School safety and threat assessment teams

The 2019 legislative session saw a renewed push for resources for student mental health and well-being in response to the charge to promote school safety. Districts are now required to incorporate digital citizenship into the curriculum, including the criminal consequences of cyberbullying. Though some money was allocated for districts to voluntarily add new security measures to their facilities, the approach the Texas Legislature took was to focus on personnel and students. 

In addition to the teacher training outlined here, school districts also must establish Safe and Supportive School Program teams to serve each campus. These teams serve as the threat assessment teams that will evaluate threats and individuals and determine the appropriate intervention, which may include referral to mental health services. Threat assessment teams are separate and distinct from those that handle discipline.

SB 1720, passed in 2023, ensures confidentiality for district employees who report potential threats to the campus threat assessment team. Their identity may be disclosed to law enforcement or the district, as necessary to investigate. Districts must maintain a confidential record of the identity of reporters.

In 2023, the legislature passed requirements that every district must require employees who regularly interact with students to complete a mental health training program designed to teach participants how to recognize and support youth who experience a mental health or substance use issue that may pose a threat to school safety. An employee who has already completed a mental health training offered by a local mental health authority has satisfied this new training requirement. Districts will receive an allotment to help pay for costs including employees’ travel, training fees, and compensation for time spent completing the new training.

In 2019, lawmakers added $100 million in one-time funding to the school finance formulas for districts to choose to use in several ways, including establishing or funding school-based mental health centers or hiring more counselors.

As part of a multihazard emergency operations plan, districts must adopt policies for responding to active-shooter emergencies. The plan also must ensure that employees have classroom access to a phone or other electronic communication device allowing for immediate contact with emergency responders. School districts that fail to submit a multihazard emergency operations plan to the Texas School Safety Center may have a conservator appointed by the commissioner of education. The conservator is authorized to order the district to adopt, implement and submit a plan, and the commissioner is authorized to appoint a board of managers if the district fails to comply with the conservator’s order. In addition to classroom access to a phone or electronic communication device, beginning with the 2025-26 school year, each school district and charter school must provide every classroom with silent panic alert technology that allows for immediate contact with district and school emergency services, law enforcement agencies, health departments and fire departments. 

In response to the shooting in Uvalde, HB 3 passed in 2023 requires a board of trustees to ensure at least one armed security officer is present during school hours at each campus. If the board is unable to comply, it may claim a good cause exception if noncompliance is due to the unavailability of funding or personnel who qualify to serve. The board must then develop an alternative standard for compliance, which may include providing a school marshal or a district employee (or someone with whom the district contracts) who has completed school safety training and carries a handgun on school premises in accordance with written regulations or written authorization of the district. In 2025, the legislature expanded who may serve as a security officer to include reserve deputy sheriffs, reserve police officers, or honorably retired peace officers.

The legislature also created the Office of School Safety and Security within TEA to conduct vulnerability assessments of district and charter campuses, monitor implementation of laws, and provide technical assistance to assist districts and charters in complying with safety laws and addressing deficiencies. Failure to comply with safety and security requirements or address deficiencies may result in the commissioner assigning a conservator to the district to address the safety shortcomings.