SB2398

Academic support: TEA must develop a list of nonmedical academic accommodations a district may offer and an online form describing them. A district that provides accommodations under this section must make that form available to district employees and the student or family as soon as practicable after notice of the diagnosis or a request from the relevant person. The act expressly says this section does not require a district to provide accommodations; that is a limit on this new provision, not a ruling about obligations under other laws. Final law, new Education Code 38.0051.

Response outside interscholastic sports: A district must adopt and implement a policy for suspected concussions sustained on school property or during school-sponsored or school-related activities, on or off campus. It must require immediate removal from an activity when an employee or volunteer believes a student might have sustained a concussion, notice to the parent, guardian or other authorized medical decision-maker, and return only after the incorporated clearance requirements are met. The new subchapter excludes injuries believed sustained during the interscholastic athletic activities already covered by the existing sports-concussion law; those activities are not exempted from that existing law. Final law, new sections 38.171–.173; Existing sports-law coverage; Existing sports removal rule.

Return requirements: The incorporated section requires evaluation by a treating physician selected by the student or authorized family decision-maker, completion of the applicable return protocol, the physician’s written statement that return is safe, and the required student/family acknowledgments, delivery of the statement and consent form. Merely waiting a fixed number of days or having a school employee say the student looks well is not the stated legal test. This is a description of the statutory process, not medical clearance for an individual student. Final law; Incorporated return requirements, subsection (a); Protocol requirement.

Changes during passage: The introduced bill contained the optional-accommodations list and form provisions. The Senate committee added the mandatory response policy for concussions outside the specified athletics setting. That committee text remained unchanged in the Senate-passed, House committee and final operative text. The official amendment index lists no separate floor amendments. Introduced; Senate committee; Senate-passed; House committee; Amendment index; Final law.

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

Students and families gain a specified response-and-return process beyond interscholastic sports and information about possible academic support. Districts must implement the response policy and, if they offer accommodations under the new section, provide the form as required. The May 7 fiscal note anticipates no state or local fiscal implication. It does not quantify family medical costs, staff time or improved recovery, and the act does not promise any particular accommodation or medical outcome. This review does not establish whether a particular district has complied or whether TEA has posted the required form. Latest posted fiscal note; Final law.