The 89th legislative session has produced a staggering number of changes to the landscape of Texas education. Perhaps one of the more jarring changes was the addition of chapter 26A to the Texas Education Code. This new chapter codifies the grievance provisions that school districts are required to implement in policy. Some of the requirements in the Chapter simply mirror the procedures already common amongst school districts, such as the use of a multi-tiered grievance appeal process. Others, however, depart from the usual grievance procedures or create new procedures entirely. This article will highlight some of the largest departures from past grievance procedures and discuss the implications of these changes for Texas school districts.

Transgender athlete bans get Supreme Court review in landmark case  The U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday it will hear two cases about whether transgender athletes can play on girls’ and women’s sports teams, according to several media outlets.  The cases involve state laws in West Virginia and Idaho barring transgender athletes from participating on women’s teams. Both laws were blocked by federal appeals courts after transgender athletes sued. West Virginia said in its declaration to the court that transgender girls should not compete on girls’ teams because there are “inherent physical differences between biological males and biological females.“  However, the mother of the transgender girl that sued the state after she was barred from participating in her middle school girls’ sports teams said her daughter does not have an advantage because she “has lived as a girl in all aspects of her life for years and receives puberty-delaying treatment and estrogen hormone therapy, so has not experienced (and will not experience) endogenous puberty,” the Los Angeles Times reported. view article

Lance Mosley taught at Mann STEAM Academy, which serves 6th-8th grade students. view article

A Houston business owner already charged in connection with an alleged AI-generated impersonation scheme is now facing a civil lawsuit. view article

A motion has been filed that could see certain federal oversight over Garland ISD's desegregation policies dating back to the 1970s end. view article

Caleb Elliott, a former teacher and coach in the district, was arrested last year for sex crimes involving dozens of students. He has been in jail since October 2025 for allegedly recording videos of middle school students undressing in a boy's locker room and allegedly forcing two of them to perform sexually explicit exercises. 10h ago view article

Texas A&M University removed one reading from a single philosophy class. view article

The Court clarified that judges may refuse to perform same-sex weddings while continuing to perform opposite-sex weddings. view article

(KNUE-FM) As a kid in Texas, you’re taught so many things, one of the most important would be to avoid dangerous people or situations. For example, we find out at an early age that drugs can cause serious harm to ourselves and our families. So we’re encouraged to stay away from them. view article

A Smith County judge has rejected a plea deal for a former Tyler ISD substitute teacher accused of physically assaulting a student with special needs by throwing her to the floor. Joacim Castro-Lacayo, 29, of Tyler, pleaded guilty to the charge of injury to a disabled child. According to an arrest affidavit, Castro-Lacayo threw the student to the ground and restrained her for several minutes at Moore Middle School. view article

A Cleveland High School employee has been charged with an improper relationship with a student on Wednesday, according to the Cleveland Independent School District. According to court documents, Amanda Greenwood, 33, of Willis, Texas, was arrested by Cleveland ISD police. view article

On Tuesday, a former Austin ISD elementary school teacher pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ said 51-year-old Carl David Innmon was a fifth-grade teacher in AISD when he was arrested in April 2025. Innmon had also worked as a substitute teacher at about 20 other schools within the district. view article

One of the state's top teachers unions filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to block the Texas Education Agency's investigation into public educators who commented negatively about Charlie Kirk after his assassination, saying the probe has “unleashed a wave of retaliation and disciplinary actions against teachers” by their local school districts.   “Texas AFT members have been placed on administrative leave, reprimanded, and even in some cases terminated for expressing their views about Mr. Kirk and other matters of public concern in social media posts made on their own time,” the filing states.   The lawsuit, filed in federal court by the American Federation of Teachers’ Texas chapter, alleges  the TEA investigations infringe on educators’ First Amendment rights and exercise of free speech on social media, including on their private accounts. The group represents roughly 66,000 educators in the state. The state agency launched the inquiry last fall and has yet to dole out any disciplinary action. view article

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Arlington ISD over a resident’s complaints about the district’s grievance process and transparency. Plaintiff David Jarvis, a retired attorney, said he doesn’t plan to appeal the ruling, but he would use the outcome to push for Texas lawmakers to change state law about how school districts handle grievances. view article

An 18-year-old Odem-Edroy ISD student has been arrested following an investigation into an alleged sexual assault that occurred aboard a district school bus returning from a basketball game in Hebbronville. view article

Three former employees at Watts Elementary School in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District were arrested and charged with felonies on Dec. 29 in connection with a misconduct investigation. Jessica Longo and Veronica Guerra-Ulrich were charged with unlawful restraint, a state jail felony. Julia Cantu was charged with injury to a child, a first-degree felony. view article

Azle ISD is hoping to get a lawsuit against them dismissed as a former student seeks damages for alleged sexual abuse by a district coach. The attorney for the victim told FOX 4 he believes the evidence in the case will be enough for a judge to deny the motions made by Azle ISD and other officials, and allow the case to move forward to trial. view article

CORPUS CHRISTI — The trial of a former Uvalde school district police officer accused of child endangerment in the Robb Elementary shooting took an unexpected turn Tuesday after testimony from a teacher prompted defense objections and halted proceedings for the day.  The shooting on May 24, 2022 killed 19 children and two teachers.  Stephanie Hale, a former teacher at the school, testified that she saw the gunman on the south side of the campus — the same area where former Uvalde CISD officer Adrian Gonzales was located. Defense attorneys immediately objected, arguing Hale’s testimony differed from statements she gave to a Texas Ranger during a 2022 legislative investigation.  The jury was dismissed until Thursday while attorneys prepare arguments on motions related to the testimony. Judge Sid Harle is scheduled to hear those arguments Wednesday, without the jury present. The defense has raised the possibility of a mistrial. view article

One of the state's top teachers unions filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to block the Texas Education Agency's investigation into public educators who commented negatively about Charlie Kirk after his assassination.  The union said the probe has "unleashed a wave of retaliation and disciplinary actions against teachers" by their local school districts. view article

In a letter sent Monday to the Texas Workforce Commission and the Health and Human Services Commission, Abbott ordered the agencies to expand anti-fraud efforts and launch investigations into any misuse of taxpayer funds within the state’s Child Care Services program.   “Recently, the Trump Administration and independent journalists have discovered potential systematic fraud in subsidized childcare systems of other states,” Abbott wrote, adding that such conduct “will never be tolerated in Texas.”  view article

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wants state agencies to implement new “strong anti-fraud measures” to a program designed to help low-income families pay for child care.  The call for increased scrutiny follows the Trump administration’s decision to freeze federal funding to Child Care Services programs due to a viral video claiming widespread fraud in Minnesota.  In a letter sent Monday to the heads of the Texas Workforce Commission and Health and Human Services Commission, Abbott directs the agencies to identify “high-risk providers” participating in the program and conduct additional site visits  “Texas’ percentage of improper payment rates is 0.43 percent, compared to Minnesota’s approximately 11 percent according to the most recently available federal data,” Abbott wrote in the letter. “However, more can be done to protect Texas children and taxpayers.” view article

Federal prosecutors in South Texas closed out the year with another heavy round of border enforcement cases, underscoring how repeat illegal entry and criminal reentry remain a major strain on the region’s courts and communities.  From Dec. 19 through Jan. 2, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas filed 399 cases tied to border enforcement. view article

An 18-year-old Odem ISD student is charged with indecency with a child after police say a juvenile was assaulted on a school bus returning from Hebbronville. view article

The impacts of the latest fight over Texas’ political maps are still reverberating around the state, but there are other debates on the horizon.  Future political representation could hinge on President Donald Trump’s renewed push to exclude at least some noncitizens from the population counts that help determine how political power is distributed in the U.S.  In Texas, where Republicans pushed through a rare midcycle redistricting this year to try to maintain their advantage in Congress after the 2026 midterm elections, experts say that excluding noncitizens when drawing districts could open another way for the GOP to tighten its grip on the state Legislature and congressional delegation. view article

SCOTUS could still take up the issue after related cases are decided.  The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case about the Llano County library’s removal of explicit books, preserving a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld the library’s action.  Llano County had been sued for removing 17 books from the county library due to their treatment of racial and sexual themes. All of the books were tailored to children. view article

As part of a settlement agreement filed Friday in court, the district will direct staff at Bellaire High School to use pronouns that align with a student’s sex at birth until the student turns 18 years old. view article

A substitute teacher won't be allowed to return to Almeta Crawford High School after assaulting a 14-year-old student on Wednesday afternoon, officials said. Cell phone video shows the teacher picking up the boy and slamming him into a countertop as other students attempt to intervene. view article

In the ongoing situation regarding a former Celina ISD coach accused of improper conduct with middle school students, a disagreement over evidence is now taking place. https://www.fox4news.com/news/celina-isd-investigation-police-vs-attorneys view article

Austin ISD has videos showing Waymo, a self-driving vehicle, illegally passing its school buses 20 times since the first week of classes, August 2025, to now. Related view article

A teacher from Aldine ISD has been released on bond after being arrested on charges of child sexual assault, according to court records. Aldine ISD says Derrick Banks, 39, is an agriculture teacher at Eisenhower High School. Court records show he had two warrants for the first-degree felony offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14 for the past two years. view article

New details have been released after a Harper ISD Assistant Band Director was arrested for illegally recording a minor. On Thursday, Gillespie County released the full arrest affidavit of Pedro DeLuna III, who was arrested on Monday for allegedly recording a 15-year-old Harper High School student. view article

Celina ISD now faces a fourth lawsuit over allegations that a former teacher recorded students changing in the boys’ locker room. And attorneys say new evidence shows the district may have been aware of the misconduct before it was reported  Caleb Elliott, a former eighth-grade football coach at Moore Middle School in Celina ISD, was arrested in October after a student reported that Elliott was intentionally photographing boys “in various states of undress” in the locker room. Elliott now faces39 criminal charges, including eight federal charges of sexual exploitation of children. He has been in custody since Nov. 7.  Texas House Rep. Mitch Little from Denton told reporters at a press conference outside the Collin County courthouse that multiple witnesses report another football coach at Moore Middle School confronted Elliott about his behavior before a student reported it to school principal Allison Ginn Oct.3. view article

A group of Tarrant County residents who sued over the county’s new commissioners court precinct map withdrew their lawsuit Monday.  It’s not clear from court filings why the group that filed the case, titled Jackson et. al. v. Tarrant County, decided to drop it. But it ends one of two lawsuits accusing Tarrant County of illegal racial gerrymandering.  KERA News has reached out to attorneys on both sides for comment.  I  n an emailed statement, Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare welcomed the news.  “The Commissioners Court’s action to redistrict was constitutional from the outset and remains so,” he said. “With today’s legal development, Tarrant County will continue to stand as the best place to live and run a business in America.” view article

In November, on Austin’s South First Street, cameras caught a Waymo automated vehicle drive past an Austin Independent School District school bus’ flashing stop signs. At first, the driverless car stopped while a student crossed in front of it – but video shows the car accelerating forward before the student could cross the other lane of traffic or get out of the road. Just two days before, in north Austin, bus surveillance cameras also recorded a different Waymo illegally passing an AISD bus as students crossed the street. view article

Harper ISD is notifying families after a former district employee was arrested in connection with an off-campus incident involving a minor. According to a statement from the district, Pedro DeLuna III, a former staff member, was arrested on Dec. 1, following allegations that he recorded invasive visual material of a 15-year-old girl. The alleged incident did not occur on school property and happened outside of school hours. view article