Richardson ISD students return to classrooms this week for the start of the 2025-26 school year.
Wallace Elementary. Photo by Carol Toler.
The district will begin classes on Aug. 12. On the district’s website, families can review important information on enrollment, nutrition, dress codes and transportation.
At an Aug. 7 board of trustees meeting, Superintendent Tabitha Branum provided a succinct back-to-school update.
“School starts Aug. 12,” Branum said. “We are ready.”
Branum’s statement came after more than three hours of discussion on district-wide issues. Much of the meeting was spent covering significant reforms enacted by the Texas Legislature over the summer and how they will affect RISD’s policies going forward. To comply with bills such as HB 6 and HB 1481, trustees approved changes to the district’s policies regarding cellphone use, student conduct and library materials.
HB 6, which Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law on June 20, was extensively discussed at the board meeting before trustees adopted an amended, compliant student code of conduct for the 2025–26 school year. The bill broadly expands administrative staff’s abilities to enforce school discipline for a variety of offenses.
“We can’t reach our North Star goal if we don’t have a code of conduct where we’re keeping students safe, teachers safe, and they feel comfortable at school,” Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services Matthew Gibbons said at the meeting. “Again, we always want to highlight the North Star goal, and if we don’t have a great code of conduct that is holding kids accountable, then we won’t be able to meet that.”
HB 6 dictates that districts like RISD designate a behavior coordinator to monitor, catalogue and assess behavioral issues at each school. It also practically eliminates restrictions on how long students can spend in in-school suspension. Under the bill, the maximum period allowed for in-school suspension is indefinite, whereas previously students could spend no longer than three days in ISS.
Under the newly adopted student code of conduct, students caught with e-cigarettes will face 10 days of in-school suspension. Last year, RISD students caught with e-cigarettes faced only two days in ISS. First-time offenders may be placed in a disciplinary alternative education program instead of ISS.
The board also amended the code of conduct to strengthen penalties for fighting at the high school level. Offending students will spend longer periods in alternative education under the new code. After a second fight, offenders will be banned from extracurricular events like football games.
Districts across the state are making changes to cellphone policies in response to HB 1481, which bans personal device usage during the school day on school property. RISD has maintained a cell phone-free policy since the 2022-23 school year and currently employs Yondr pouches at most district secondary schools to secure students’ personal devices during the school day.
While the district has been cell-phone free for four years and has clearly outlined disciplinary actions for violations, trustees approved further penalties for cellphone use at the meeting. One such penalty is the revocation of exam exemptions — a privilege extended to certain upper-class students to forgo a spring exam — for a third cellphone offense.
Also new for this school year will be the implementation of a School Library Advisory Council (SLAC). SB 13, which broadly addresses library policy in the state, allows districts to create an oversight committee for library materials. Made up of parents appointed by trustees, the SLAC will evaluate and make recommendations on all new materials destined for district libraries.
This will be the first year that Texas school districts are required to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms under SB 10. Under the new law, which goes into effect Sept. 1, districts will be required to display a legible, framed copy of the Ten Commandments in each classroom. SB 10 does not require districts to purchase copies, but instead mandates that donated versions meeting the parameters set under the bill be displayed.
At the board meeting, trustees voted to call a bond election for Nov. 4 based on recommendations made by the bond steering committee. With a total value of $1.4 billion, three separate bond propositions will be voted on in the fall. The proposal also includes a $0.04 hike in the property tax rate.
Valued at $1,338,600,000, the first proposition will fund construction projects around the district, including the remodeling/construction of six junior high school buildings to complete the middle school transition plan. In Lake Highlands, both of the former junior highs have already made the transition with construction projects funded by the 2021 bond. The general bond proposition would also allocate $84 million towards the construction of a Career and Technology Education center.
The second proposition ($54 million) will fund technology services around the district, while the third ($7.5 million) will go toward stadium upgrades at Wildcat-Ram and Eagle-Mustang Stadiums. ADA upgrades, LED lighting and turf replacement were identified as potential improvements under the third proposition during the board meeting.
More back-to-school information can be found on RISD’s website.
