Dear Alief ISD parents, staff, and community members,

The 88th Texas Legislative session ended in late May. Unfortunately, there were no bills that addressed teacher shortages, compensation, or school finance. We want you to be aware of the Senate and House Bills below that will take effect on or around September 1, 2023. Some of these are unfunded or partially funded mandates which require us to divert resources normally used to support instruction and other student needs to our response to the new policy. Your advocacy for additional funding would support additional dollars to help us to meet our student needs here in Alief ISD.

SB 838: Requires school districts and charters to provide panic alert devices in all classrooms.

SB 763: A school district may employ or accept as a volunteer a chaplain to provide support, services, and programs for students as assigned by the board of trustees of the district or the governing body of the school.

HB 114: A student shall be removed from class and placed in DAEP (Disciplinary Alternative Education Program) if the student engages in conduct involving a public school that contains the elements of the following offenses within 300 feet of school property while attending a school-sponsored or school-related activity on or off school property, including e-cigarettes or vaping.

HB 3: This new law requires each school board to determine the appropriate number of armed security officers for each district campus and, absent a good cause exception, ensure at least one armed security officer–specifically, a commissioned peace officer–is present during regular school hours at each campus

HB 900: Requires library material vendors (any entity that sells library materials to a public school in Texas) to assign sexually explicit and sexually relevant ratings to any material the vendor determines meets the law’s definitions.

It is our duty and honor to provide a high-quality education to every child who enters our doors. We encourage our stakeholders to remain vigilant and steadfast in their support of Texas public schools by staying abreast of what is happening in Austin, Texas. Please reach out to your elected officials as often as possible and urge them to support Alief ISD and Texas public schools. Our students and staff deserve more.

With your help, we can and will make a difference.

Sincerely,


Dr. Anthony Mays
Superintendent
Alief ISD