Texas transplant Elon Musk is planning to start a university in Austin, according first reported by Bloomberg News.

The charity, called The Foundation, plans to use a $100 million gift from Musk to create and launch a primary and secondary school in Austin focused on teaching science, technology, engineering and math. Once it is fully operational, the filing states, the school will focus on creating a university. The school intends to seek accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, a necessary first step to launch the school.

According to the filing, the university would teach students in person “as well as using distance education technologies.” It expects to start enrollment with 50 students and scale up over time. The school would fund its activities through donations and tuition fees, though the filing also states that if a student cannot pay tuition or fees, the school could provide financial aid. It is currently hiring an executive director, teachers and administrators, the filing states.

Musk’s plan to start a new university in Austin — already home to the flagship University of Texas at Austin and multiple other private universities — comes just as another new private school in the city plans to officially open to students in fall 2024.

The University of Austin was launched two years ago by a group of higher education critics in response to their belief that U.S. college campuses were no longer a place where students and faculty can openly exchange ideas.

University of Austin President Pano Kanelos said he hopes the school can be a champion for free speech and open inquiry.

“We’re just living in a moment where things seem to be coming apart, where people seem to be pulled away from each other, where institutions seem to be shaking in their foundations,” Kanelos said. “The best response is to build new things.”

Musk’s new university does not yet have a name. The Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Foundation’s trustees include Jared Birchall, head of Musk’s family office; Steven Chidester, a tax attorney at Withersworldwide; and Ronald Gong and Teresa Holland, who work at Catalyst Family Office in California, according to Bloomberg.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

Disclosure: University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter 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 .

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Gov. is starting to make good on his threat to politically target fellow Republicans who oppose school vouchers, issuing his first endorsement of a primary challenger to a House member who has helped thwart his top legislative priority of the year.

Abbott on Tuesday backed Hillary Hickland, an activist mother who is running against Rep. , R-Temple. Shine was one of 21 Republicans who voted earlier this month to strip a voucher provision out of an education bill, delivering the most decisive blow yet to the governor’s agenda.

“Hillary Hickland is the kind of new conservative leader we need in Austin to deliver results in the Texas House,” Abbott said in a statement. “This past year, she worked relentlessly to empower parents by traveling to Austin to advocate for Texas families and students.”

Abbott’s endorsement of Hickland is the first time he has backed a primary opponent to a House Republican since May 2022, when he backed Stan Kitzman, the successful opponent to Rep. Phil Stephenson, R-Wharton. Before that, Abbott endorsed three primary challengers to House Republicans in 2018 and one prevailed.

Abbott has already endorsed for reelection all the House Republicans who voted against the amendment that removed the voucher program from the education legislation. And on Monday, Abbott quickly endorsed a candidate to succeed a voucher opponent, Rep. Kyle Kacal, R-College Station, after he announced his retirement.

Shine and Abbott have a more personal history on the issue. When Abbott was touring the state earlier this year to build public support for his voucher proposal, Shine appeared with the governor at a private school in his district.

Shine, who announced his reelection campaign late last month, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Since 2017, Shine has represented House District 55, a Republican-leaning district in Bell County. He previously served in the House from 1986-1991.

Hickland is a mother of four from Belton who took her three school-aged children out of public schools in recent years. In addition to advocating for vouchers, Hickland has also been outspoken about sexually explicit books in school libraries.

Hickland describes herself as a “strong supporter of school choice in the form of Education Savings Accounts,” the voucher initiative that Abbott supports.

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MIDLAND — When Giovanni Parra’s instructor asked the class to weld the opposite ends of a wire during a lesson on soldering, the 16-year-old sprinted to the nearest workstation.

Parra is among dozens of students in a technical education program offered by the Midland school district that is preparing students to work in their own backyard, the oil-rich Permian Basin.

Unlike other classes at his high school, this one makes Parra feel connected to his family’s legacy.

“My whole family works in the oil fields,” Parra said. “I’m trying to see what I’m good at.”

Parra, a sophomore, is one of a few students who have access to this sort of hands-on learning. Within the 55 counties making up the Permian Basin between Texas and New Mexico, just four school districts offer classes that directly prepare students for work in the oil fields — a highly competitive market always short of workers. And two programs are fully enrolled.

In Odessa, hundreds of students are on a waitlist to take classes that teach them the basics of oil and gas.

An effort to expand access to oil and gas production courses to other high schools in Texas and New Mexico is underway, led in large part by energy companies. The region’s education leaders say the support helps both the schools and the industry.

“From the energy industry’s perspective, they are developing the next generation of workers,” said Scott Muri, superintendent of the public school district in Ector County, which includes Odessa.

Working with the state’s education department, the Permian Strategic Partnership, an organization made up of the leading energy companies including Chevron, ConocoPhillipps and ExxonMobil, is helping two schools in the Permian Basin and two in New Mexico put in place similar coursework that Parra is learning today.

Despite the fact that the West Texas economy has long run on the extraction business, this is one of the first modern attempts to prepare high school students to work in the fields before they graduate.

A group of high school students create an electrical circuit using two lightbulbs and a set of cables on a specialized electronic training board during their Oil and Gas Production II class. The class was designed by the Midland Independent School District to teach students vocational oil and gas studies. (Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune)

It’s part of a shift in public education to work closely with local business leaders to provide students with specific employable skills. The partnership plans to foot the cost of classroom supplies, teacher training and marketing.

“The oil and gas industry in the Permian Basin is going to be around for decades to come,” said Tracee Bentley, president of Permian Strategic Partnership. “We want the region to be successful. We know we are missing out on so much talent right here at home.”

A heated statewide debate over how to teach climate change in schools serves as the backdrop to the industry’s efforts to expand vocational instruction in the Permian Basin. Last week, the State Board of Education, a 15-member body controlled by Republicans, .

The board rejected textbooks containing policy solutions for climate change, as well as those published by companies that advocate for certain policies to combat climate change.

Human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gasses from fossil fuel use, are the leading cause of climate change, according to the National Climate Assessment, a federal report requested by Congress in 1990 and signed into law by Republican President George H.W. Bush.

School districts aren’t obligated to exclusively use state-approved titles, but most will since those books are guaranteed to comply with state standards.

The Permian partnership, which led the $4.5 million effort to put the class in place, declined to specifically address how climate change is addressed in Texas classrooms. In a statement, the partnership said it would follow all state standards.

However, in New Mexico, the partnership said, the curriculum specifically addresses “energy efficiency and renewable energy, in addition to oil and natural gas.”

Midland College assistant professor Anthony Cummins instructs a group of high school students in a lesson on electrical circuits. (Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune)

The program is one of several industry-specific classes being taught in Texas classrooms. More than 100 courses in Texas schools are offered to educate students on jobs from farming to dentistry to pharmacy.

Establishing and maintaining these skills-specific courses is difficult, said Jeff Horner, executive director of the Career and Technical Education Center in the Midland school district. Getting courses green-lit for the classroom requires exhaustive administrative upkeep to meet requirements, a time and resource-intensive commitment schools can’t always afford.

The state’s education agency calls for sponsors, a pilot program that lasts at least a year, and a renewal every two years. Horner said that fulfilling the state’s requirements while keeping up with an industry that changes frequently makes the program difficult to maintain with limited resources.

“It’s hard to keep the students up to date,” Horner said.

In Midland, classes are outsourced in the local college, and two instructors who belong to the faculty divvy the workload. One instructor commutes to the high school two times a week, while a second instructor waits for the students to commute from school to attend classes at the college.

High school juniors Kimberly Arredondo, Elyse Alvarez and Frannevic Alcala take part in an electrical circuit activity during their Oil and Gas Production II class. (Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune)

More staff is always ideal but not feasible, said Anthony Cummins, assistant professor of energy at Midland College. Teachers are in short supply, and it can take anywhere from six months to a year before the college secures a qualified instructor, he said.

“It can be difficult to hire instructors because we can make more in the oil fields,” Cummins said.

Exxon Mobil Corporation has been a 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 .

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DENTON— A North Texas school district plans to open a new school-based health clinic to serve its students covered by Medicaid, despite concerns from certain parents that the district is overstepping its role.

Leaders in the Denton Independent School District say the clinic will make health care more readily available for its students — 49% of whom are eligible for the federal free or reduced price lunch program, an indicator of economic hardship.

In August, the school board approved a partnership with North Texas nonprofit PediPlace to construct a medical clinic inside one of its high schools. The clinic, which is set to open in January, will be the second of its kind in Denton County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the state.

PediPlace operates the other clinic in the county out of a high school in the neighboring Lewisville Independent School District. Both clinics provide preventive care, vaccinations and mental health screening and counseling.

Over five million children in Texas are on Medicaid, CHIP or are uninsured, making access to reliable health care difficult and time-consuming. Texas has made over the past several years as the number of uninsured people has decreased. And, the state is still second in child Medicaid and CHIP enrollment.

Because underinsured children struggle to obtain treatment, the gap in care leaves school nurses in a constant battle to support students’ health, says Denton ISD Director of Health Services Nicole Goodman.

“We may be able to get them in to get that one problem solved, but we don’t have somewhere to send them long-term,” Goodman said.

The clinic will be built at Fred Moore High School, an early graduation high school with a small class size of 56 students. All 30,000 students enrolled in the district, regardless of which school they attend will be able to use the clinic as long as they are on Medicaid.

The new clinic opens as. School board meetings addressing the partnership were met with constant public comments from parents concerned about what one parent described as “undermining parental authority.” Multiple parents described the clinic as a “Pandora’s Box” to more clinics in schools or district overreach.

“Grooming and indoctrination of children will more easily happen if you decide to treat children on campus,” Denton resident Mary Knox said during Denton school board’s Aug. 22 meeting.

Critics of the clinic worry students would access care without parental consent, especially mental health services or gender-affirming care. In reality, parents must accompany children in order for them to receive care at PediPlace, and the clinic does not offer any kind of gender-affirming care.

Denton ISD’s board of trustees ultimately approved the creation of the clinic, 6-1. Board member Amy Bundgus was the lone no vote.

While Denton ISD’s clinic was approved, other districts in the state have also experienced the brunt of parents’ rights advocates. The Humble Independent School District in Houston initially halted plans to build a clinic in one of its high schools due to concerns about gender-affirming care and birth control access. It’s moving forward after a 5-2 vote from Humble ISD’s school board.

There are almost 90 school-based health centers in Texas, almost all of them are concentrated in urban areas like Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. Fewer still are geared solely toward students on Medicaid or CHIP.

The Texas Department of State Health Services funded a small number of school-based clinics across the state until 2021, when state agencies were asked to reduce their budget.

For lower-income family members unable to afford to take days off for doctor visits, school is often their first stop when a child needs to be treated.

“Children would show up early to school to essentially be triaged by the school nurse so their parents could determine, did the child have to go to the doctor?” said Larry Robins, PediPlace’s president and chief executive officer.

In the past decade, the number of health providers who accept Medicaid in Denton County has fallen, from 320 to 183, according to the United Way of Denton County. Dr. Marquis Nuby, a Denton pediatrician who accepts Medicaid, the federal health insurance plan for low income Americans, says finding a doctor who accepts Medicaid can be a daunting task. Many health care professionals in Texas have refused to accept Medicaid because of its .

“There’s kids that will come for my practice that may come from Mesquite, may come from Garland, may come from Wise county, may come from Fort Worth,” Nuby said. “They come out here, because they’re struggling to find a spot.”

And amid a growing national mental health crisis, Nuby said access to mental health treatment is crucial, especially for children.

“Since COVID, it became a tsunami,” Nuby said. “Every time I see someone for mental health, I’m losing money.”

Most school-based health centers are funded by nonprofits or other organizations, like Denton ISD’s partnership with PediPlace. Robins said that despite the “very different communal response” the proposed clinic received compared to PediPlace’s first clinic in Lewisville ISD, he feels community support is stronger than ever.

“I don’t believe that communities would be increasing funding if they weren’t wholeheartedly supportive investors in our mission and in the quality work that we provide,” Robins said.

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The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

A warehouse manager in Waco went from earning about $9 an hour to earning more than $140,000 a year, thanks to an associate degree.

In College Station, a student with a developmental disability worked at an animal hospital through a college program tailored to her needs.

And in Austin, a call center worker was paid by her employer to go to college so she could be promoted to a medical assistant position.

In these instances, the students pursued associate degrees, alternative college programs and industry certifications that offer Texans the chance to expand their career options and their salary potential in a state hungry for more qualified workers.

More than half of jobs in the state require a credential higher than a high school diploma but lower than a bachelor’s degree, according to . It’s one reason the state is for 60% of Texans ages 25 to 64 to have a certificate or degree by 2030. But just have the right training for these middle-skilled jobs.

These college and career programs are far more varied than they used to be. Today, Texans across the state are learning everything from to piloting aircraft through associate degree or certificate programs — and because of it.

Career and technical education

Initiatives helping students to enter the workforce quickly aren’t new, but there is a new focus on equity. To better serve students, particularly those from underprivileged backgrounds, higher education leaders are moving to create shorter or earlier career and technical education opportunities that meet industry standards while offering high school and college students with pathways to bachelor’s and advanced degrees.

This is a marked difference from the history of vocational programs, in which students of color and women were often placed into high school job training classes that offered no pathway to college.

A movement to help all students go to college emerged in the 1990s, said Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, a senior fellow at the National Skills Coalition, a policy and advocacy organization. But with increasing awareness of student debt in the 2000s and greater interest among students and employers in technical education, vocational programs reemerged and evolved into what is now known as career and technical education.

The rise of these programs partially stems from industries and jobs increasingly requiring specialized licenses or credentials, even if it’s not a college degree. For students, these programs are attractive because they allow them to get hands-on practice and, in some cases, paid work experience as they work toward a credential. This can be particularly beneficial for working adults or parents with less time and resources to seek a four-year degree, Bergson-Shilcock said.

Bachelor’s and more advanced degrees generally have a , but people with two-year associate degrees and certificates in highly technical and in-demand fields, such as engineering technologies, can than people with bachelor’s degrees in some lower-paying industries.

Texas has long invested in work-based education, but “that ramped up over the last couple of legislative sessions as the value of things like apprenticeships and other work-based learning opportunities became clear,” said Renzo Soto, a higher education policy adviser for Texas 2036, a nonprofit research organization.

Over the last decade, state lawmakers have largely and aligning school curriculum with college tracks and the workforce needs in each region of the state, Soto said.

During the regular legislative session, Texas lawmakers passed to fund community colleges based on whether their students leave with a degree or credential that gets them a well-paying job or into a four-year institution. Right now, Texas State Technical College that the state specifically funds of its students and graduates, . The funding change is expected to go into effect in September.

Technical colleges and careers

In a room filled with rows of yellow robotic arms, students at TSTC’s Waco campus used computers to try to command the arms to read whether a black cutout in front of it was the right size and shape.

Manufacturers use such a process to ensure that the right bolt, screw or item is used to make a product. But this isn’t a factory. It’s a step toward high-paying jobs in manufacturing, production or warehouse operations.

More than two decades ago, Corey Mayo was a warehouse manager, earning about $9 an hour to support his wife and daughter.

“It just wasn’t cutting it for baby formula, diapers, food,” said Mayo, now 48.

So he enrolled at Texas State Technical College to study instrumentation and completed an associate degree in robotics. After more than a decade in the industry, traveling to manufacturing facilities to implement automated operations, he said he earned roughly $140,000 a year because of his ability to “fix anything in a short amount of time.”

“It’s because of everything that I learned here,” he said.

Now, as an instructor of robotics technology at TSTC, he’s helping other students enter a job that’s expected to .

And Mayo’s 23-year-old son, Dalton, is following in his footsteps and studying robotics technology. He too would like to enter a high-paying field.

Stories like theirs are not uncommon at the college, which hires instructors from its graduate pool and sees many families return to the college for its hands-on and fast-tracked programs. The 20-month-long program for an associate degree of applied science in robotics and industrial controls technology costs around $11,640, and a 16-month certificate costs $6,984, . The average wage for an or technician is about $50,630 in Texas and $60,570 in the U.S., according to federal data.

The college also offers programs for various job fields expected to continue growing, such as cybersecurity and aircraft pilot training.

The aircraft pilot training program is one of the college’s more expensive programs, but pilot pay is on the higher end with average salaries in Texas of more than $180,060 for and $108,120 for . Tuition and fees for an associate degree in the program are $11,160, but the flight fees bring up the total to an estimated $89,260. Jobs are expected to grow by for commercial pilots and by for airline pilots and engineers in Texas.

The college also hires some of its graduates to serve as certified flight instructors while they work toward the required hours and ratings needed to work as a pilot in other roles.

“I’m already making back money and I’m already paying off my loans,” said Elaine Polster, a 22-year-old recent graduate who is now a certified flight instructor for the college. “If I went to a four-year school, it would be two more years until I did that.”

Associate degrees in applied science, which have a focus on technical education, and certificates are also available at community colleges across the state and through private, for-profit and nonprofit institutions. Examples of other public colleges include , , and . You can find private technical schools through the Texas Workforce Commission’s . Financial aid, scholarships or other help may also be available for associate degrees and qualifying certificates.

You can also to college programs and financial aid.

Apprenticeships

On a Tuesday morning in October, Nora Hernandez Mondragon practiced carefully placing patches on the chest, arms and legs of a classmate lying in a medical examination bed.

The patches, which connect to a tangle of 10 wires, require precise placement to record the heart’s electrical activity in an electrocardiogram, or EKG, to detect irregular heart rhythms and heart attacks.

It’s one of the many things she learned at the Austin Community College’s San Gabriel Campus in Leander over nine weeks. She also learned basic medical terminology and anatomy; how to check a patient’s blood pressure and vital signs; how to administer medicines, including through an injection; and how to draw blood — all without paying a dime.

“It’s the perfect situation,” said Hernandez Mondragon, a 34-year-old Austin resident who worked at a call center for Baylor Scott & White Health. “I get to go learn something and develop myself and still be making income for my family.”

That’s because Hernandez Mondragon and her five classmates are part of a Baylor Scott & White apprenticeship. Through the program, employees can take an accelerated course at ACC and get hands-on experience to become medical assistants.

“Me being a mom, I would love to go to school but I don’t have the time or the money,” said Hernandez Mondragon, who is raising four children.

After completing the course and 160 hours of work in a clinical setting, Hernandez Mondragon and her classmates will work as medical assistants at Baylor Scott & White Health’s local clinics or hospitals for at least two years. The new job also comes with a pay raise, Hernandez Mondragon said.

Though this program serves Baylor Scott & White employees specifically, it’s one of a number of apprenticeships at ACC and across Texas.

In apprenticeships, individuals get the opportunity to learn and work toward a career, similar to an internship. But apprenticeships are typically , include paid work and provide individuals with specialized skills and credentials.

Apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship training programs can be offered by , , , and other . Many apprenticeships focus on trades, but a number of programs are opening more opportunities in growing job fields like health care and tech.

Texans interested in an apprenticeship can look for one through a college, a local or the U.S. Department of Labor’s website, .

Workforce training programs

“I’m locking the chair,” 22-year-old Sydney Hodge said as she practiced locking a wheelchair in place at the front of the classroom. Joe Tate, the class instructor, was sitting in the chair.

“Good. Remember, guys, communicate. The more communication, the better,” he told the handful of other students watching.

Then, Hodge helped Tate get out of the wheelchair, holding a gait belt around his upper waist and letting him place his hands on her shoulders for support as he slowly rose. The rest of the class clapped.

Hodge and her classmates were reviewing how to work as personal care attendants. Earlier that day, they discussed different types of bedpans and the organizations that support people with disabilities.

The class is part of the at the University of Texas at Austin. It prepares students for jobs as personal care attendants, child care workers or teaching assistants. The program is designed to be accessible to people with disabilities, but is also open to people without a disability.

The students also live on campus and get support from program staff to live independently and participate in the community, said Tate, E4’s program manager.

During the three-semester program, students take specialized classes at UT-Austin’s campus, audit other UT courses, volunteer and get work experience. Hodge and her classmate Ayala Montgomery, for example, have been helping care for elderly people as volunteers at AGE of Central Texas.

At the end, students receive a certificate of completion and can get job certifications, but they do not get college credits.

The program also teaches students to advocate for themselves and others. That’s one of the things that drew Montgomery.

“I also wanted to help people that actually struggle with disabilities, like to let them know that ‘you’re not alone, and there’s many people just like you that struggle with the same things day to day,’” said Montgomery, a 20-year-old from Dallas. “I wanted to leave an impact.”

There are other job preparation programs, including for people with disabilities. And if a program is approved by the Texas Workforce Commission, qualifying students may get help covering the program costs.

Texans interested in exploring job preparation programs can learn more and view approved program providers through the or reach out to local .

College for students with developmental disabilities

After sending a quick email, Julia Gault turned to work on a PowerPoint presentation she was making for her class. She pointed to images of animals and skateboards on the slides.

“So this is like when I graduate, I want to work at a vet clinic,” she said. “I skateboard, so I put my skateboards.”

Sitting next to Gault during a study hall period at Texas A&M University, Callie Colgrove said, “I want to own my own bakery,” showing off her own PowerPoint. She’s Gault’s best friend and roommate.

The two met through , the university’s program designed for students with intellectual disabilities or autism to live independently, experience college and prepare for jobs.

Through the interdisciplinary program, students can take select noncredit courses and physical education courses and participate in student life at A&M. The students have access to graduate assistants who help them navigate classes and live on their own.

Initially, students live on campus. They get a residential mentor who spends five to nine hours a week with them during their freshman year, said Heather Dulas, the program director. As juniors, the students move off campus and can live on their own, though many have chosen to live together as roommates or in the same apartment complex. At the end, students receive a certificate from the university.

The transition was an adjustment for Gault, like for any college student, but through Aggie ACHIEVE she learned how to navigate her schedule and chores, like doing her laundry. Now, she works at an animal hospital, she said, and Colgrove works in the kitchen of a hotel and has baked chocolate pies.

Colleges and universities haven’t always students with disabilities, particularly those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, but there are now more options for these students.

Aggie ACHIEVE is one of four comprehensive transition and postsecondary programs in Texas. That designation allows students with intellectual disabilities to receive federal financial aid and learn or work along with students without disabilities. , and the also have comprehensive transition programs.

These programs range in length, admission and costs. For example, Texas A&M’s program admits about 10 students per year and costs over $30,000 per year because of on-campus housing required for the first two years, program fees and a lack of state aid for the non-degree-seeking students.

There are also other programs and options for students with disabilities to audit courses at public or private colleges, and scholarships or other assistance may be available to help students cover costs. You can read more in to college and job training programs for students with disabilities.

This reporting was supported by the Higher Ed Media Fellowship, which is run by the and funded by the .

Disclosure: Baylor Scott & White Health, Houston Community College, San Jacinto College, Texas 2036, Texas A&M University, University of Texas at Austin and University of North Texas have 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 .

This article originally appeared in , a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

Five months ago, a was threatened with suspension because she relayed what she perceived to be a classmate’s shooting threat to friends in a group chat.

According to the eighth grader’s mother, the Lewisville Independent School District wanted the honors student suspended and to spend the remainder of the school year in an alternative school.

The girl’s family appealed the decision and won, and she was allowed to return to school. But the incident highlights the confusion surrounding Texas’ inconsistent monitoring of potential threats on public school campuses, something lawmakers have tried to fix since the deadly shooting at that killed 10 people and wounded 13 others in 2018.

The following year, Texas lawmakers approved a sweeping that included establishing “threat assessment” teams — made up of school faculty and staff — to help identify potentially dangerous students and determine the best ways to intervene before they become violent.

Some of the “threats” reported include assault, cyberbullying, fighting, harassment, sexual misconduct, teen dating violence, terroristic threats, possession of a weapon and verbal threats.

“Our goal is that no child will ever feel afraid at school and no Texas family will ever experience the grief that followed the horrible school shooting at Santa Fe High School,” Republican Lt. Gov. said. “The safety of our children remains paramount — the future of Texas depends on it.”

But ever since, how to report a threat and exactly how threats are supposed to be monitored by schools is anything but concrete, thanks to a global pandemic which forced many schools to close frequently and a state school staffing turnover problem.

The threat assessment team’s role

Andrew Hairston, director of education justice for Texas Appleseed, a public interest nonprofit group, said threat assessment teams were pitched by lawmakers as an alternative to simply prosecuting students for terroristic threatening to keep schools safe.

“I’d much rather have this system in place where the team is extensively trained on the unique dynamics of child development,” he said.

The school safety bill from 2019 requires superintendents to appoint members to the team who have expertise in counseling, behavior management, mental health and substance use, classroom instruction, special education, school administration, school safety, emergency management and law enforcement.

These teams review students who have reportedly made threats of violence or exhibited harmful, threatening or violent behavior. Team members then decide what is to be done, whether mental health services are needed or perhaps the intervention of law enforcement. Team members are also supposed to educate students and staff on the signs of potentially violent behavior and come up with procedures on how to report threats.

Schools keep track of the threats and report their data to the Texas Education Agency.

At least that was the way it was all supposed to work before a global COVID-19 pandemic entered the picture, interrupting class schedules for two years. After the pandemic hit in early 2020, the TEA relaxed requirements that schools submit data to them regarding threats at schools in 2020-21 because of frequent school closures.

Last March, Texas Appleseed released a on how school districts’ threat assessment teams were performing. They based the report on a TEA survey of most of the state’s 1,200 public school districts.

While Texas school districts had logged a total of 37,007 threats during the 2020-21 school year, it was far from complete because the state had relaxed requirements that all threats be reported. Some schools did, some didn’t and those that did may have not done so consistently. Of that total, about 51% — or 17,200 — were determined to warrant intervention or the cases were referred to local law enforcement.

“In short, some school districts are applying a threat assessment process that is incomplete, lacking, and without the needed student support,“ the Texas Appleseed report stated. And while threat assessments are well-intentioned and developed to help create a safe environment, problems arise if they are not conducted proactively and comprehensively with a holistic focus on identifying mental health issues and implementing needed supports.”

The lack of consistent procedures for reporting surfaced during this year’s legislative session.

Earlier this year, one parent, whose name is not disclosed because her child is a minor, wrote to the House Youth Health & Safety Select Committee requesting the state require schools to inform parents when they are subject to a threat assessment. She told lawmakers her son was questioned by two social workers and the principal after some classmates who were making fun of him suggested he was a “school shooter” due to his race and gender.

“I should have been informed from the very beginning before any interrogation of my child,” the parent said.

Other problems with reporting student threats

When Texas Appleseed tried to confirm the school district’s threats data with district officials, they discovered that some reported different numbers than those reported to the TEA or didn’t respond at all to the nonprofit’s information request. The nonprofit group also found that a lot of school districts were still unclear about what to do when a student exhibited violent behavior.

This year, lawmakers passed to solidify plans once a school’s threat assessment team determines a student is a threat to others. The bill requires the teams to notify a student’s parent or guardian of their findings and conclusions regarding the student’s behavior.

“Developing a more thoughtful partnership between parents and schools could help identify mental health concerns earlier and allow students to get the support they need at the beginning of this process,” said Laura Felix, a spokesperson for Texas Appleseed.

Lack of resources

Brian Woods, the departing superintendent of the Northside ISD in San Antonio, said administrators always knew setting up threat assessment teams would be a challenge.

“It’s easy to say that we are going to set up these threat assessment teams. But when you get into the details, you realize every school is different and every campus is different. You aren’t going to use the same methods for an elementary school that you would for a high school,” he said.

The rules for establishing these teams were extensive. Many districts were just beginning to create threat assessment teams when the pandemic hit. Students then spent a frustrating few years with online class instruction.

“When the students came back, they had a whole new set of mental health challenges that we were not prepared for,” Woods said. “Combining all these issues, you can see how we got into this situation.”

Twyla Williams, director of counseling crisis and mental health at Austin ISD, said their team was pretty small at first. It was just her, the district’s chief of police and a crisis response team. She said as the team continued to grow, they found that principals appreciated having a sounding board for their intervention methods.

“We found principals needed a platform to be able to say, ‘This is what has occurred, this is what we have done and we welcome your input on it if we missed something to make sure the family is supported,’” Williams said.

But the biggest challenge, she said, was staffing the teams.

“The needs of the students and staff have been so great and just the sheer numbers of requests,” she said. “We have these meetings that are regularly scheduled, but sometimes situations may deem for us to have an on-call meeting on campus, and that has been more of a challenge.”

Across the state, school districts are struggling to find the staff for classrooms alone. One of the main issues has been that threat assessment requirements didn’t come with additional funding, and finding that many volunteers can be a challenge, according to Woods, the outgoing Northside ISD superintendent.

“Teachers are asked to give up so much of their time already. A lot of their time is not spent in the classroom doing instruction. Now we are asking them to meet almost weekly to review their own students,” Woods said. “It can be a lot.”

The workforce challenges are not limited to schools as is also dealing with a shrinking pool of providers.

“We don’t have enough mental health capacity in the entire state to do any follow-ups,” Woods said. “Families who need help right now are being told to wait for six weeks.”

Woods said if a school district as large as Northside ISD is having problems with staffing their teams, then it might be impossible for smaller or more rural schools.

“If we expect this to be run well, then it needs to come with resources,” Woods said. “We had a chance this session to do this, but that didn’t happen. We had two years with a record surplus and we have done nothing.”

Disclosure: Texas Appleseed has been a financial supporter 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 .

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The Texas House on Tuesday gave final approval to legislation that is calling for significant investments to beef up schools’ safety, including hiring at least one armed security officer at every campus, providing incentives for school employees to get certified to carry a weapon and installing silent panic alert buttons in every classroom.

, authored by Rep. , R-Lubbock, passed 119-25. It now heads to the Senate.

The proposal would also require regular safety inspections of school buildings and would give grants to students who want to attend another school district if their current one is not complying with safety standards. In addition, the bill was amended to give schools $100 for each student who regularly attends classes, plus an additional $15,000 each year, to upgrade their security. The change would raise the cost of the bill from $300 million to about $1.6 billion.

HD Chambers, executive director of the Texas School Alliance, said the state must strike the right balance between making schools safer and not creating environments where children are afraid to go to school.

“Access to mental health services is as important as any effort to harden campuses,” he said. “Ultimately, each school district is unique and needs the resources and flexibility to enact solutions that work for its community.”

School safety is a priority for both chambers this session after the Uvalde shooting left 19 children and two teachers dead last year. The House voted on HB 3 and two other school safety bills less than a week after the Senate a proposal to make sure that hundreds of Texas school districts without active-shooter plans get up to speed. The Senate’s school safety bill also includes many of the provisions in the House bills passed Monday.

In their budget proposals for the next two years, the House has allocated $1.6 billion for school security while the Senate calls for a nearly $1.3 billion investment. Members from both chambers will meet behind closed doors to negotiate what will make it into the final budget.

But while both chambers have passed bills on school security in response to Uvalde, it is unclear whether lawmakers will listen to who want to raise the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic guns from 18 to 21. The bill that would do that had a at the House last week, but it faces stiff opposition from Republicans.

Under HB 3, armed security officers would be hired to be present at every campus during school hours. The Texas School Safety Center — a Texas State University think tank that has been reviewing schools’ safety protocols since the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting — would be required to conduct checks of a school district’s buildings at least once every five years to make sure they are following the state’s safety standards. The Texas Education Agency could withhold any grant money from a district until the agency finds that it is in compliance.

In the Uvalde shooting, the gunman entered Robb Elementary through a back door that to properly lock.

During the floor debate on Monday, Rep. , D-Richardson, brought an amendment that would bar teachers from being armed on campus. Under the current language of the bill, a school district could arm a teacher to meet the requirements of having an armed officer at every campus. The amendment failed.

Robin Breed, the Austin legislative lead for Moms Demand Action, a group that advocates for public safety policies to protect people from gun violence, said she was disappointed that the amendment wasn’t approved.

“Law enforcement officers like those that were at Uvalde have enormous training requirements,” she said. “We know that even with those training requirements, those officers at Uvalde were unable or unwilling to stop that shooter. So, asking a teacher to be able to perform better than the officers is ridiculous.”

The House also approved , authored by Rep. , R-Canadian. It passed with a 125-21 vote and now heads to the Senate. The bill would give district employees a $25,000 incentive for each year they’re certified as so-called school guardians, or staff who can carry a gun in school.

School employees have been to get armed. About a month after the Uvalde shooting, a showed that Texas teachers do not want to take a gun to school.

HB 13 would also require law enforcement to do regular walk-throughs of school buildings and require district employees who regularly interact with kids to attend a mental health and first-aid training program. It would set up grants of up to $250 million for schools to upgrade their security and allocate $100 for each student who regularly attends classes.

In addition, the House passed authored by Sen. , R-Conroe, with a 145-0 vote. The proposal, which now heads to the Senate, would require districts to use part of their school safety budget to place silent panic alert buttons in each classroom. The buttons would immediately alert law enforcement agencies during emergencies. The proposal appears to be in response to the police inside Robb Elementary during the Uvalde shooting. Creighton’s bill was the companion to , authored by Rep. , D-Houston, an identical piece of legislation that was part of the House’s school safety package.

Erin Douglas contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared in , a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

As illegal opioid use rises among young people, several bills filed by state lawmakers would require Texas teachers to be trained and equipped to treat fentanyl overdoses, both on campus and at school-related events.

Several bills call for educators and school staff at public, charter and private schools, as well as those at colleges and universities, to know how to reverse deadly opioid overdoses with Narcan and other overdose medications known as “opioid antagonists.”

Eight bills calling for some sort of opioid emergency training for school personnel have been filed by Democrats: state. Sen. of San Antonio and state Reps. of San Antonio, of Mission, of Houston, of Driftwood, of Austin; and Rep. of Round Rock.

These bills cover a wide range of topics regarding the use of overdose reversal medications, including allowing physicians to dispense such medication to schools without requiring identification of the user and setting training standards for school personnel.

“We are adding this to the things that we’ve already done in the past when it comes to epinephrine pens and medication for people who suffer from asthma,” said Menéndez, author of . “We’re just saying that this is important as other lifesaving measures that you have in schools.”

Narcan (the brand name for the drug naloxone) or other opioid antagonists would be stored on campuses and school personnel would be trained in its use. All of these bills would also require the state health commissioner to establish an advisory committee to conduct a follow-up review after each time the medication is used.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Prescription fentanyl can be taken safely when prescribed by doctors. But a rise in its illicit use began during the pandemic and continues today.

“Currently, an opioid epidemic is sweeping the nation, and Texas is not an exception,” said Hannah Reinhard, chief of staff for Cortez. “This bill comes from the fact that anyone can suffer from addiction and a potential overdose. Not only that, but children can easily mistake an opioid for candy and risk devastating effects.”

These bills would put Texas in line with similar states like that have provided naloxone, the overdose-reversing nasal spray, to schools through a grant program.

“The more people authorized to administer naloxone, the better,” said Katharine Neill Harris, a drug policy fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. “I’ve heard from some people who have tried to get naloxone in schools that nurses/teachers have felt they aren’t allowed to administer it. The law would clear up any liability concerns and thus encourage more schools to have it available throughout campuses.”

Menéndez’s bill doesn’t specify how the medication and the training would be funded, but the San Antonio lawmaker believes settlement funds the state has received from opioid companies should be more than enough. Texas is estimated to receive about over the course of 18 years from three large pharmaceutical distribution companies through a settlement agreement reached in 2021.

, authored by Talarico, would allow the state to use money from the opioid settlement to purchase opioid antagonists in bulk from manufacturers to decrease the price burden on organizations distributing the medication. First responders and groups that work with people who use drugs have difficulty supplying Narcan because of its cost — about $125 for a kit with two doses.

Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that from drug overdoses in 2021, the last available year. Synthetic opioids were responsible for 71,000 of those deaths, and they were largely from fentanyl.

Opioid overdose deaths increased by 94% among people ages 14 to 18 from 2019 to 2020 and by 20% from 2020 to 2021, the CDC reported. Since the pandemic began, there’s been to fentanyl and other opioids through social media.

In Texas, the CDC more than 5,000 people died of drug overdoses between October 2021 and October 2022. Overdose deaths involving fentanyl in the state rose , from 333 people dying in 2019 to 1,662 people in 2021.

A majority of people who ingested a fatal dose of fentanyl had no idea the synthetic opioid had been laced with other drugs they were attempting to use.

Makers of illegal drugs often use fentanyl as a booster for other drugs they are selling,

Since September, Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has reported while six others were hospitalized, all from fentanyl overdoses. Four Hays Consolidated Independent School District students died last year from fentanyl overdoses. None of these occurred on school campuses.

Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be a lethal dose depending on a person’s body size, tolerance and past usage, according to the .

The agency that fentanyl is increasingly finding its way into “fake prescription pills” that are “easily accessible and often sold on social media and e-commerce platforms.”

Republican and Democratic lawmakers have when it comes to tackling the growing fentanyl crisis in the state.

State Sen. , D-Dallas, has teamed up with state Sen. , R-Edgewood, to push through to decriminalize the use of testing strips and other methods used to detect fentanyl.

Late last year, Republican Gov. came out in favor of legalizing fentanyl test strips which help users identify whether the drugs they are planning on taking contain the deadly synthetic opioid. Abbott previously opposed such a policy but said the increase in opioid overdose deaths had brought a “better understanding” that more needs to be done by the state to tackle the problem.

The Texas governor also said he wanted to make across the state.

Rep. , R-Rio Grande City, has also proposed a bill that would create a task force to study methods to incentivize manufacturers of opioid antagonists to increase production. The task force must submit a report to the Legislature no later than Dec. 1, 2024.

The commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services would be required to issue a statewide standing order prescribing opioid antagonists to those in need and would have all liability removed to accomplish this under , proposed by Sen. , R-Lubbock. A matching bill, , was authored by Rep. , R-Cypress, and Democratic Reps. of Austin and of Dallas.

Menéndez said the idea for his bill came after hearing the fears from local parents and students about how easily fentanyl can accidentally be consumed.

“There is a powerful drug out there in our society and we need to be prepared,” he said. “It’s scary how pervasive this thing could become very quickly. And how damaging, unless we get on top of this, it can be specifically for those living in areas with limited access to health care.”

Texans seeking help for substance use can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s at 800-662-4357. They can also access services in their region through the .

Disclosure: Rice University and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy have 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 .

This article originally appeared in , a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

The Texas Senate on Friday unveiled its priority school safety bill that would create a safety and security department housed in the Texas Education Agency. And the legislation would give the education commissioner more direct power to compel school districts to establish safety protocols for active-shooter situations.

, filed by Sen. , R-Jacksonville, additionally beefs up current truancy laws. This comes after found that the Uvalde shooter was chronically absent starting in sixth grade and dropped out of high school. During a Senate committee meeting last month, Nichols said don’t have “teeth” with parents.

The legislation, which has the blessing of Lt. Gov. , will have the new department oversee mandated school safety measures, such as safety plans.

Those plans — which must include active-shooter strategies — the Texas School Safety Center, a think tank at Texas State University created by lawmakers in 2001, since after the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting.

But, a in 2020 found that out of the 1,022 school districts in the state, just 200 districts had active-shooter policies as part of their plans, even though most districts had reported having those policies. The audit also revealed 626 districts did not have active-shooter policies. Another 196 had active-shooter policies, but they were insufficient, according to the audit. In addition, only 67 school districts had viable emergency operations plans overall, the report found.

Under the proposed legislation, the education commissioner, in consultation with the safety center will create rules regarding security audits and other emergency operation plans. The bill also would create similar safety plans for community colleges.

Gov. to create such a department following the Uvalde shooting and appointed former U.S. Secret Service agent John P. Scott as the agency’s chief of school safety and security.

The bill makes it easier for the education agency to impose steep consequences for districts that do not comply. Currently, the education agency must be notified by the safety center for noncompliance before it can take action to impose a conservator or a board of managers that would replace the elected school board.

Under the new bill, the agency would have direct oversight and would allow education Commissioner Mike Morath to take over a school district and its board if it does not meet the security standards. This power is akin to current law, where the commissioner can replace a school board and its superintendent if the district or a school campus receives a failing grade for five consecutive years.

The new department will also set up a school safety review team in each of the state’s , which support school districts in different regions of the state. These teams will conduct vulnerability assessments twice a year of all the school campuses in their respective regions. These education service centers will act as school safety resources for districts, the bill states.

The bill also would increase the amount of money districts get for improving security on campus from $9.72 to $10, plus an additional dollar for every $50 that the district’s payment goes beyond $6,160. It would also include a base payment of $15,000 per campus.

Funding for school safety improvement is at about $600 million in both the House and Senate budget proposals

On truancy, the bill would be more strict on how many days students can be absent before parents are sent to court. A school district must inform parents at the beginning of the school year that if their child has six or more unexcused absences within an eight-week period in the same school year, then they are subject to prosecution, and the child could be sent to court. The Uvalde shooter was reportedly

The bill also will have school districts receive a copy of a child’s disciplinary record and any threat assessments when a child is enrolled.

Shannon Holmes, executive director of the Association of Texas Professional Educators, said the bill contains measures that Texas educators support and is pleased that Nichols will be spearheading the issue in the Senate.

“The legislation also commits significant state funding for school safety, which ATPE believes should be a top priority for lawmakers,” Holmes said.

Disclosure: Texas State University and the Association of Texas Professional Educators have 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 .

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SPRING BRANCH — When kids walk into the gas station near the high school in this rural stretch north of San Antonio, they come face to face with Texas’ booming market in psychoactive hemp derivatives.

Just inside the door, a glass cabinet entices shoppers to a smorgasbord of fruity and doughnut-flavored vape pens dressed in vibrant, shiny packaging. The store, like many across Texas, is promoting its collection of delta-8 and other new strains of purportedly legal tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the mind-altering part of the cannabis plant.

Any adult over age 21 can buy the vapes at this Valero. But if the Comal Independent School District catches one of its students down the road at Smithson Valley High School with a pound cake-flavored vape, they may end up in county jail, facing felony charges that would follow them the rest of their life.

School officials and local law enforcement are attempting to stymie the sometimes dangerous youth vaping craze by drawing a hard line. Students are offered $100 for anonymously reporting classmates with THC vape pens to the police.

And since sheriff’s deputies assigned to the schools often can tell if a vape pen contains THC, but not whether it’s delta-8 or the illegal delta-9 cannabis oil, they assume the worst, slap on the cuffs and leave it for someone else to figure out.

That’s what happened to Myles Leon, a Smithson Valley senior arrested at school in October with what he says was a delta-8 vape pen. At 17, he is considered an adult in Texas’ criminal system, facing a felony charge based on the as yet unproven assumption that the vape pen he was caught holding might have contained the illegal delta-9.

“They instantly just think it’s [illegal] THC. I don’t think they really care about the difference,” Myles said in December, hunched next to his mother on their living room couch. “Because even I said that it was delta-8 and it didn’t matter. They’re still gonna arrest me anyways.”

When , the lower-potency THC naturally found in small amounts in the cannabis plant — delta-8 — suddenly no longer fit the state’s definition of illegal marijuana and THC. The market capitalized on the notion of a legal strain of THC, and companies began boosting the concentration of delta-8 to make hemp-derived vape pens and edibles that produce a high similar to pot.

The legality of these lab-produced delta-8 products is , but for more than a year, stores and users have freely sold and purchased them without issue. If teens get caught with vape pens that are proven to contain only delta-8, the worst criminal penalty they would most likely face would be a ticket, similar to getting caught with cigarettes or alcohol.

But delta-9 THC, the most prolific psychoactive compound in marijuana cannabis plants, remained illegal in Texas in concentrations higher than 0.3%. Vape pens with marijuana-derived extracts are legal in many states, like New Mexico and Colorado, but not in Texas, and the criminal punishments for such derivatives are harsher than for marijuana.

Possession of even one illegal THC vape pen can carry a punishment of up to 10 years in prison and a lifelong label that makes it more difficult to get into college, get a job or find housing. Having up to 4 ounces of flower marijuana is a misdemeanor.

In Comal County, deputies have arrested students on felony charges, not knowing what their vape pens actually contained.

Soft-spoken and awkward in his tall frame, Myles said he walked into a locker room before class one day and saw a few other kids vaping. E-cigarettes have become alarmingly commonplace in schools across the country, prompting the American Medical Association to deem teen vaping a public health epidemic and leading to increased regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has also urged teens not to vape THC, as the unregulated products to numerous lung injuries and deaths.

The kids in the locker room told Myles the pen contained delta-8, and he asked if he could have a hit, he said. It’s a decision he has regretted since.

A coach walked in while Myles had the pen in his hand and ushered him into the principals’ office, he said. The pen was unlabeled, as many are, but sported a cannabis leaf symbol, so school officials brought in the sheriff’s deputies.

The district can’t comment on specific students, but spokesperson Steve Stanford said the district works with the sheriff’s office to address THC vaping. For school disciplinary action, he said it’s up to the student to prove a THC pen is legal, not for the school to prove it’s illegal.

“Even if it is determined that it is a legal derivative, the student is cited for being in possession of drug paraphernalia” and put into a disciplinary school for a time, he said.

Myles said he was cooperating as much as he could, handing over the pen and answering questions. Still, he soon felt metal on his wrists and was walked in handcuffs across campus to the sheriff’s office at the school so deputies could run a test to detect THC in the vape oil.

Police field test kits, like those used by the Comal County sheriff’s office, can quickly flag if vape oil likely contains THC, but not whether it’s derived from legal hemp or illegal marijuana.

“That test is a presumptive positive, and that provides the probable cause for an arrest,” Cpl. Shawn Trevino said when asked about making felony arrests based on an ambiguous test.

It may be enough for the sheriff’s office, but it’s often not for prosecutors or courts. Republican Comal County District Attorney Jennifer Tharp said her office doesn’t accept drug cases without first looking for lab results. So after a THC arrest, the Comal County sheriff’s office sends vape cartridges off to state crime labs for further testing.

But state labs, which can take months or years to return results to police and prosecutors in any criminal case, have been able to distinguish between different strains of THC in vape oils only . They still can’t tell edibles apart.

Still, Myles was soon in the back of a squad car, on his way to the Comal County Jail.

“I get I had to face the consequences, but I feel like it’s a little severe,” he said quietly. “I know since I’m underage it’s not legal for me, but I know if I was of age and I wasn’t on school it probably would be legal for me.”

Since he’s 17, Myles was booked into the adult county jail and kept in a holding cell with grown men for hours. Federal law meant to prevent sexual assaults in incarcerated settings requires people under 18 to be housed separately from adults, but Texas doesn’t make local jails abide by such laws, according to Brandon Wood, director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

While Myles’ parents scrambled to figure out how to get their son out of jail, the teen said he sat in the cell for about 12 hours till nearly 10 p.m., listening to other inmates talk about shootouts and drugs he’d never heard of before.

For the alleged crime of possessing an illegal vape pen, his bail was set at $5,000. Luckily, his parents could afford to free him.

“These are real criminals committing actual hard crimes,” he said. “And I’m just there because I was smoking at school.”

Hazy legality

Since the legalization of hemp production federally in 2018 and in Texas in 2019, criminal enforcement of marijuana laws has gotten complicated. As in Myles’ case, police often can’t tell the difference between legal and illegal cannabis anymore, and at least several prosecutors have refused to pursue many marijuana cases without test results that state labs couldn’t produce until recently.

Plus, with polls increasingly support marijuana legalization, some district attorneys and police departments no longer pursue most low-level pot possession crimes. In 2022, Texas prosecutors filed 70% fewer misdemeanor marijuana possession charges than in 2018, down from nearly 71,000 to about 21,500, according to state reports.

Not all decisions were political — money also matters since pot cases are now more difficult to win in court without expensive lab tests. Some law enforcement officials have decided it isn’t worth their resources or those of the notoriously backlogged crime labs, which also identify harder drugs, like fentanyl, and test DNA in rape kits.

“Why am I going to invest probably $1 million-plus to train the one analyst I have doing this stuff? … I’ve got mountains of pills that are full of fentanyl and meth,” said Peter Stout, president and CEO of the Houston Forensic Science Center.

Every school district has its own approach to handling the increase in vaping and THC. In the school district just south of Comal ISD in North San Antonio, a Northeast ISD spokesperson said school police file reports on students caught with THC vape pens only if they have multiple pens. Even then, they don’t typically make arrests, leaving it up to the district attorney to decide whether those kids should be arrested or face criminal charges later.

In Round Rock, north of Austin, an official said the district has tried to handle THC offenses without seeking criminal charges, except in cases in which students are suspected of selling or distributing the substance. But Aaron Grigsby, a former Round Rock ISD police officer and Department of Public Safety captain, said the district police department required him to file felony reports against students caught with vape pens, even though they could have contained delta-8.

Grigsby, who helped implement DPS’ program to regulate medical cannabis, said he left the school department because he otherwise would have been forced to write reports calling a vape pen a felony substance when he didn’t feel he had enough suspicion to say it was.

“I’m not comfortable doing this anymore,” he told The Texas Tribune shortly before leaving the school district in October. “Students don’t need to be a test bed for whatever the law says on delta-8.”

After hemp was legalized and the alternative THC market exploded, Texas’ in 2021 to halt delta-8 sales by classifying the hemp-derived THC strain as a controlled substance, like delta-9. Cannabis businesses, however, sued the department, and while the case is pending. It’s unclear when a final ruling will come down.

At the state Capitol, legislation this year includes bills aiming to decrease criminal punishments for THC possession, as well as and other THC products. Similar bills failed in 2021, but it’s unclear how they will fare in the ongoing legislative session that ends in May.

Last session, the GOP-led Texas House to make low-level marijuana possession a fine-only crime, which would have stopped arrests for less than an ounce of the drug. The more conservative Senate, however, didn’t move on the bill. Another unsuccessful measure would have lessened the penalty for possessing a small amount of marijuana concentrates, like delta-9 THC vape oils and edibles, from a felony to a misdemeanor crime, as is the case for flower marijuana.

Conversely, a failed 2021 bill sought to ban the sale of delta-8 and other THC synthetically derived from hemp, since the bill’s author believes, like the state health department, the substance is already illegal.

A law and order approach

Finishing up his senior year of high school, Myles works weekends at the local barbecue restaurant, and he’s trying to decide on a major at his community college in the fall. He’s also waiting to see if he will be indicted.

After his arrest in October, several teachers wrote to the principal advocating leniency, each describing Myles as a model student who made a mistake. Still, being caught with a suspected felony drug on campus, he was expelled for 30 days and sent to a disciplinary school for the rest of the fall semester.

Myles’ mom, Amy Leon, said she doesn’t want her kid smoking, and she and her husband grounded Myles after his arrest. But more than that, she is livid that the school handed her child off to police for what she deems overly harsh treatment. She has been pushing the school since to add more preventive programming — to help kids instead of tossing them in jail.

“Obviously he shouldn’t be doing this on school grounds, but shoot, this is intense,” Leon said. “If he was rolling a joint in the school, it would have been a lot better.”

Comal ISD officials said administrative disciplinary measures, including expulsion, are clearly outlined in school policy and state standards. As far as law enforcement’s involvement, Assistant Superintendent Corbee Wunderlich said district officials approach sheriff’s deputies because students pass vape pens around and get dangerously high at school. Plus, school employees can’t tell whether the substance is illegal.

“We want to know what it is, number one,” Wunderlich said. “And we don’t want it to endanger our students on our campuses.”

The district and sheriff’s office also work with the local Crime Stoppers affiliate, which pays for anonymous tips that lead to arrests, created as a way for people to send in tips about things like murders for which police had no suspects. In Comal ISD, tips are often received for vapes and dab pens, which heat wax instead of oil, according to Jakob Willmann, the sheriff’s office coordinator for the program.

A vape pen report that leads to an arrest gets you $100, delivered anonymously via code words and locations, Willmann said.

This month, the district and sheriff’s office hosted a series of community nights at local schools to address the vaping crisis and other drugs. In the Smithson Valley auditorium, Trevino stood in front of about 25 parents and warned that kids were handing off THC vape pens to one another and selling them through the popular Snapchat app.

He, along with the county’s juvenile court judge, warned that kids caught with such devices could end up in prison for 10 years or, if they are between 10 and 16, detained in a youth detention center far from home.

No one mentioned that many legal THC vape pens are sold at the Valero the parents just drove past. There was also no discussion of substance abuse programs or help. It was a warning that THC could land their kids in jail, and other drugs, like fentanyl, could put them in a morgue.

It’s unclear how many other teens have been arrested at Comal ISD, as multiple sheriff’s officials said the office did not track the information. One department document listing incidents at Comal ISD schools, however, showed at least seven juveniles and two people 17 or older were arrested last semester for allegedly possessing a controlled substance in the penalty group most associated with THC oil.

Tharp, the district attorney, said THC vape cases from schools haven’t hit her desk yet, likely because the state crime labs only just started being able to distinguish THC strains in September.

“But we might be getting them soon,” she said at the school event this month.

Meanwhile, Myles is biding his time. Largely, he’s living life as he did before the arrest, except he has to check in weekly with the bail bondsman and can’t leave the state without permission. He’s hopeful the case will eventually be tossed, but he’s putting his faith in the hands of the other teen who handed him the vape pen back in October.

“The guy told me it was delta-8. But it wasn’t mine, so I don’t know,” he said quietly. “But that’s what I’m hoping it was.”

Like Myles, his mother also hopes the felony case will be tossed once lab results come back, whenever that may be. But she shared none of Myles’ expectations, often paired with youth, that things would simply work out. Fear shone in her eyes. “I hope it’s gonna go away. I know I think it’s stupid, but I’m not the judge here,” she said. “And they could make him an example. And I don’t know what’s gonna happen. And he still has a felony looming. And that’s terrifying.”

James Barragán contributed to this report.

Disclosure: Valero has been a financial supporter 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 .

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Gov. said Monday he will be “heavily involved” in the push for an this legislative session as the idea continues to face an uphill battle in the Texas House.

Abbott, in an interview with The Texas Tribune, said he would be traveling the state to make the case directly to voters, particularly in rural areas. Such a program away from public schools as parents use that money to pay for their children’s private school, online schooling or private tutors. Similar proposals have typically from a coalition of Democrats and rural GOP lawmakers.

“Among Republican rural voters, about 80% support this,” Abbott said, “and I think that Republican officeholders will see that more and more, and I think there may be a change in the perception of what their voters expect of them in Austin, Texas.”

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Abbott addressed that topic and a few others in an interview on the heels of his State of the State address Thursday.

Education savings accounts

One of the emergency items that Abbott announced was “education freedom,” including education savings accounts for every parent. Those would allow the state to deposit taxpayer funds that parents could then use to help pay for sending their kids to schools outside the traditional public education system.

State House Speaker , R-Beaumont, has said he is fine with an up-or-down vote on those kinds of proposals, but he has noted that the House has previously rejected them by wide margins. In rural parts of Texas, public school systems are major employers and a source of community pride. Many rural regions have few private schools.

In the interview, Abbott sought to distinguish between rural Republican lawmakers and their voters, saying “rural Republican voters strongly support this.” Last year, 88% of GOP primary voters approved of a nonbinding proposition saying “parents and guardians should have the right to select schools, whether public or private, for their children, and the funding should follow the student.” Large majorities .

To build legislative support, Abbott said he would be “taking this show on the road across the state of Texas to appeal to voters themselves.” He spoke at a “parental empowerment night” last month in Corpus Christi that was hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the Austin-based conservative think tank. And he headlined a similar event Monday night in Temple, appearing in the backyard of the new chair of the , state Rep. of Killeen.

Buckley has been opposed to vouchers in the past, but advocates have expressed optimism that he is now open to the idea.

“I think that there at least is the opportunity to have this have a better chance than ever before, in part because of the makeup of the committee, but also in part because of the makeup of the constituents of the members,” Abbott said.

Florida and DeSantis

Abbott shrugged off the idea that he is locked in a conservative policy rivalry with Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who is likely to run for president in 2024. Abbott is also a possible White House contender, though he is seen as less likely — and formidable — as DeSantis for now.

“The reality is we really just focus on Texas and working for our constituents here in our state,” Abbott said.

While Abbott did not mention Florida or DeSantis by name, he did boast that Texas “has been a national leader” on restricting abortion and expanding gun rights. He alluded to the laws he signed in 2021 that banned most abortions in Texas and allowed the permitless carry of handguns — two conservative policy priorities in which Florida still trails Texas.

Abbott also argued that Texas has led the nation with its 2021 law that bans large social media companies from blocking users’ posts based on their political viewpoints. He said he believes it is the only such law in the country “that’s been upheld by courts so far.”

Abbott said Texas was even ahead of the curve with a 2021 law preventing local bans on natural gas as a fuel source. That issue became a national controversy recently after the Biden administration that it was interested in outlawing gas stoves, a notion it quickly denied.

Abbott’s remarks come as DeSantis is preparing to make his . He is set to visit Houston and Dallas over the first weekend in March to headline annual fundraising dinners for the county parties in each city.

Paxton settlement

Attorney General has stirred unease in the Legislature with a tentative to end a whistleblower lawsuit brought by former deputies. Phelan said last week that he personally opposed using taxpayer dollars on the settlement, which would have to be approved by the Legislature.

Abbott also has a role in the process as the person ultimately responsible for signing the state budget into law or vetoing it. While he did not voice outright opposition to taxpayer dollars being used for the settlement, he did echo Phelan in saying Paxton will have to convince lawmakers to sign off on the deal.

“It may or may not even reach my desk, but as Speaker Phelan made clear, this is an issue that the attorney general is going to have to fully explain to both the House and the Senate,” Abbott said. “I’m also in the boat of having to learn more about this.”

At the same time, Abbott seemed to downplay any particular controversy over the settlement, saying it is “just like every other budget-type issue I encounter.”

“I need full information on the budget issue to determine if I’m gonna sign it or not,” Abbott said.

Paxton appeared at a legislative hearing on the state budget Tuesday where the settlement was a topic. State Rep. , D-Houston, asked Paxton if he would be willing to pay the settlement out of his campaign funds rather than state coffers. Assistant Attorney General Chris Hilton jumped in to say the whistleblowers are suing the attorney general’s office for retaliation, not Paxton personally. He said there’s no precedent for an individual paying out a whistleblower case from their own money.

“If we lose at trial, the damages exposure would obviously be higher than that,” Hilton said.

Health care for transgender kids

As conservative activists continue to lobby for legislation banning certain health care therapies for transgender kids, Abbott said in the interview that it is a proposal he would sign if it reaches his desk.

Abbott and other Republicans’ rhetoric has focused on surgeries for transgender kids, though medical experts say those procedures are very rare. Abbott suggested such surgeries are “something that a person should at least wait until they’re adult to make a decision on.” LGBTQ advocates have warned that such rhetoric is dangerous for kids’ mental health.

Still, “ending child gender modification” is one of Lt. Gov. ’s top . It is also a legislative priority for the Texas GOP. Phelan has been less clear on the issue, suggesting last month it could be considered by a select committee that he later appointed a Democrat to chair.

Abbott already took on health care for transgender kids last year when he ordered the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate transition-related care for children as . Yet that did not satisfy Abbott’s intraparty critics, who continue to push for a legislative solution. A similar measure failed in 2021.

Abbott declined to put the proposal on any of the calls for the special sessions in 2021, saying its chances of passing in the House were “nil.” However, he did express support for a law at some point in the future that defines transition-related care — like puberty blockers and hormone therapy — as child abuse.

​​“We do need it as a law,” Abbott , “and it would be stronger obviously if the Legislature would pass it, and I want to see the Legislature pass it.”

Disclosure: Texas Public Policy Foundation has been a financial supporter 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 .

This article originally appeared in at .

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Reproductive Rights Reporting Fund.

SABINE COUNTY — When condoms were distributed at a career fair five years ago, West Sabine High School’s seventh and eighth graders took handfuls and tucked them inside their jackets and pants pockets. It set field trip chaperone Carnelius Gilder into a panic.

Gilder had driven the students to a church in the area to attend the career fair. Students had attended it in previous years with no problems; Gilder was taken aback to see a vendor giving away contraception for the first time.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We cannot bring these home,” Gilder, now West Sabine school district’s superintendent, recalled thinking. “These are junior high kids. And we’re in a church.”

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In rural Sabine County, a part of Deep East Texas near Louisiana’s western border, Gilder knew many parents who would light up his phone if students came home with condoms from a school-sanctioned field trip. So before the students got back on the bus, Gilder told all of them to empty their pockets.

West Sabine High School students haven’t been back to the career fair since. The school district now organizes its own health fair, which parents attend, and school officials can decide whether contraception will be offered to the students.

“East Texans believe in and have a great deal of morality,” said Gilder, who graduated from West Sabine High School in 2002. “And, well, you have to include the parents.”

In Sabine County, pine trees outnumber the people. To commute between Pineland and Hemphill, the two towns that anchor the county, residents drive down a road that winds through a national forest. The towns are dotted with churches that loom large in daily community life. Bible scriptures are printed on plaques in local stores and even in Gilder’s office.

has shown access to contraception and comprehensive sex education prevents unplanned pregnancies. But for sexually active teens trying not to get pregnant in Sabine County, it’s hard to access either.

Sex education in Texas is taught amid tight parameters and bureaucratic strings. Texas schools have to offer health class at the middle school level, but parents must opt their children in to any lessons about sexual health. And when teachers do touch on sex education, state law requires them to stress abstinence as the preferred choice before marriage.

Even if teens in this region want contraception, it’s nearly impossible to get without parental consent. In small towns like Hemphill and Pineland, parents have eyes and ears everywhere, making teens reluctant to go to the local Brookshire Brothers or dollar store to purchase condoms. They could go to a family planning clinic, which provides contraception at little to no cost, but only clinics program do not require parental permission — and a federal judge in Texas that the program violates parents’ rights and state and federal law.

As , the nonprofit group that is the state’s Title X administrator, awaits guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on how to proceed, it informed Texas providers this week to require parental consent out of precaution.

Today, family planning programs are few and far between, thanks to funding cuts by the Texas Legislature in 2011. No family planning clinic exists in Sabine County. To get to the nearest one, teens in the region must travel to an adjacent county.

Meanwhile, Texas has one of the in the country. And in 2020, Sabine County’s teen birth rate was the statewide average. Nearly 7% of Sabine County teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 gave birth that year, compared with about 2% statewide.

Evolving health education standards

In Texas, abstinence became the cornerstone of sex education in the mid-1990s when conservatives , insisting sex education was an inappropriate topic for teens. Then-Gov. George W. Bush signed a forcing school districts that offer sexual education to emphasize abstinence until marriage. The law allowed health educators to discuss contraception with students only if they spent more time emphasizing abstinence.

In 2009, the state removed health class as a high school graduation requirement, further minimizing the importance of health education. As a result, less than a third of Texas high school students took a health class between 2016 and 2020, according to an analysis of state course enrollment data by Healthy Futures of Texas, a nonprofit that works to reduce teen pregnancies.

In 2021, state lawmakers made it even harder for students to learn about safe sex. Now, parents must give written permission before their children can learn about “human sexuality,” , child abuse or sex trafficking. Texas is one of only in the nation, along with Nevada, Utah, Mississippi and North Carolina, to have such a requirement for sex education and the only state requiring parental permission to teach about child abuse.

Students whose parents allow them to attend sex education classes are still taught that abstinence is the “preferred choice of behavior.” But, for the first time in more than 20 years, the Texas State Board of Education in November 2020 voted to overhaul the middle school health curriculum standards. These students should now learn about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases, conversations previously reserved for high school health classes.

, the Lufkin-based chair of the State Board of Education, called the new requirements a “good middle ground” between comprehensive sex education — which prioritizes accurate and exhaustive information about contraception, sexual health and sexually transmitted infections — and an abstinence-only class.

Schools were scheduled to adopt these new standards by August of this year. But in Sabine County, as well as many others in East Texas, schools are sticking with an abstinence-based curriculum for middle school students.

Every few years, the Texas State Board of Education sets standards about what is to be included in teachers’ lesson plans, whether it’s social studies, math or health. These standards are known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS. But no state agency tracks whether districts employ these standards. Students eventually take annual standardized tests on core subjects like math and science, but there is no such test for health.

“There’s no guarantee that every single TEK is taught to every single student,” Ellis said. “In the state of Texas, I’m sure some TEKS get skipped over, hopefully inadvertently, but probably in this case a little less inadvertently.”

When new health requirements for schools come from the state capital, districts turn to their to advise their local school boards about how to implement them. The councils, made up of parents and administrators appointed by the local school boards, are there to ensure that “local community values are reflected” in their school districts’ health education instruction. School boards tend to listen to their suggestions.

Inside a classroom at Hemphill High School this fall, members of the local advisory council struggled to navigate the new state requirements about sex education.

“Have we been able to decipher the bill yet?” Cecily Bridges, a Hemphill school nurse and the council’s chairperson, asked during the meeting. She turned to Stephen English, Hemphill Independent School District’s superintendent, for an assist.

“Not really,” English replied.

“It’s hard to interpret what we’re required to do,” Hemphill Middle School principal Jeremy McDaniel interjected.

At the end of the meeting, Bridges instructed committee members to read through the new laws and the updated curriculum before the next meeting. And she said she’d reach out to the district’s education service center for guidance.

Across the rest of religious and conservative Deep East Texas, some districts are choosing not to offer sex education to middle school students.

“I don’t care for the school to be teaching the kid sex ed. That’s my job,” one parent said during the health advisory council meeting for Chester ISD in nearby Tyler County in April. “I’ll do that.”

If a district is not complying with state standards, the only recourse would be for a parent to file a complaint with the school board. But that puts the responsibility of tracking district curriculums on parents who, in Deep East Texas, would often prefer to avoid sex education altogether.

In Hemphill, a town of less than 1,000 people, churches outnumber medical clinics. Wednesday night church services are part of the weekly rhythm. And religion has long been entangled in debates about sex education.

Some parents in this region clam up when the words “sex education” come up, said health educator Ashley Cook. She’s trying to get into the Hemphill schools to teach students about child abuse, teen dating violence and sex trafficking as part of her Lufkin-based nonprofit, Harold’s House.

But even Cook has to reassure school officials and parents that she will stick to euphemisms like “private parts,” even for middle and high school students.

“I don’t say the biological terms,” Cook said. “The schools are a little concerned about that, so I’m careful about how I use my language.”

Inconsistent sex education

Because sex education is voluntary, it’s not clear what Texas students know about sex and contraception. According to a , 58% of Texas school districts teach abstinence-only sex education while 17% teach an abstinence-plus curriculum that includes information about contraception. The remaining 25% teach no sex education at all.

Tenaha ISD in Shelby County — about 50 miles north of Hemphill — invited nonprofit Excellent Teen Choice to deliver abstinence-based lessons to students.

On a Friday morning in November, Excellent Teen Choice educator Eric Love, 47, launched into a class about sexually transmitted diseases as he stood before 10th graders at Tenaha High School.

“Did anybody know you could have sex and catch a disease? Isn’t that cool?” Love said sarcastically, his eyes wide and hands gesticulating wildly.

For 45 minutes, the high-energy instructor enthusiastically told students about the signs and symptoms of infections like gonorrhea, HPV and chlamydia. Students followed along in workbooks.

To demonstrate how widely the diseases can spread, students ran around the room collecting as many signatures as they could on index cards. Love then explained that each signature represented someone they had sex with.

Two students, unbeknownst to them, had tiny X’s printed on the corners of their notecards. That X, Love said, meant the student had a sexually transmitted disease.

“It’s living in their body and they’ve been transmitting the STD to other people, and they just don’t know it,” Love said.

He then had the two “infected” students stand at the front of the room and read the names on their cards. Now those students were infected, too, Love explained.

“I need you guys to understand the way this happened,” Love said. “Although this is a game, it’s not a game in real life.”

Love understood this personally. His half-sister became pregnant when she was in high school, an experience that inspired Love to educate young people about the consequences of premarital sex.

As students returned to their desks, Love flashed images on a screen at the front of the room. One showed pus-filled bumps on a male penis that made some students’ jaws drop. Another pictured an infected cervix, the narrow passageway between a woman’s vagina and her uterus. A student cocked his head and remarked that the fallopian tubes resembled frozen Tyson chicken wings.

Before students went on to their next classes, Love returned to his main point: abstinence. “It is our hope, our aim that you all will listen to this message: The best decision for your health, for your life, for your children’s lives is to save sex until marriage.”

Ninth grader Jasmine Santos said she was ignorant about STDs before the lesson.

“Now that I understand what can happen, I’ll probably say no [to sex] until marriage,” she said.

abstinence-only sex education or no sex education at all correlates with high teen birth rates. Medical experts, meanwhile, have championed comprehensive sex education.

When Brittany Henson, 33, attended Hemphill High School, she and her mother never talked about safe sex. The school district wasn’t teaching sex education, either. The gaps in her sex education were a byproduct of how little the town and the community had discussed the subject, Henson said.

“That is the culture of Hemphill. It is ‘Let’s not talk about it. It’s not a problem,’” said Henson, whose family has lived and worked in this town for generations. “People feel like it’s so wrong to talk about it. And like if you talk about it, ‘Oh, let me grab my shirt and button it all the way up to my neck because you shouldn’t be talking about these things.’”

Without formal sex education, Henson turned to other students. Their information was often incorrect.

“So, result? Hey, you got a baby,” she said.

Henson was in her junior year of high school when she got pregnant. She was on birth control but wasn’t taking her pills consistently and didn’t know that would raise her risk of pregnancy. She was, by no means, an anomaly. Five other girls in her high school class also got pregnant before graduation, she said.

Contraception access

Over the years, Valerie Polk has gotten very comfortable with subterfuge. Polk works at the only clinic in the region that has historically been able to prescribe birth control without parental consent, and she’s had to find creative ways to help young people protect themselves.

She’s met students off the highway, at the post office, on the bleachers during a high school football game and in the checkout line at the local Brookshire Brothers.

Once, in 2017, Polk wrapped contraceptive pills inside a Walmart bag and slipped the bag to a teen cashier at the local grocery store. The cashier laughed at Polk’s stagecraft before accepting the bag and putting it out of sight.

Valerie Polk, a public health worker at the Jasper Newton County Public Health District, describes the challenges of getting contraception to patients in a rural area.

“We do what we have to do to get our patients taken care of,” Polk said.

Polk has worked at the Jasper Newton County Public Health District for more than 25 years, providing health services to residents in Jasper and Newton counties as well as other nearby areas, including Sabine County.

The Jasper Newton County Public Health District is a federal Title X health care provider, one of 156 such clinics in the state. That has allowed Polk to give anyone birth control, free of charge. The Title X program has been one of the only ways minors in Texas can access birth control without parental consent. But last month, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas that Title X violates parents’ rights and state and federal law.

Legal proceedings are ongoing, but the state’s Title X administrator has instructed Title X clinics to stop giving out birth control to minor patients without proof of consent for now. The ruling has left Polk and her team in a bind. Starting this week, they now began requiring parental consent.

“This isn’t somewhere we’ve been before — where we really can’t help someone,” Polk said. “This is a new era for us. I just hope the ruling is overturned sooner rather than later.”

Already, over the past decade, the number of Title X clinics in the region has fallen, further impeding sexually active teenagers who want to avoid becoming pregnant. In 2011, there were four federally funded clinics in Deep East Texas. That number has been sliced in half, with just two clinics within a 100-mile radius of Sabine County. The Jasper Newton County Public Health District runs both those clinics — with one in Jasper and the other in Newton.

In Lufkin, a health care hub about 50 miles away from Sabine County, the Angelina County and Cities Health District suspended its contract with Title X in 2021, citing onerous requirements and paperwork. While the health district still provides contraception, teens must be 15 or older and have parental consent to receive it.

In 2011, in an effort to stop state dollars from flowing to Planned Parenthood’s health care clinics, Texas legislators — from $111 million to $37.9 million for the 2012-13 budget. Within three years, across the state shuttered, including those that were never affiliated with Planned Parenthood.

Some of the clinics that closed were also Title X providers. , which has administered the state’s Title X funds since 2013, has tried to rebuild the network of family planning services. But restarting services brings up a host of challenges.

“It’s a lot easier to close. It’s a lot harder to reopen a clinic,” said Stephanie LeBleu, the group’s acting deputy Title X project director. “We still see the legacy of that choice to cut family planning funding throughout the state.”

The Title X program has faced its own politically motivated attacks in recent years. Under the Trump administration, clinics that provided abortions or made abortion referrals were disqualified from the program.

Adding to the barriers to contraception access, the teens Polk wants to serve don’t even seem to know that Title X exists. Some teens who want birth control don’t know where to go for it. Few have formally been taught about sex. Those who have were instructed to abstain.

“The Bible Belt says, ‘No, we’re not going to talk to our kids about birth control,’” Polk said. “‘We’re not going to talk about premarital sex.’”

English, the Hemphill school superintendent, said contraception was not covered in the district’s sex education curriculum and he doubted students could access it if they wanted to.

Polk and her team have tried to get into the public schools to educate students about their options for contraception. But that’s been nearly impossible, she said.

“It may not be the superintendent, it could be the school board. It could be some parents that are going, ‘Oh, no, you’re going to tell my child about sex,’” Polk said.

What students do learn, Polk said, is often inaccurate information that comes from social media platforms like Snapchat or TikTok.

So Polk and her team do what they can to make themselves known in their community to address the misinformation. Outside of work, they wear health district T-shirts to raise its visibility. And when teenagers come in for appointments, Polk asks them to tell all their friends about their services.

Some doctors are also filling the gap left in education and access. George Fidone, a Lufkin pediatrician, said he speaks openly about sex with his adolescent patients and prescribes contraception on a weekly basis — but only with parental permission.

“I’ve had too many kids come in with their parents, and the parents think they’re coming in for a sore throat,” Fidone said. “And the kid will give me a look. And I’ll know that look is ‘I’m pregnant, and I need help with this.’”

Another thing that keeps teens from accessing birth control is that Texas is one of just two states that do not cover contraception through the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the insurance plan for low-income families. Also, state-funded family planning clinics require parental consent before minors can get contraception. Even a teenager who has had a baby cannot obtain birth control without parental consent.

Teen pregnancy

When Henson was a junior in high school, she bought an at-home pregnancy test from the local dollar store and took the test in her parents’ bathroom.

But after the two pink faint lines emerged, signaling she was pregnant, she didn’t call her mother. She didn’t call her older siblings who had already left home.

Instead, she initially kept quiet about her pregnancy. She took herself to and from doctors’ appointments. She continued to make straight A’s and work her job as a cashier at Brookshire Brothers. She said she even competed in the state track meet while five months pregnant.

“I just didn’t want to deal with the disappointment. … I wasn’t ready for that,” said Henson, who was an all-star athlete and a straight-A student. “I felt like I had the weight of not only my family, but the weight of my community.”

Hemphill and West Sabine school districts work with pregnant students to provide accommodations to get them to graduation, including homebound services late in the pregnancy. But teen moms are less likely to finish high school. Just over half of 20- to 29-year-old women who were teen moms have high school diplomas, according to a 2018 report from .

But after Henson gave birth to her daughter, she kept a firm grip on her dreams. She drove straight from the Jasper Memorial Hospital delivery room to the school athletics office to rejoin the school basketball team. She would go on to graduate high school on time and attend Sam Houston State University on a track scholarship.

Henson now lives in Hemphill. She’s worked as a nurse at the Sabine County Hospital. Her daughter, Bremyiah, now 16, attends the same high school she did.

Bremyiah is dating now, but Henson says she feels OK about it. She fiddles with a silver ring on her finger, emblazoned with the word “Mom” in cursive. She hopes she’s given her daughter the information to make the right decisions.

The mother and daughter talk about safe sex and contraception. Bremyiah doesn’t want to get on birth control, but Henson hopes her daughter can come to her if she changes her mind.

Last year, Henson drove Bremyiah to the gynecologist for the first time, an appointment where her daughter could get basic reproductive information from a doctor.

“What am I going here for?” Bremyiah asked as they were getting ready. “I’m not having a baby.”

“That’s the point. It’s to keep you from having a baby,” Henson said. “We gotta learn, we gotta learn.”

Reporter Eleanor Klibanoff, video journalist Jinitzail Hernández and data visualization fellow Caroline Covington contributed to this story.

Disclosure: Planned Parenthood, Sam Houston State University and Walmart Stores Inc. have 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 .

This article originally appeared in , a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

The Texas Education Agency a plethora of proposals that would, among other changes, require public schools to install silent panic alarms and automatic locks on exterior doors.

Other proposals include inspecting doors on a weekly basis to make sure they lock and can be opened from the outside only with a key. Two-way emergency radios would also have to be tested regularly. Schools would need to add some sort of vestibules so visitors can wait before being let in, and all ground-level windows would have to be made with bulletproof glass.

These proposed requirements come about five months after a gunman killed 21 people, including 19 children, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. The gunman entered a door that had been closed by a teacher, but the automatic lock failed.

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If approved, schools would have to start putting in place these safety measures starting in 2023. Before the end of this year, the education department will collect on the proposed rules.

The state has $400 million for increased safety measures that will be disbursed to districts. In the coming weeks, the education department will make a grant application available to districts. Districts will receive those grants based on enrollment, while smaller, rural schools will receive the minimum $200,000.

Proposing these safety measures is the latest action the state has taken to secure schools in the wake of the Uvalde shooting. In June, the education department that it would check all the locks on exterior doors prior to the start of the 2022-2023 school year and review every district’s school safety plans.

Matthew Gutierrez, superintendent of the Seguin Independent School District, said the safety measures that the state would require are needed, but he’s not sure smaller school districts like his would be able to meet a 2023 implementation date.

The 7,000-student district is located about 36 miles east from San Antonio.

Gutierrez also said he’s not sure if the funding available would be enough for the state’s 1,026 school districts that vary dramatically in size.

“We had the opportunity to look at costs and just how significant it would be when you think of [adding] shatterproof glass,” he said.

Upgrading aging schools will prove to be another monetary issue as they don’t have the infrastructure to be easily upgraded, Gutierrez said. As part of the midterm elections, the Seguin school district is asking its voters to approve a $15 million package that will go to upgrading security features on several campuses, but that’s nowhere near enough to cover what the district needs.

Brian Woods, superintendent of the Northside Independent School District, echoed Gutierrez and said his main concern is cost.

“What appears to be perhaps affordable given the size of the grant today may not be in six months because so many districts will be out spending money,” Woods said.

His school district includes the northwestern neighborhoods in San Antonio and serves about 102,000 students.

As Texas moves forward with different safety measures, there is no indication that beefing up security in schools has prevented violence. Rather, they can can be detrimental to children, especially Black and Hispanic children. Black students are overrepresented in all types of disciplinary referrals and than their white peers.

Advocates and Uvalde parents have criticized the state’s response in the months after the shooting, demanding state lawmakers raise the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle in the state from 18 to 21 years old.

They have to call a special session to make this happen. , who has signed legislation to expand gun rights, hasn’t budged.

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East Texas towns come to life on fall Friday nights when fans decked out in school colors fill stadiums to cheer on their high school football team. Marching bands, cheerleaders and drill teams ignite competitive spirits when decades-old rivalries kick off.

So when a shortage of bus drivers prevented Nacogdoches High School from transporting those student groups to an away football game in Titus County this month, the town was disheartened.

“The atmosphere is really not the same without the band and drill team there, playing and making noise for the team,” said Adrian Belista, a junior at Nacogdoches High and drum major for the band. “It was kind of like a missing piece.”

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Belista and his 205 band mates ended up putting on a performance at their home Dragon Stadium that mid-October Friday night while the football team played their game at Mount Pleasant — about a two-and-a half-hour bus trip — without their usual fandom or their pre-game fight song.

Across the state, school districts are improvising amid a national shortage of bus drivers. The issue is not new, school district officials said, but it has been exacerbated over the past few months by a , fueled by such factors as the COVID-19 pandemic, child care challenges and a slowdown in immigration.

In a February 2022 national from the American Public Transportation Association, 71% of transit agencies reported that they’ve had to cut or delay service because of worker shortfalls.

The problem is heightened in sprawling rural areas such as East Texas, where commutes tend to be longer and labor is already in short supply.

“Part of the problem is that it’s not just us looking for help, but down the road Pilgrim’s Pride is looking for drivers at their processing plant, and Tyson [Foods] in Center is looking for help,” said Les Linebarger, spokesperson for the Nacogdoches school district, which runs about 40 daily bus routes. “We are all competing for that same small labor pool.”

The district reached out to multiple charter bus companies to help transport students to the recent football game, but they were all booked.

Farther north in Longview, the school district has filled vacant driver roles over the past few weeks. But without subs or alternate drivers, the district continues to run into problems whenever a driver calls in sick. When that happened in late October, the district combined two bus routes, placing more kids than usual on a single yellow bus.

Wayne Guidry, who serves as superintendent of business, transportation and technology, wasn’t surprised when a fight broke out between students on the bus that day.

“Ninety-eight percent of our problems come from kids having to be combined on buses,” Guidry said. “That’s when all the incidents like this happen.”

Districts have tried to combat the driver shortage by raising pay rates for bus drivers and by holding job fairs.

In Tyler, the school district’s communication team ran a targeted recruitment campaign last year, putting slogans like “Parents Do This for Free; We’ll Pay You’” on the sides of buses.

The Tyler school district also pays for the training drivers are required to complete before taking the test for a commercial driver’s license. Potential employees are hired as bus driver trainees at $12 an hour and get their commercial learner’s permit while taking the self-paced class. The class usually takes about two to three weeks to complete, according to the district’s spokesperson, Jennifer Hines. She said the program has helped the district with its 154 daily routes, but they are still short by eight drivers. Some district leaders said that new federal training requirements for bus drivers are excessive and make it too hard to hire new employees.

The U.S. Department of Transportation sets baseline training requirements for entry-level drivers. A was put in place in February, requiring drivers to take a class before taking the CDL test for a permit. Those classes must be taken through an entity approved by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and can take two to three weeks and cost hundreds of dollars.

“It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” Linebarger said. “Of course we want properly trained drivers and we want safe drivers, but on the other hand if it’s more difficult to become licensed, that’s going to affect your numbers.”

This article originally appeared in , a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

As political races go, candidates for the Texas State Board of Education are often overlooked, making their races a perennial wallflower in Texas politics.

But this year, after a erupted in local school board races in suburbs across the state, more eyes are on who will be elected to the board that dictates what should be in teachers’ lesson plans in Texas’ 1,200 public school districts. Parents in some of these districts have become a vocal force coming out of the pandemic, questioning everything from why and when schools should close to what books are appropriate to be in school libraries to how thorough history lessons should be.

“One thing that strikes me is that it mirrors what we’re seeing in local school board elections,” said Rebecca Deen, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.

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And thanks to — the post-U.S. census exercise in which boundaries for State Board of Education districts, along with legislative and congressional districts, are redrawn every decade — all 15 seats on the education board are up for grabs.

While nine incumbents — six Republicans and three Democrats — are seeking reelection, many close observers of these often-ignored races are watching to see if the board moves further to the right or whether incumbents will be able to win back their seats. A total of 33 candidates — 14 Republicans, 11 Democrats, two independents and three Libertarians — are vying for those 15 seats.

Deen said that like local school board elections, state education board races are low turnout, so candidates try to focus on hot-button issues.

“The State Board of Education is not new to social movements,” Deen said. “What has come back again is the intensity of the debate in this education space.”

And if there’s anything to help challengers stand out, it’s a new Texas that went into effect last year and bars teachers from subjecting students to anything that makes them “feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress” based on their race or sex. The measure was designed to counter what conservatives term “critical race theory” — a broad term used to describe what they see as indoctrination: attempts by a school to offer a more comprehensive look at American history.

In truth, critical race theory is a college-level discipline that examines why racism continues in American law and culture decades after the civil rights movement in the United States. It is not taught in elementary or secondary schools in Texas.

But that hasn’t stopped conservative candidates from keeping an “anti-CRT” plank from their state education board campaign literature.

Two Republican incumbents on the state board lost their primaries to candidates promising to get critical race theory out of classrooms. lost his primary in District 15, in the Panhandle, and lost hers in District 14, covering parts of North Texas..

The case of a third Republican board member, , also highlights this more conservative push. Robinson did not seek reelection in District 7, which covers part of the Gulf Coast, because he didn’t think he could beat challenger Julie Pickren, who has made so-called critical race theory a central part of her campaign. Robinson has endorsed the Democrat in the race, Dan Hochman. Pickren did not respond to a request for comment.

“I could tell that I wasn’t gonna win reelection in the Republican primary,” Robinson said in September. “The State Board of Education moved quite a bit to the right in the last two or three years, and it’s just responded to how the Republican Party in Texas is.”

running for places on the board won their primaries in March by touting as a top priority how they will prevent the teaching of “critical race theory.” Conservatives at local school boards spent an unprecedented amount of money and won this spring based on their opposition to districts offering a more to students.

The issue over what conservatives call critical race theory has been in play up and down the ballot — and outside of Texas, including a GOP victory for the , who campaigned on a pledge to ban the teaching of critical race theory.

Hochman, the Democratic candidate in the District 7 race, said he fears that the board will shift more to the right if someone like Pickren gets elected. As someone with 25 years of education experience, he believes it’s his duty to do something about it.

“I need to block those attempts at ruining public education in this state,” he said.

The new board will have a large influence over potential changes to the social studies curriculum in the state’s more than 8,000 public schools. Before the elections, the State Board of Education decided to updating the statewide social studies curriculum standards until at least 2025.

The board’s decision came after conservative lawmakers and parents testified that the proposed updates were influenced by critical race theory and didn’t include enough “American exceptionalism” or Christianity.

Board members like Republicans and deny that they were pressured to delay the overhaul of the social studies curriculum. Instead, they said they felt some of the content proposed was not age-appropriate and they wanted to keep the current course schedule of requiring Texas history in the fourth and seventh grades. The proposals before the board this summer would have eliminated the current schedule. Hickman is seeking reelection in District 6, covering parts of the Houston area, and Little is running in District 12, covering parts of North Texas.

The board updates the statewide standards for the state’s 5.5 million students of all grades about once every decade.

For decades, conservative Christians have monitored and lobbied against more diverse or comprehensive classroom instruction both as advocates before the board and as elected members. Most recently, between 2006 and 2010, a Christian conservative bloc on the state board, led by then-board member Don McLeroy, inserted its ideals into history standards, such as questioning evolution and including the biblical figure Moses in history classes.

“We are likely to see an even more conservative State Board of Education next year,” said Carisa Lopez, senior political director at the Texas Freedom Network, which has fought for more inclusive classroom materials since the group’s inception in 1995.

But conservative organizations like Texas Values the delay of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, describing it as a vote to “reject Critical Race Theory.”

“Now, the State Board of Education has time to get it right and consider better TEKS that will continue to teach about patriotic historical values and Judeo-Christian heritage in American and Texas History,” said Mary Elizabeth Castle, senior policy adviser for Texas Values, in a statement following the vote to delay.

Because the 15 races are tied to specific districts, Deen said for Republicans, it’s not about getting people motivated to vote, but making sure the candidates appeal to the voters.

In this case, being firmly against critical race theory, however they define it, is something conservatives value, she said.

In District 15, Republican challenger Aaron Kinsey ousted GOP incumbent Johnson in the March primary. Kinsey was endorsed by Lt. Gov. and former Gov. Rick Perry. Kinsey also received a donation from conservative megadonor Tim Dunn and large donations from the Charter Schools Now political action committee, the political arm of the Texas Public Charter Schools Association.

Kinsey has said that critical race theory is taught under different guises and that Texas needs teachers who can identify how it is being rebranded. He is running unopposed.

In District 2, which covers part of the Gulf Coast, Republican LJ Francis won the Republican primary for the open seat and based his campaign on banning critical race theory from schools, claiming that “woke liberals” are pushing a critical race theory agenda. He faces Democrat Victor Perez.

In District 11, which covers parts of Tarrant and Parker counties, Republican incumbent won the nomination. She was first elected in 2002. Going into the primaries, Hardy made it a priority to get critical race theory and the New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning “1619 Project” out of classrooms. Texas law already prohibits teaching about “The 1619 Project.”

Disclosure: Texas Freedom Network, Texas Public Charter Schools Association, New York Times and University of Texas – Arlington have 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 .

This article originally appeared in , a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.