Overview

• Starting Sept. 1, Texas schools must display the Ten Commandments, enforce classroom cellphone bans, bar nondisclosure agreements in sexual-abuse settlements and secure twice-yearly approvals for new library books under four new statutes.
• Senate Bill 10’s requirement to post the Decalogue in each classroom is already tied up in litigation and provides no state funding for the 16-by-20-inch posters.
• Under House Bill 1481, Dallas ISD has rolled out magnetically locked pouches, strict confiscation policies and escalating fees for repeat cellphone violations.
• Librarians statewide are racing to submit book requests before Sept. 1 to avoid delays from newly created advisory boards that meet only twice annually.
• Gov. Greg Abbott has called a second special legislative session to address unresolved measures including a vetoed hemp-derived THC ban, flood safety planning and a bathroom bill stalled by a Democratic quorum break.