SB 1207: high school health class adds adoption

Caption

relating to instruction on adoption in the parenting and paternity awareness program in public schools.

Summary

Private adoption versus foster care, and how each works.

The bill adds adoption to the state parenting and paternity awareness program that Texas high schools must use in health class. The program must now cover the differences between private adoption and foster care, how to adopt privately or through foster care, and adoption as an alternative to becoming a parent, including how to place a child for adoption. Districts may also build or adopt their own materials on this adoption content, starting with the 2025-2026 school year.

Labels

Labels: INSTANT LAW. Took effect immediately, on Jun 20, 2025. 833 of the 1,185 graded 89R laws took effect Sep 1, 2025 (derived from the bill histories, snapshot Oct 19, 2026).

Receipt

The receipt

89R-SB1207 · 2025-02-10

SOLD BY

Sen. Phil KingRSenate 10

+ 4 coauthors

ITEM

relating to instruction on adoption in the parenting and paternity awareness program in public schools.

WHAT IT DOES

Private adoption versus foster care, and how each works.

The bill adds adoption to the state parenting and paternity awareness program that Texas high schools must use in health class. The program must now cover the differences between private adoption and foster care, how to adopt privately or through foster care, and adoption as an alternative to becoming a parent, including how to place a child for adoption. Districts may also build or adopt their own materials on this adoption content, starting with the 2025-2026 school year.

CHARGES

[ ] NONE FOUND

TOTAL

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

LBB estimate · fiscal note version E · source

Sources

Fiscal note · version E · May 7, 2025

No first-year general revenue figure available here.

LBB published estimates · flow over the stated periods.

Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

HISTORY

Feb 10, 2025Received by the Secretary of the Senate
Feb 10, 2025Filed
Feb 28, 2025Read first time
Feb 28, 2025Referred to Education K-16
Mar 12, 2025Co-author authorized
Mar 18, 2025Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
Mar 18, 2025Considered in public hearing
Mar 18, 2025Testimony taken in committee
Mar 18, 2025Left pending in committee
Mar 25, 2025Considered in public hearing
Mar 25, 2025Vote taken in committee
Mar 26, 2025Reported favorably w/o amendments
Mar 26, 2025Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
Mar 26, 2025Committee report printed and distributed
Mar 27, 2025Co-author authorized
Mar 31, 2025Placed on intent calendar
Apr 1, 2025Rules suspended-Regular order of business
Apr 1, 2025Read 2nd time & passed to engrossment
Apr 1, 2025Vote recorded in Journal
Apr 1, 2025Three day rule suspended
Apr 1, 2025Record vote
Apr 1, 2025Read 3rd time
Apr 1, 2025Passed
Apr 1, 2025Record vote
Apr 1, 2025Reported engrossed
Apr 2, 2025Received from the Senate
Apr 9, 2025Read first time
Apr 9, 2025Referred to Public Education
May 20, 2025Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
May 20, 2025Considered in public hearing
May 20, 2025Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
May 20, 2025Left pending in committee
May 21, 2025Considered in formal meeting
May 21, 2025Reported favorably w/o amendment(s)
May 21, 2025Considered in formal meeting
May 21, 2025Vote reconsidered in committee
May 21, 2025Recommended to be sent to Local & Consent
May 21, 2025Reported favorably w/o amendment(s)
May 22, 2025Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
May 22, 2025Committee report distributed
May 23, 2025Comm. report sent to Local & Consent Calendar
May 27, 2025Considered in Local & Consent Calendars
May 28, 2025Placed on Local, Consent, and Res. Calendar
May 28, 2025Read 2nd time
May 28, 2025Passed to 3rd reading
May 28, 2025Nonrecord vote recorded in Journal
May 28, 2025Read 3rd time
May 28, 2025Passed
May 28, 2025Record vote RV#3832
May 28, 2025Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
May 28, 2025Nonrecord vote recorded in Journal
May 29, 2025House passage reported
May 29, 2025Reported enrolled
May 31, 2025Signed in the Senate
Jun 1, 2025Signed in the House
Jun 1, 2025Sent to the Governor
Jun 20, 2025Signed by the Governor
Jun 20, 2025Effective immediately

FILED UNDER

No verified beat found.

SIGNED FOR BY

House · 133 yea · 8 nay

Senate · 31 yea · 0 nay

Sources

House: Final passage · May 28, 2025. Journal. Published stock for this vote. Snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Senate: Final passage · Apr 1, 2025. Journal. Published stock for this vote. Snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

All floor motions and other positions below.

No flags

THANK YOU FOR CHECKING THE RECEIPT

CAMPAIGN PAID FOR BY

Phil King

Donors

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC$30KErle Nye, Jr.$20,000Gideon Powell$20,000

Not tied to this bill.

Sources

The author's campaign account only. Own money and internal transfers are separate on the member page.

Derived itemized flow · Oct 27, 2024 to Jun 30, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC$30,300.00

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC

$30,300.00

Cash: $30,000.00
Paid by others: $300.00
Total: $30,300.00

fundraiser $300.00

Also funds 124 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jul 10, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team

Sources

Derived itemized flow · Dec 12, 2024 to Sep 26, 2025. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 100982783, 101007450, 101026985.

Erle Nye, Jr.$20,000.00

Gideon Powell$20,000.00

Money

Missing data does not establish zero giving. Display amounts are rounded.

×

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC

$30,300.00

Cash: $30,000.00
Paid by others: $300.00
Total: $30,300.00

fundraiser $300.00

Also funds 124 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jul 10, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team

Sources

Derived itemized flow · Dec 12, 2024 to Sep 26, 2025. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 100982783, 101007450, 101026985.

Votes4

House May 28, 2025

Yea: 133
Nay: 8
Present, not voting: 2
Absent: 1
Excused: 5

Names

Named positions matched to lawmakers. See the journal for unmatched names.

House journal

The shared roll contains conflicting member evidence. Those positions remain conflicting.

Cunningham is listed as absent in the shared roll and nay in this bill's list. That position remains conflicting.

Sources

Record 3832

SB 1207 (Cunningham, King, Lambert, Lowe, Oliverson, Patterson, Schatzline, Toth, and Wharton - no) (133 - 8 - 2)

Shared roll motion

The following bills which were considered on second reading on the previous legislative day on the local, consent, and resolutions calendar were laid before the house, read third time, and passed by the following record vote (members registering votes and the results of the vote are shown following the bill number). (Record 3832): 141 Yeas, 0 Nays, 2 Present, not voting.

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

Yea: 133 (published)
Nay: 8 (published)
Present, not voting: 2 (published)
Absent: 1 (derived from named list)
Excused: 5 (derived from named list)

House journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Senate Apr 1, 2025

Yea: 31
Nay: 0
Present, not voting: Not printed
Absent: Not printed
Excused: Not printed

Names

Senate journal

Names were not printed. No individual positions are inferred.

Sources

Senator King moved that Senate Rule 7.18 and the Constitutional Rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended and that SB 1207 be placed on its third reading and final passage. The motion prevailed by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. The bill was read third time and was passed by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

Yea: 31 (published)
Nay: 0 (published)
Present, not voting: Not printed
Absent: Not printed
Excused: Not printed

Senate journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Senate Apr 1, 2025

Yea: 31
Nay: 0
Present, not voting: Not printed
Absent: Not printed
Excused: Not printed

Names

Senate journal

Names were not printed. No individual positions are inferred.

Sources

Senator King moved that Senate Rule 7.18 and the Constitutional Rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended and that SB 1207 be placed on its third reading and final passage. The motion prevailed by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

Yea: 31 (published)
Nay: 0 (published)
Present, not voting: Not printed
Absent: Not printed
Excused: Not printed

Senate journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Senate Apr 1, 2025

Yea: Not printed
Nay: Not printed
Present, not voting: Not printed
Absent: Not printed
Excused: Not printed

Names

Senate journal

Names were not printed. No individual positions are inferred.

Voice vote. No numeric tally or individual yeas are inferred.

Sources

The bill was read second time and was passed to engrossment by a viva voce vote.

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

Yea: Not printed
Nay: Not printed
Present, not voting: Not printed
Absent: Not printed
Excused: Not printed

Senate journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Witnesses26

For: 19
Against: 3
On: 4

Names

For

Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission1 registration
Nightlight Christian Adoptions1 registration
Self4 registrations
Self; Adoption is an Option1 registration
Self; Aggieland Pregnancy Outreach1 registration
Self; Opt Institute1 registration
Self; Students Engaged in Advancing Texas1 registration
Self; Texas Family Project1 registration
Self; Texas Right to Life2 registrations
Self; Texas Values Action1 registration
Texas Alliance for Life2 registrations
Texas Baptists Christian Life Commission1 registration
Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops1 registration
Texas Values1 registration

Against

Self3 registrations

On

Self1 registration
Tea1 registration
Texas Education Agency2 registrations

Sources

26 parsed registrations across the loaded witness lists.

Derived stock of witness registrations. Repeated appearances count separately. Organizations and self-representation appear as printed.

House witness list. Source snapshot 2026-10-20, Central time.

Senate witness list. Source snapshot 2026-10-20, Central time.

Fiscal

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

LBB estimate · fiscal note version E · source

Sources

Fiscal note · version E · May 7, 2025

No first-year general revenue figure available here.

LBB published estimates · flow over the stated periods.

Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

How this was graded

Analysis of text version I by claude-opus-5-5, Oct 20, 2026, against the published rubric.

Sources

Texas Senate · Filed Feb 10, 2025

06/20/2025 E Effective immediately

Texas Legislature Online · Introduced · Senate Committee Report · Engrossed · House Committee Report · Enrolled

Data snapshot Oct 26, 2026 at 4:20 AM CDT. Grades, charges, quotes and corrections follow the published record.

Coauthors

Tan ParkerRSenate 12

Angela PaxtonRSenate 8

Kevin SparksRSenate 31

Royce WestDSenate 23

Companion

HB 5100 by Leo Wilson (identical)

Subjects

Education--Primary & Secondary--Curriculum

Family--Parent & Child

ADOPTION

FOSTER CARE

EDUCATION, STATE BOARD OF

Text

The text as introduced · 380 words

89R9899 AND-F

By: King
S.B. No. 1207

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to instruction on adoption in the parenting and paternity

awareness program in public schools.

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

SECTION 1. Sections 28.002(p) and (p-2), Education Code,

are amended to read as follows:

(p) The State Board of Education, in conjunction with the

office of the attorney general, shall develop a parenting and

paternity awareness program that a school district shall use in the

district's high school health curriculum. A school district may

use the program developed under this subsection in the district's

middle or junior high school curriculum. At the discretion of the

district, a teacher may modify the suggested sequence and pace of

the program at any grade level. The program must:

(1) address parenting skills and responsibilities,

including child support and other legal rights and responsibilities

that come with parenthood;

(2) include information related to adoption,

including information about:

(A) the differences between private adoption and

foster care;

(B) the process for adopting a child privately or

through the state foster care system; and

(C) adoption as an alternative to becoming a

parent and the process for placing a child for adoption;

(3) address relationship skills, including money

management, communication skills, and marriage preparation; and

(4) [ (3) ] in district middle, junior high, or high

schools that do not have a family violence prevention program,

address skills relating to the prevention of family violence.

(p-2) A school district may develop or adopt research-based

programs and curriculum materials for use in conjunction with the

program developed under Subsection (p). The programs and

curriculum materials may provide instruction in:

(1) child development;

(2) parenting skills, including child abuse and

neglect prevention; [ and ]

(3) the information regarding adoption described by

Subsection (p)(2); and

(4) assertiveness skills to prevent teenage

pregnancy, abusive relationships, and family violence.

SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026

school year.

SECTION 3. 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.

Verdict: No flags

The receipt

SOLD BY

ITEM

WHAT IT DOES

CHARGES

TOTAL

HISTORY

SIGNED FOR BY

Donors

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC

House May 28, 2025

Senate Apr 1, 2025

Senate Apr 1, 2025

Senate Apr 1, 2025

For

Against

On

Companion