Texas schools receive new guidance on student health care

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Texas’ new parental consent law does not prevent nurses from administering basic health-related services like providing Band-Aids or checking a student’s temperature, according to updated state guidance sent to school district administrators on Thursday.

The Texas Education Agency’s revised guidance came in response to widespread confusion about Senate Bill 12, a sweeping state law that includes a requirement for schools to obtain written approval from parents before offering to students routine health assistance and medication or conducting medical procedures.

School districts are required to take disciplinary action against any employees who provide such services to students without parental consent. Some districts had interpreted the law as requiring consent for every non-emergency, health-related circumstance. SB 12’s authors last week urged education officials to clarify that the extreme levels of caution exercised by some districts were not necessary for what the lawmakers consider “common sense” practices.

The new guidance, which may undergo further changes, attempts to make a clear distinction between health care services and health-related services.

Health care services, according to the memo issued Thursday, involve medical treatment, medical procedures or dispensing medication, or administering a psychological or psychiatric test or treatment. Those services require parental consent before schools can provide them.

On the other hand, the education agency defined health-related services as “short-term” and “noninvasive” activities that promote students’ well-being, such as first aid, counseling, or mental and physical health screenings. Schools should assume they have consent to provide such services unless a parent opts their children out of them.

The agency also notified districts that it expects them to provide parents with consent forms detailing the types of services students can receive from their schools and to give families the option to opt out of each one, as opposed to the all-or-nothing approach some schools have reportedly taken.

SB 12, signed into law earlier this year, bans diversity, equity and inclusion practices; instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity; and LGBTQ+ student clubs. It is part of a larger effort by Texas Republicans to shape how public schools engage with students and their families on topics like race, racism, gender and sex.

School nurses, whom the Tribune could not immediately reach for comment Thursday, said last week that consent is a core tenet of their profession and that they have always sought parents’ permission for anything beyond routine care.

SB 12’s so-called “parental rights” provisions, which include the consent requirements, have drawn significant attention in the early weeks of the 2025-26 school year. A Beaumont mother said her son was sent home covered in vomit and that his school did not treat him because she had not signed a waiver. Families in Fort Worth reported not receiving their consent forms until four days after the law took effect on Sept. 1.

Nurses told the Tribune that some districts delayed sending out the consent forms to parents because they were awaiting guidance from the Texas Association of School Boards and the education agency. They did not receive the state’s initial correspondence until days before SB 12 officially became law.

Disclosure: Texas Association of School Boards has been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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