Parents Praise Passage of Protections From Sexual Predators in Schools

Parents Praise Passage of Protections From Sexual Predators in Schools

By | Texas Scorecard | June 23, 2025

Parent advocates are praising a series of reforms designed to protect Texas children from sexualization and sexual predators in public schools, making education officials live up to their frequent claim that “student safety is our top priority.”

An army of grassroots activists, parents, and survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of educators worked with state lawmakers before and during the 89th Legislative Session to ensure passage of measures to keep kids safe in taxpayer-funded schools.

Gov. Greg Abbott has now signed the bills, adding his stamp of approval to the measures.

Many advocates consider House Bill 4623 by freshman State Rep. Mitch Little (R–Lewisville) one the most consequential bills of the session.

HB 4623 ends sovereign immunity for schools that cover up sexual abuse of students, allowing victims to hold school employees and districts civilly liable when they negligently enable the abuse.

The bill passed the Legislature with strong bipartisan support, ensuring its enactment, and Abbott signed the bill on June 21.

“This signing brings Texas public schools one step closer to a culture of accountability around the issue of child sexual abuse at the hands of their employees. Texas families deserved a civil remedy, and now they have one,” Little stated.

During a House vote on the bill, Little thanked several advocates and organizations by name.

One of those advocates—Tami Brown Rodriguez, policy director for anti-trafficking organization Jaco Booyens Ministries—called HB 4623 “one of the most important child protection bills this session.”

“No more cover-ups. No more loopholes,” Rodriguez posted on X. “Justice for victims starts now.”

Little also acknowledged parental rights advocacy group Texas Education 911, whose analysis of educator sexual misconduct, State-Sponsored Child Abuse, was shared with lawmakers and documented thousands of cases reported to the Texas Education Agency over a three-year period.

“We are grateful lawmakers understand that we must end the crisis in Texas public schools of employee predation on children, and need the right tools to do it,” Texas Education 911 posted to social media. “HB 4623 deters bad actors and inspires ISDs and charters to take many more precautions than most have taken, given that the crisis of sexual abuse and grooming in public schools is statewide and extensive.”

Senate Bill 12, a “parental bill of rights” by State Sen. Brandon Creighton (R–Conroe), is another parent-backed measure that protects children in public schools from sexual ideology and restricts what K-12 schools can do without parental approval.

The measure prohibits gender ideology, social transitioning, and clubs based on sexual identity; restores parental opt-in for sex education and health questionnaires; requires schools to give parents access to all records concerning their children; and empowers parents with stronger grievance processes.

“SB 12 is fantastic and solves so much of the issues I’ve experienced as a parent,” activist and mom Laura Giles told Texas Scorecard. “Parents won’t have to go through what I have the last five years.”

Giles has been battling Lovejoy Independent School District over everything from explicit books, to risky student data collection, to failures to obtain informed parental consent.

Christin Bentley, who led the Republican Party of Texas’ legislative efforts to Stop Sexualizing Texas Kids, called SB 12 “the strongest public school child protection law in America.”

Abbott signed SB 12 on June 20.

Another bill signed by Abbott on June 20, Senate Bill 13 by State Sen. Angela Paxton (R–McKinney), builds on legislation passed last session to keep sexually explicit books out of school libraries.

“This is what Texas parents asked for. This is the protection Texas kids deserve,” stated longtime advocate Diana Richards.

Richards said SB 13 doesn’t replace last session’s House Bill 900—“it completes the job” by providing clear, enforceable standards for what belongs in school libraries; transparent oversight with parent-majority library councils; accountability for districts that ignore concerns; and timely, documented responses to challenges.

Richards noted that the problem was created in part by the American Library Association and Texas Library Association, which have “actively promoted sexually explicit, indecent, and profane materials for children in our schools.”

Senate Bill 412 by State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R–Galveston) eliminates “obscenity exemptions” that allowed adults to expose minors to harmful sexual content for “educational” purposes.

Advocates fought for years to end the affirmative defenses in state law that protected grooming behavior by school employees. This year they succeeded, and Abbott signed the bill into law on May 19.

“Six years ago one representative (Briscoe Cain) and four moms (Debbie Simmons, Jennifer Fleck, Diana Sheffield Richards and myself) brought forth the first attempt to repeal a law that allowed obscenity to be shown to kids in schools and libraries – Texas was the first state to take it on,” posted advocate Audrey Werner. “Now, 6 years later the original four met to testify again with a whole army of moms, dads, grandparents and legislators and I am happy to report that the Kinsey based law has been repealed.”

Senate Bill 571 by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R–Houston) strengthens laws against “passing the trash”—covering up allegations of educators physically or sexually abusing students, enabling them to keep working around kids in other school districts.

SB 571, signed June 20, closes several loopholes in the state’s rules for educator misconduct reporting and the Do Not Hire Registry of people ineligible to work in a Texas public school due to misconduct or criminal history.

“The current reporting system allows offenders to slip through the cracks,” Bentley told lawmakers during a committee hearing on the issue, citing the increasing number of educators charged with sex crimes.

Bentley and other advocates, including Texas Education 911 President Aileen Blachowski and Shannon Ayres of Citizens Defending Freedom, testified in support of SB 571.

Ayres noted that schools often report sexual abuse of students to district police who report to the superintendent, which “almost never results in justice for the child victim, and almost always prioritizes the district’s reputation over student safety.”

Another top priority for Texas Education 911 was creating an independent inspector general for education to investigate waste, fraud, and abuse and hear families’ appeals from local school districts, but the proposed legislation never received hearings.

Still, parental rights advocates welcome the wins and are preparing for more progress next session.

“This is what it looks like when we fight to win. Texas just set the national standard,” Rodriguez posted. “We’re not done yet. Every child deserves to be safe. Every parent deserves a voice.”

Activists and lawmakers alike agreed that teamwork was key to this session’s success of parent-backed protections for children in schools.

“If the only way to make a better future for our kids is to publicly share your most private and traumatic memories, do it. Then make every person you know listen,” shared Callie McDonald, a survivor of sexual abuse by a school coach, whose testimony to lawmakers helped persuade them to pass new protections for students.

Little stated, “When someone says a freshman legislator cannot pass a bill, remind them of HB 4623 and every grassroots activist that made this moment a reality.”

“This progress was only possible because of YOU—the grassroots,” concluded Bentley.

Erin Anderson is a Senior Journalist for Texas Scorecard, reporting on state and local issues, events, and government actions that impact people in communities throughout Texas and the DFW Metroplex. A native Texan, Erin grew up in the Houston area and now lives in Collin County.