Fact Check: New Texas law will make it easier to suspend homeless students
Starting in September 2025, Texas will begin suspending homeless students.
Rating:
What's True:
Texas lawmakers overturned a law that banned the suspension of homeless students and students in lower grades, except in extreme cases which may involve drugs, weapons or violence …
What's False:
… However, this does not mean students will be suspended for being homeless. Rather, the new rule will make it easier for schools to give homeless students and younger students out-of-school suspensions for offenses less severe than the ones outlined above. Further, schools that had been placed under "corrective action plans" for suspending homeless students in the 2023-24 school year will reportedly remain under those plans.
In August 2025, a rumor spread that Texas would start suspending homeless students from its schools beginning in September 2025.
For example, a post on X (archived) claimed Texas schools would now be able to suspend children "due to them being homeless":
The same claim appeared several times on X. On Facebook, an image with the text "TEXAS WILL START SUSPENDING STUDENTS WHO ARE HOMELESS OR COME FROM UNSTABLE HOMES IN SEPTEMBER" circulated widely. Further, Snopes readers searched the website and sent emails as they sought to confirm the veracity of the claim.
Snopes found that, the Texas legislature had indeed passed a bill that made it easier for schools to suspend homeless students and students below the third grade. The bill, which has been signed into law, overturned previous legislation that allowed such out-of-school suspensions only for serious offenses. However, the new law did not allow schools to suspend homeless children only because they were homeless.
Texas House Bill 6 "Relating to discipline management and access to telehealth mental health services in public schools" gave more flexibility for schools to suspend homeless and younger students. Prior to this, the law in Texas allowed out-of-school suspension of homeless children and younger children only for offenses related to weapons, alcohol, drugs or violence. This was to comply with the federal McKinney-Vento Act of 1987, which provided extra protections for vulnerable children, such as those who are experiencing homelessness.
Under the new law, those students may be suspended out of school for less-serious offenses, such as "conduct that threatens the immediate health and safety of other students in the classroom" and "documented conduct that results in repeated or significant disruption to the classroom."
However, schools in San Antonio, which an investigative report by the Houston Landing and the San Antonio Report had shown had broken the old rule, will reportedly remain under corrective action plans by the Texas Education Agency for suspending vulnerable students for lesser offenses, acording to the San Antonio Report.
Asher Lehrer-Small. "Exclusive: Texas Schools Illegally Suspended Thousands of Homeless Students — and Nobody Stopped Them." Houston Landing, 23 May 2024, houstonlanding.org/texas-homeless-student-suspension-school/. Accessed 14 Aug. 2025.
"Case# SRDR2024-07-13 | AGREED CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN." Sanantonioreport.org, Texas Education Agency, 2025, sanantonioreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Northside_ISD_SRDR2024_07_13_CAP.pdf. Accessed 14 Aug. 2025.
Garcia, Xochilt. "The Texas Law Banning the Suspension of Homeless Students Was Overturned. San Antonio Schools Still Face Consequences." San Antonio Report, 7 July 2025, sanantonioreport.org/the-texas-law-banning-the-suspension-of-homeless-students-was-overturned-san-antonio-schools-still-face-consequences/. Accessed 14 Aug. 2025.
National Center for Homeless Education. "The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act." National Center for Homeless Education, 2023, nche.ed.gov/legislation/mckinney-vento/. Accessed 14 Aug. 2025.
"Texas HB6 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature." LegiScan, 2025, legiscan.com/TX/text/HB6/2025. Accessed 14 Aug. 2025.
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