{"id":257151,"date":"2025-09-26T22:25:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T22:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/257151\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T22:25:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T22:25:13","slug":"local-schools-send-new-parent-consent-forms-at-different-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/257151\/","title":{"rendered":"Local schools send new parent consent forms at different times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the 2025-26 school year well underway, San Antonio area school districts have taken inconsistent approaches complying with a new state mandate requiring schools to get parental consent for most student health services.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The mandate for new parental consent forms is only a small bite of a much larger piece of Republican-led legislation championing parental rights, and it\u2019s caused <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2025\/09\/11\/texas-tea-sb-12-school-nurses-guidance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">confusion among school employees<\/a> who provide students health services.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Passed during the 89th Legislative Session, <a href=\"https:\/\/capitol.texas.gov\/tlodocs\/89R\/billtext\/pdf\/HB00012F.pdf#navpanes=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate Bill 12<\/a> went into effect as soon as it was signed into law in June, giving school districts less time to implement the new mandates.\u00a0The law bans diversity, equity and inclusion practices, instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity and LGBTQ+ student clubs.<\/p>\n<p>Education experts say school districts will be adopting new policies related to SB 12 for months to come, but the medical consent form portion is one of the more pressing items. <\/p>\n<p>Which health services can parents control?<\/p>\n<p>SB 12 requires parents to opt in or out on behalf of their child for any health care, mental health or health-related services a public school might provide.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Services that require parental consent include:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Administration of over-the-counter medications\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Administration of prescription medications\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Monitoring of chronic health conditions like asthma or diabetes<\/li>\n<li>Vision, hearing, and scoliosis screenings<\/li>\n<li>Lice screening<\/li>\n<li>Risk assessments for Type 2 Diabetes in children<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Services that don\u2019t need parental consent include:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>General caretaking, or noninvasive actions taken when a child claims feeling unwell<\/li>\n<li>Medical emergencies or those required by law<\/li>\n<li>Immediate student safety situations<\/li>\n<li>Support during illness or physical symptoms at school<\/li>\n<li>Heat illness prevention and injury support for student athletes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>On the mental health front, schools need parental consent to provide individual counseling, small group counseling, behavioral observation and referrals to other mental health providers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Students are allowed to consent to their own counseling when it comes to suicide and self-harm prevention, grief support after traumatic events or situations involving suspected neglect, abuse or drug addiction.<\/p>\n<p>Parents will be asked to send medical consent forms every school year. <\/p>\n<p>School districts send forms with little guidance<\/p>\n<p>San Antonio Independent School District was one of the first districts in San Antonio to release parental consent forms in late August, asking parents to complete and return the forms by Sept. 5. <\/p>\n<p>So far, the district has received forms back from parents for at least half of its students.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Initially offering guidance on the new consent forms on Aug. 28, the Texas Education Agency released <a href=\"https:\/\/tea.texas.gov\/about-tea\/news-and-multimedia\/correspondence\/taa-letters\/updated-sb-12-guidance-required-parental-rights-form-and-right-to-health-related-services-information\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more instructions<\/a> on Sept. 11 after receiving questions from \u201cvarious stakeholders\u201d wanting clarity on which services school nurses and counselors were allowed to provide without getting a yes from parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince the original guidance was released, school systems and parents have raised questions about which services related to a student\u2019s health require active, informed consent,\u201d the TEA wrote to school administrators.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The TEA also shared a <a href=\"https:\/\/tea.texas.gov\/about-tea\/laws-and-rules\/draft-rule-text-to-comply-with-sb-12-tec-260083.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">draft of \u201cpotential rules\u201d<\/a> that could change during the agency\u2019s rulemaking process, which includes gathering public input.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In its update, the TEA made a distinction between \u201chealth-related\u201d and \u201chealth-care\u201d services.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Health-related services don\u2019t require parental consent and the agency defines them as short-term, noninvasive activities designed to promote a student\u2019s overall wellbeing. Examples include first aid, mental health screenings, suicide and substance abuse prevention or vision\/scoliosis screenings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Health-care services, according to the TEA\u2019s first draft, require signed consent and meet the definition of either psychological or psychiatric examination, psychological or psychiatric treatment and dispensing medicine.<\/p>\n<p>SAISD\u2019s form asks parents to grant or refuse consent for all of the services schools usually provide or write down which specific services they don\u2019t consent to.<\/p>\n<p>Like SAISD, Northside ISD released forms before TEA issued further guidance. The district emailed parents on Sept. 8 asking them to fill out consent forms and turn them in by Sept. 19.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Northside\u2019s form asked parents two questions: whether to opt in or out of school health services and whether to opt in or out of school-based mental health services.\u00a0As of Sept. 22, the district was at a 37% consent form completion rate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParents wishing to withhold consent for or decline any individual health related or mental health service can also contact their child\u2019s school directly for further assistance,\u201d Northside wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Northside\u2019s parent forms also note all district employees are legally required to report alleged abuse or neglect of a student and can ask a student about their well-being without parental consent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of the need for further clarity that has been expressed \u2026 especially for those school systems that have established a blanket opt-in requirement for all services TEA expects those school systems to update their forms to align with this updated guidance and the original statute as quickly as is practical,\u201d the agency wrote.<\/p>\n<p>IDEA Public Schools, a charter district with 15 schools in San Antonio, is issuing brand new consent forms to \u201censure full compliance with the law.\u201d The district says forms sent before TEA\u2019s updated guidance were compliant with the law, but updated versions are being sent based on the agency\u2019s new directions. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIDEA values the trust families place in us, and we are dedicated to keeping parents informed and engaged in decisions affecting their children,\u201d a spokesperson for IDEA Public Schools said. \u201cUpdated consent forms will be distributed to families in the coming weeks.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Some schools districts take longer approach<\/p>\n<p>Other San Antonio school districts have been slower to send parents the consent forms as they wait for more guidance or work out the kinks on an implementation process.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>North East ISD and Alamo Heights ISD, for example, haven\u2019t sent out medical consent forms as of time of publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Alamo Heights is reviewing guidance from the Texas Association of School Boards, which just released new guidelines based on TEA\u2019s Sept. 11 update.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>North East is currently developing a new application within its own system so parents\u2019 preferences are logged correctly, said district spokesperson Aubrey Chancellor. After collecting forms, the district\u2019s nurses will receive training on the system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to ensure compliance but implementation takes time,\u201d Chancellor said. \u201cWe want it to be convenient for parents but it must be accurate.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The district plans to send out forms next week.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the 2025-26 school year well underway, San Antonio area school districts have taken inconsistent approaches complying with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":257152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[20700,43174,5229,7344,93628,21879,21880,7202,7203,135259,135260,358,3187,7815,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,7594],"class_list":{"0":"post-257151","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-89th-texas-legislative-session","9":"tag-alamo-heights-isd","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-idea-public-schools","12":"tag-north-east-isd","13":"tag-northside-isd","14":"tag-saisd","15":"tag-san-antonio","16":"tag-sanantonio","17":"tag-sb-12","18":"tag-school-health","19":"tag-texas","20":"tag-tx","21":"tag-typedaily","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-usa","28":"tag-wc-1000-1500"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}