Senate Bill 3 takes the place of House Bill 3979, and is effective September 1, 2021:

• Section 3 (course credit for civic engagement) of the bill is effective at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year.
  
• Training sections and advisory board are effective September 1, 2021. 
• Rules that must be adopted by the TXSBOE must be adopted by December 31, 2022.

Below are summaries from the Texas Legislative Education Equity Coalition:

To: El Paso & Dona Ana County Schools, Public & Private,

We are a coalition of providers that serve the children of the Borderland. As a collective we are extremely concerned about the new Delta Variant of the COVID-19 virus. In particular, the CDC has indicated this variant is more contagious and highly transmissible to younger persons. We are recommending as a group, the following safety guidelines in accordance with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations. These guidelines are to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus and to guide the schools with possible/and or positive cases. The priority is to continue in-person learning and not have to resort to 100% virtual learning.

Prevention:

1. Vaccination is the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Promoting vaccination can help schools safely return to in-person learning as well as extracurricular activities and sports.
2. Due to the circulating and highly contagious Delta variant, AAP recommends universal indoor masking by all students (age 2 and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status. Masks should also be worn on school buses.
3. In addition to universal indoor masking, AAP recommends schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms to reduce transmission risk. This physical distance should also be implemented on school buses.
4. Consider adding Plexiglas dividers on student’s desks, mainly those who are 12 years and younger, who do not qualify for a COVID-19 vaccine.
5. Symptom screening, on campus testing, ventilation, hand-washing, respiratory etiquette, cleaning, disinfection, staying home when sick, testing when symptomatic or if exposed, contact tracing in combination with quarantine and isolation, are also important layers of prevention to keep schools safe.
6. Students are required to quarantine if they are COVID-19 positive, awaiting test results or have been exposed to COVID-19 (if not fully vaccinated). They should also have access to virtual learning during their period of quarantine.
7. We also encourage virtual learning options for students who are immunocompromised or with special needs.