Hinojosa Bill Lets Students Decide What Runs In Student Media

The text as introduced · 1,263 words

89R3153 ANG-F

By: Hinojosa
H.B. No. 4821

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to speech protections for student media publications in

public schools.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 25, Education Code, is

amended by adding Section 25.905 to read as follows:

Sec. 25.905. STUDENT MEDIA PUBLICATIONS. (a) In this

section:

(1) "Protected speech" means speech protected by the

First Amendment to the United States Constitution or by Section 8,

Article I, Texas Constitution. The term does not include speech

that:

(A) is obscene;

(B) is defamatory, libelous, or slanderous;

(C) constitutes a clear, unwarranted invasion of

privacy;

(D) violates a federal or state law to the extent

that law conforms to the United States Constitution or the Texas

Constitution;

(E) advertises or promotes the purchase of a

product or service that is unlawful for purchase by minors;

(F) is intended to incite the imminent commission

of a crime or violation of school policy and is likely to produce

that result; or

(G) substantially disrupts a school's operation.

(2) "Student media publication" means any material

that is primarily prepared, written, published, or broadcast by

students enrolled at a school district campus who are under the

direction of a student media publication advisor if the material is

distributed or generally made available to students enrolled at the

campus. The term does not include material intended for

distribution only in the classroom in which the material is

produced.

(3) "Student media publication advisor" means an

individual employed or designated by a school district or campus of

a district to supervise or provide instruction relating to student

media publications.

(b) A student is entitled to exercise freedom of speech and

freedom of the press in producing any student media publication,

including by determining the content of the publication so long as

the content constitutes protected speech, regardless of whether the

publication is produced using the school district's money,

equipment, or facilities or in conjunction with any class in which

the student is enrolled. A student may not be disciplined for

acting in accordance with this subsection.

(c) Subsection (b) may not be construed to prohibit a

student media publication advisor from teaching professional

standards of English and journalism to students.

(d) A student media publication advisor may not be subjected

to disciplinary action or any other form of punishment or

retaliation for acting to protect or refusing to infringe on a

student's rights as provided by this section.

(e) The content of a student media publication may not be

construed as the policy or position of the campus at which the

publication is produced or the school district in which the campus

is located.

(f) A school district, a student media publication advisor

of a district campus, or any employee of the district is not liable

in any civil or criminal action for the content of a student media

publication produced by students enrolled at a district campus

unless the district, advisor, or employee acted with wilful or

wanton misconduct in permitting the publication to be produced.

(g) The board of trustees of a school district shall adopt a

written policy establishing rules regarding students' right to

exercise freedom of speech and freedom of the press in producing any

student media publication.

(h) The policy adopted under Subsection (g) may include:

(1) reasonable restrictions on the time, place, and

manner of student expression in a student media publication if

those restrictions:

(A) are necessary to further a compelling school

district interest and are the least restrictive means of furthering

that interest;

(B) employ clear, published, content-neutral,

and viewpoint-neutral criteria; and

(C) leave open ample alternative means of

expression; and

(2) limitations on speech that is not protected

speech, including speech the board of trustees defines as profane,

harassing, threatening, or intimidating.

(i) A school administrator shall:

(1) interpret the policy adopted under Subsection (g)

in accordance with law; and

(2) determine whether a student media publication

includes speech that is not protected.

(j) A student, individually or through the student's parent

or person standing in parental relation to the student, whose

freedom of speech, freedom of the press, or expressive rights have

been violated under this section or a student media publication

advisor may bring an action for injunctive relief to compel the

school district to comply with this section.

(k) In addition to the injunctive relief under Subsection

(j), a person whose freedom of speech, freedom of the press, or

expressive rights are affected by a policy adopted by a school

district under this section may file suit against the district for

declaratory judgment in the manner provided by Chapter 37, Civil

Practice and Remedies Code.

SECTION 2. Section 12.104(b), Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(b) An open-enrollment charter school is subject to:

(1) a provision of this title establishing a criminal

offense;

(2) the provisions in Chapter 554, Government Code;

and

(3) a prohibition, restriction, or requirement, as

applicable, imposed by this title or a rule adopted under this

title, relating to:

(A) the Public Education Information Management

System (PEIMS) to the extent necessary to monitor compliance with

this subchapter as determined by the commissioner;

(B) criminal history records under Subchapter C,

Chapter 22;

(C) reading instruments and accelerated reading

instruction programs under Section 28.006;

(D) accelerated instruction under Section

28.0211;

(E) high school graduation requirements under

Section 28.025;

(F) special education programs under Subchapter

A, Chapter 29;

(G) bilingual education under Subchapter B,

Chapter 29;

(H) prekindergarten programs under Subchapter E

or E-1, Chapter 29, except class size limits for prekindergarten

classes imposed under Section 25.112, which do not apply;

(I) extracurricular activities under Section

33.081;

(J) discipline management practices or behavior

management techniques under Section 37.0021;

(K) health and safety under Chapter 38;

(L) the provisions of Subchapter A, Chapter 39;

(M) public school accountability and special

investigations under Subchapters A, B, C, D, F, G, and J, Chapter

39, and Chapter 39A;

(N) the requirement under Section 21.006 to

report an educator's misconduct;

(O) intensive programs of instruction under

Section 28.0213;

(P) the right of a school employee to report a

crime, as provided by Section 37.148;

(Q) bullying prevention policies and procedures

under Section 37.0832;

(R) the right of a school under Section 37.0052

to place a student who has engaged in certain bullying behavior in a

disciplinary alternative education program or to expel the student;

(S) the right under Section 37.0151 to report to

local law enforcement certain conduct constituting assault or

harassment;

(T) a parent's right to information regarding the

provision of assistance for learning difficulties to the parent's

child as provided by Sections 26.004(b)(11) and 26.0081(c) and (d);

(U) establishment of residency under Section

25.001;

(V) school safety requirements under Sections

37.0814, 37.108, 37.1081, 37.1082, 37.1083, 37.1084, 37.1085,

37.1086, 37.109, 37.113, 37.114, 37.1141, 37.115, 37.207, and

37.2071 and Subchapter J, Chapter 37;

(W) the early childhood literacy and mathematics

proficiency plans under Section 11.185;

(X) the college, career, and military readiness

plans under Section 11.186; [ and ]

(Y) parental options to retain a student under

Section 28.02124 ; and

(Z) speech protections for student media

publications under Section 25.905 .

SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026

school year.

SECTION 4. 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.