Policy Alert on Legislative Changes to District Policy Manuals 

On July 8, 2025, TASB Policy Service sent superintendents, their assistants, and policy contacts a Policy Alert relating to legislative changes for your policy manual. Many of the changes from the 89th Legislative Session will take effect before districts receive Update 126 in October, and districts understandably want to ensure that their policies meet new requirements as quickly as possible.

As in previous legislative years, there is an unavoidable preparation time while Legal Services and Policy Service develop appropriate policy recommendations and process the large post-legislative update. To address this time during which local policies may not yet comply with new laws, several years ago Policy Service recommended the following provision on harmony with law be included in policy BF(LOCAL):

Newly enacted law is applicable when effective. No policy or regulation, or any portion thereof, shall be operative if it is found to be in conflict with applicable law

This year, there are some new laws that will require board action very quickly:

• SB 13 changes how library materials are acquired and challenged. The law becomes effective on September 1, 2025, but compliant policy language is required for the 2025-2026 school year.
• SB 401 indicates that if a district wants to prohibit homeschool students from participating in extracurricular activities through the district, it must adopt a policy indicating such. Failure to adopt the policy by September 1, 2025, means acceptance of homeschool students (whether or not they live within the district boundaries) into those programs. If districts do not adopt a policy before the deadline, they may do so for subsequent years as long as the policy is adopted before August 1 in subsequent years.
• HB 1481 requires school districts to prohibit student use of personal communication devices at school during the school day. Districts may choose not to allow possession on property or to establish processes for storage of such devices during the school day.  There are limited exceptions allowable for the use of the devices. This law becomes effective September 18, 2025, but as a practical matter, boards may wish to act before the start of the 2025-26 school year.

Your policy BF(LOCAL) likely includes language that will allow you to adopt policy language in one meeting rather than requiring multiple readings when time is of the essence.

Learn how a bill becomes a policy recommendation.