Lake Travis ISD and other Texas schools adjust to Senate Bill 12

By: Erin Merritt

guy6@txstate.edu

SAN MARCOS, TX – Senate Bill 12, passed this June, has Lake Travis ISD – and schools around Texas – rebuilding their policies, leaving many teachers, parents and students conflicted. 

Written by Senator Brandon Creighton (R), Senate Bill 12 has barred K-12 public districts in Texas from including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. This includes use of race, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, and requires parent-written consent for students to join any club based on these factors.

Reactions to this bill have been split. Critics claim the measure discriminates against the LGBT+ community, silences diversity discussion and erases safe spaces for certain groups, leading to an increase in mental health challenges in students. Supporters, on the other hand, argue that the bill brings back transparency, and allows parents to have more authority over what their children are exposed to at school. 

School districts throughout Texas are having to readjust to this bill, which is still going on today. Dr. Bethany Medford, the assistant superintendent for school leadership at Lake Travis Independent School District (ISD) says even though the bill passed months ago, they are still trying to find the right procedures for this new law. 

“It affects really everyone in the school district from the superintendent down to the kids because the superintendent's in charge of everything, right?” Medford said. “And then those of us at the central office have to create the systems to organize it, right? So how do we know if a kid has permission to see the counselor? How do we know if they have clubs and nurse and all these things?” 

In regards to counseling, Dr. Medford worries that parents will turn down the service in the consent form, without taking into account the academic benefits. 

“I work in the school system, and I used to have to call my kids' counselor and be like, do they have the right credits? Are we in the right classes? They want to do this when they go to college,” Medford said. “Are they in the right physics class, you know, whatever. I counted on them. I don't know that everybody realizes that they have that part of it, right? and then applications for college scholarships. And so it's so much bigger than like therapy.”

Lake Travis has to send out consent once a year, through the website Skyward Family Access. This form states that a parent must give permission before a student gets physical care such as seeing the nurse or getting vision/hearing tests, as well as mental care, such as counseling. This bill also applies to extracurricular activities and social clubs. Lake Travis also has a “frequently asked questions” section for parents seeking more guidance on this topic. 

It’s not just central Texas that is having to adjust certain policies. A choir teacher in North Texas, Adam LeMaire, said that nothing’s really changed around the district for them, except the permission slips. LeMaire teaches for Celina ISD, instructing 6th to 12th grade choirs. 

“I think I could provide some insight though, in Celina, it has not changed much of anything,” LeMaire said.  “I bet bigger districts with more social diversity would have bigger issues with this such as Austin, Houston, San Antonio, or Dallas ISDs.”

Due to this bill, education students in Texas are also having to adjust. Kenley Weeks, a graduate student at Texas State, is set to start student teaching in the Spring, and become a full time teacher this Fall. Critical of the bill, Weeks worries that students will be more closed off when it comes to learning about diversity in the world. 

“That's [DEI] something that kids need to learn about, whether, you know, it's in a very simplified form or not,” Weeks said. “They need to, you know, understand that people are different from them and that's okay. By taking away that kind of education, I feel like it's going to have a negative effect in the future with how they perceive other people and how they interact with other people in the world.”

Certain teachers are having to change the way they talk to students. One teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, said that he has started calling all his students by their last name in the roll call, so as not to “deadname” anyone. If a parent doesn’t consent to talking about that, the teacher can’t do anything about it, except call them by their last name. This teacher in particular said he feels bad about having to do this, as it strips away some of the students' individuality.

Senate Bill 12, even though it was passed in June, is still affecting students and teachers everywhere, and the process of adjustment is one that will be ongoing.