HB2495

HB2495 expressly adds the right to designate a child’s school and enroll the child there, subject to the school’s eligibility and admissions requirements, to the Family Code’s list of parental rights. The existing general right to make education decisions remains. This does not guarantee admission to any chosen school, waive residency or other eligibility rules, or create tuition funding. Parental rights remain subject to applicable court orders and the other limits in the surrounding statute. Final law, Section 3; full parental-rights statute.

The act separately adds that explicit right to the powers of a parent appointed sole managing conservator—the person assigned the specified primary legal responsibilities by a court. For that parent, the statute lists it as an exclusive right unless limited by court order. It also adds the right to the provision governing a nonparent, licensed child-placing agency or the Department of Family and Protective Services appointed as managing conservator, subject to court orders and other provisions of the chapter. It does not appoint anyone as conservator or resolve a particular dispute between joint conservators. Final law, Sections 4–5.

Older students’ rights are preserved. The act updates Education Code 26.002 so the new school-selection/enrollment right is included among educational rights exercised by a student age 18 or older or a student legally emancipated for general purposes, subject to the stated federal-law and court-order/incapacity exceptions. It similarly updates the Family Code’s transfer of educational rights to a generally emancipated minor. It does not newly give parents unrestricted control over an adult student’s school choice. Final law, Sections 1–2; student-rights provision; effect of general emancipation.

The act took effect September 1, 2025. Its changes to the two conservatorship provisions apply to parent-child cases pending in a trial court on that date or filed on or after it. That is not a direction to rewrite every previously final custody order automatically. The transition clause specifically addresses those two provisions, not a blanket delay of every change in the act. Final law, Sections 6–7; official history.