2025 Texas sessionsRegular and both called sessions have ended. This index covers House and Senate bills, not resolutions. Statuses come from official reports.

← Back to bills and search results

2025 · Regular session · Senate bill

SB1207

SB1207 adds adoption education to the parenting and paternity awareness program used in public-school high school health curricula.

Read bill highlights ↓

Official caption: Relating to instruction on adoption in the parenting and paternity awareness program in public schools.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists Senate author(s): King. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.

Report an error ↗

Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.

Bill highlights

Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.

Read the full explanation ↓

What does it do?

SB1207 adds adoption education to the parenting and paternity awareness program used in public-school high school health curricula. The State Board of Education, working with the attorney general’s office, must include the differences between private adoption and foster care, the process of adopting privately or through the state foster-care system, adoption as an alternative to becoming a parent, and placing a child for adoption. The act was signed and took effect June 20, 2025; it applies beginning with the 2025–26 school year. Final law; Official history.

The existing framework requires districts to use the program in their high school health curriculum and permits its use in middle or junior high school. It retains instruction on parenting and legal responsibilities, relationship skills, and family-violence prevention in schools lacking a separate prevention program. Districts may allow teachers to adjust the suggested sequence and pace. This is not a requirement that every student enroll in a new stand-alone adoption class. Final law, section 1.

Districts also may develop or adopt research-based supplementary programs and materials. The act adds adoption to the subjects those optional materials may cover; it does not make those additional materials mandatory. The existing rule requiring parental permission for a student under age 14 to participate in the parenting and paternity program remains in place. Final law, section 1; Existing Education Code 28.002, subsections (p-2)–(p-4).

What changed along the way?

Before SB1207, the statutory program covered parenting, relationships and certain family-violence-prevention skills without the new express adoption topics. The act adds those topics to the required program and makes adoption an expressly permitted subject for optional supplementary materials. Existing Education Code 28.002, subsections (p) and (p-2); Final law.

The introduced bill, Senate committee printing, Senate-passed version, House committee printing and enrolled act contain the same substantive sections. Both committees reported it without amendments, and the official amendment index lists no amendments. There is no discarded floor proposal to describe as law. The enrolled certification records Senate passage 31–0 and House passage 133–8, meeting the immediate-effect condition. All five versions; Amendment index; Final law.

For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.

Official bill versions

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?

Students taking the covered program receive a broader explanation of adoption, including private adoption and foster care. The education agencies and districts must integrate the new topics into the existing program. The act does not change who qualifies to adopt, create adoption subsidies, or establish that instruction will change adoption rates. Final law.

The March 17 introduced-bill fiscal note and May 7 Senate-passed-bill fiscal note both anticipate no significant state or local fiscal impact, assuming any associated costs can be absorbed with existing resources. That is not a finding that updating materials and teaching them requires no work; neither note quantifies student or family benefits. The act makes no new appropriation. Introduced fiscal note; Senate-passed fiscal note.

Official sources

Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.