What Is the TASB Policy Reference Manual?

TASB’s Policy Reference Manual (PRM) is a school law resource that includes legally referenced policies and exhibits governing Texas public schools. The PRM presents law by topic so users can quickly find law about everything from establishing a district’s name to relations with other governmental entities. These policies and exhibits provide citations to the legal sources they draw from, including:

• The U.S. and Texas Constitutions
• Federal and state statutes, including the Texas Education Code
• Attorney general opinions
• The Texas Administrative Code, including commissioner’s and State Board of Education rules
• Case law and other sources of legal authority

TASB Policy Service and Legal Services update the PRM two to three times a year whenever we issue a numbered update to districts.

Use the PRM to Keep Up with Changes in School Law

The PRM is a valuable resource for current law governing Texas schools. Because updated legal policies are not included in a district’s customized Policy Online manual until the board has acted on a numbered update, TASB makes the most current legal policies available in the PRM. TASB helps administrators and attorneys keep up with these legal changes by providing an annotated update packet showing revisions, additions, and deletions to legal policies and exhibits with explanations of the changes.

When to Use Other TASB Resources

Since the PRM is a general reference document, it is not customized for each school district. The PRM also does not include any district’s local policies as adopted by the board. Your district’s legal policy may differ from the PRM because of your district’s circumstances. For example:

• The PRM includes legal policy on calculation of class rank and graduation requirements, but a district that does not provide high school instruction will not have these legal policies in its manual.
• Some district’s election practice policies vary from those in the PRM, like certain school districts on military bases that have boards appointed by the State Board of Education rather than elected by district voters.
• A district of innovation with an exemption from state law addressed in a particular policy will have a header referring the reader to the district’s innovation plan for more information about that exemption.

To fully understand the law and policies that govern a particular district’s operations, users should consult the district’s customized policy manual and read both the legal and local policies as well as any administrative regulations, guidelines, or procedures the district has developed to govern district operations.

If you have questions about the PRM or the legal or local policies in your district’s customized policy manual, please contact your Policy Service consultant.

If your district already has a Policy Service membership, find out who your policy consultant is by logging to your TASB Dashboard.