, which is being challenged in court, was a legislative priority for both Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who pushed legislation banning DEI efforts at public college campuses. That ban took effect in 2024..
“Their politically motivated agenda has created chaos for schools at the beginning of the year, there’s no other way to describe it,” said Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers. “Educators don’t really know what they’re supposed to be doing because they’ve passed these bills and they hear that they’re challenged in court, and some districts are on, some districts are off. But they should have known that was gonna be the case.”
Jones said it’s evident these lawmakers have never been in a classroom.
“ It feels like people who clearly are not in a classroom and are not on the ground, on the front lines when it comes to education and working with kids and their parents, they are passing laws and it feels like you know nothing about what I do,” Jones said. “We can’t treat our students like little robots who are going to come sit down and learn the same and do the exact same thing.”
“We’re supposed to make sure every student, regardless of background, feels safe and seen and is able to learn in a safe space,” she added.
