Abbott Proposes 10-Year Minimum for Educator Sex Crimes

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is calling for significantly tougher criminal penalties for educators who sexually abuse students, proposing a mandatory minimum prison sentence and other restrictions intended to ensure those convicted of improper relationships with students spend substantial time behind bars.

Abbott unveiled the proposal during an August 11 roundtable in Lubbock with law enforcement officials, school administrators, House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock), and survivors of educator sexual misconduct. According to Abbott, more than 1,600 allegations of inappropriate educator-student relationships were reported during the last year, nearly three times the number from the previous year.

“Clearly, the message has not been received to stop assaulting students in our schools,” Abbott said.

The proposal would not simply increase the potential punishment available following a conviction. Abbott wants Texas law to establish a minimum amount of time an offender must spend in prison while eliminating several alternatives that could allow someone to avoid or shorten that incarceration.

But the governor's announcement also reaches beyond sentencing. His comments about prevention and institutional accountability come after Texas lawmakers have spent years strengthening educator misconduct laws, including measures intended to stop schools from “passing the trash” and a 2025 law allowing public schools to face civil liability for certain failures involving sexual misconduct against students.

That history raises a broader question heading toward the 90th Legislative Session, which begins in January 2027. Does Texas need additional laws, stronger enforcement of the laws already on the books, or some combination of both?

Abbott Proposes a 10-Year Minimum for Texas Educator Sex Crimes

At the center of Abbott's Texas student protection proposal is a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison for individuals convicted of an improper relationship between an educator and student.

Those convicted would also be required to register as sex offenders. They would not be eligible for community supervision or deferred adjudication instead of incarceration and could not receive parole or mandatory supervision before serving the required 10 years. Abbott's proposal summarizes the approach as “zero tolerance” for offenders who prey on students.

“In the past, some teachers have had sex with students and got only probation. Not anymore in Texas,” Abbott said.

Prosecutors could apparently continue negotiating plea agreements under the proposal. The significant difference is that a qualifying conviction, whether obtained through a trial or plea agreement, would still require the offender to spend at least a decade behind bars.

“No more probation, not two years, not five years, but 10 years,” Abbott said.

That distinction is important. Abbott is not merely proposing a higher maximum penalty. A mandatory 10-year floor would represent a legislative determination that no qualifying conviction should result in less than a decade of incarceration.

Texas Has Spent Years Fighting “Pass the Trash”

Abbott's proposal is the latest development in a much longer effort by Texas policymakers to address sexual misconduct involving educators and students.

One recurring concern has been the practice commonly described as “pass the trash,” in which an educator accused of serious misconduct leaves one school without adequate information about the allegations following that employee, potentially allowing the individual to obtain another job around students.

Texas lawmakers took significant action against the practice in the 85th Legislative Session (2017) with Senate Bill 7 (SB 7), authored by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston). The legislation strengthened educator misconduct reporting requirements and established additional consequences intended to prevent allegations of serious misconduct from disappearing when an educator changed jobs.

Lawmakers returned to the issue during the 89th Legislative Session (2025) with Senate Bill 571 (SB 571), also authored by Bettencourt. The legislation shortened certain reporting timelines, strengthened requirements surrounding the state's Do Not Hire Registry, and increased consequences for failures to report suspected misconduct.

Texas has also increased its administrative focus on the issue. In February 2026, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath appointed Levi Fuller as the Texas Education Agency's first Inspector General for Educator Misconduct, creating a dedicated position focused on misconduct investigations and enforcement.

Those reforms mean Texas is not starting from scratch. The state already has reporting requirements, employment restrictions, certification consequences, the Do Not Hire Registry, and a dedicated enforcement office intended to keep dangerous employees away from students.

That makes enforcement an important part of the coming debate. Additional requirements may be warranted where genuine gaps remain, but repeatedly adding new mandates will accomplish little if existing requirements are not followed or adequately enforced. Lawmakers should examine whether allegations are consistently reported, whether information reaches TEA quickly enough, whether relevant findings follow educators seeking employment elsewhere, and whether administrators who violate reporting requirements face meaningful consequences.

Due process remains essential. An allegation is not proof of misconduct, and an accused employee should not automatically be treated as guilty. But protecting due process does not require allowing credible allegations to disappear when an employee resigns or moves to another district.

Texas Already Expanded School District Liability Through HB 4623

Texas lawmakers went beyond reporting and employment safeguards during the 2025 legislative session by creating a new avenue for holding public schools themselves accountable.

House Bill 4623 (HB 4623), authored by State Rep. Mitch Little (R-Denton), created civil liability for public schools and professional school employees under certain circumstances involving sexual misconduct against students. Abbott signed the legislation on June 20, 2025, and it took effect September 1, 2025.

The law added Chapter 118 to the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. It covers independent school districts and open-enrollment charter schools and broadly defines professional school employees to include administrators, principals, teachers, counselors, nurses, teacher's aides, certain contracted teachers, school bus drivers, school board members, and other qualifying employees.

Under HB 4623, a public school that is grossly negligent or reckless, or engages in intentional misconduct, in hiring, supervising, or employing a professional school employee can be held liable when that employee commits sexual misconduct against a student or fails to report suspected child abuse or neglect. That is an important limitation. A school district does not automatically become liable simply because an employee commits an offense. Liability depends on the conduct of the institution itself and whether it meets the statutory threshold of gross negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct.

The law also expressly waives a public school's governmental immunity from suit and liability to the extent provided by the new chapter and prevents a professional school employee from asserting official immunity in such an action. Successful claimants can receive up to $500,000 in actual damages per claimant, while prevailing parties are entitled to court costs and reasonable and necessary attorneys' fees.

The law applies to covered acts or omissions occurring on or after September 1, 2025.

That makes Abbott's latest emphasis on school accountability especially noteworthy. Texas has already decided that accountability should not necessarily stop with the individual offender. The question now is whether the framework enacted through HB 4623, together with the state's reporting and employment safeguards, is working as lawmakers intended.

Abbott's Proposal Revives the Texas Mandatory Minimum Debate

Abbott's proposed 10-year sentence also raises a broader criminal justice question over the appropriate use of mandatory minimums. The concept is not new to Texas.

Texas criminal law generally establishes punishment ranges based on the classification and circumstances of an offense, leaving judges or juries discretion to impose a sentence within those boundaries. Lawmakers have nevertheless established higher statutory floors for selected crimes and circumstances. Aggravated sexual assault provides one example. Texas law establishes a 25-year minimum under certain circumstances involving particularly young victims. Texas also uses mandatory minimums for certain smuggling offenses, including a 10-year minimum for continuous smuggling of persons, as well as sentencing enhancements for certain repeat offenders.

Abbott's proposal therefore would not introduce mandatory minimum sentencing to Texas. It would add educator-student sex crimes to the circumstances in which lawmakers have determined that particular conduct warrants restricting the sentencing discretion normally available to courts.

There is a straightforward argument for doing so. Teachers and other school employees occupy positions of extraordinary trust and are given access and authority over children. Sexual exploitation of that relationship represents a profound abuse of that position, and mandatory minimums can prevent unusually lenient sentences while creating greater consistency across jurisdictions.

The tradeoff is reduced judicial discretion.

Judges ordinarily consider the circumstances surrounding an offense and defendant when imposing a sentence within the range established by lawmakers. A mandatory minimum limits their ability to distinguish among individual cases once the statutory requirements triggering that sentence have been satisfied. Restricting judicial discretion can also shift some power elsewhere in the criminal justice system, particularly toward prosecutors. Charging decisions and plea negotiations become especially consequential when one conviction carries a mandatory minimum and another does not.

Abbott has indicated that plea agreements could remain possible under his proposal, but a qualifying conviction would still require the offender to serve the 10-year minimum.

That makes the eventual bill language particularly important. Lawmakers will need to determine precisely which conduct triggers the sentence, how it interacts with the existing offense of an improper relationship between an educator and student, and whether every circumstance covered by the statute should receive the same sentencing floor. The distinction between allegations and convictions must also remain clear. Abbott's figure of more than 1,600 allegations illustrates the scale of reported misconduct, but allegations are not convictions. Texas can aggressively prosecute and severely punish predators while preserving the due-process protections required before the government deprives someone of liberty.

Abbott Says Texas Must Focus on Preventing Educator Sexual Abuse

Abbott's announcement was not limited to punishment. The governor also argued that adults need to do a better job listening to students, recognizing warning signs, and providing ways for children to report concerning behavior.

“We, as legislators, we as adults, need to do a better job of listening to our children in our schools and hear from them about what they are seeing, what they're hearing, what they are facing,” Abbott said.

He also called for educators to receive training on recognizing warning signs and for TEA to respond appropriately when information involving potential criminal conduct reaches the state. Survivor Kyree'a Flores, who participated in the Lubbock roundtable, underscored the importance of identifying those signs earlier.

“What happened to me should have never happened, but if my story can help another child be seen sooner or help recognize the warning signs then I'm going to use my voice to do that,” Flores said.

That prevention component is important because sentencing is necessarily reactive. A mandatory prison term applies only after misconduct has occurred, authorities discover it, prosecutors pursue a case, and a conviction is obtained. An effective policy should therefore address both sides of the problem: serious consequences after a crime is proven and safeguards intended to identify dangerous behavior before another student becomes a victim.

Speaker Burrows Signals House Support

House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) joined Abbott at the roundtable and indicated that the Texas House intends to continue addressing educator misconduct when lawmakers return.

“Every child in Texas deserves to walk into school ready to learn and grow, not afraid that someone could prey upon them,” Burrows said.

Addressing survivors, Burrows added, “We hear you, we see you, and what happened to you should never have happened. We must do better.”

He also made clear that he views the state's previous reforms as a beginning rather than the end of the Legislature's work.

“While we have taken some action, we will take much more,” Burrows said.

Burrows' participation gives Abbott's proposal additional significance. The governor cannot impose the proposed criminal penalties on his own. Changing the Penal Code and other relevant statutes will require legislative approval, and support from the House speaker indicates the issue is positioned to receive serious attention in 2027.

Texas's Next Educator Misconduct Debate Should Focus on Results

Abbott's proposal would add tougher criminal sentencing to an increasingly extensive Texas framework for addressing educator sexual misconduct.

The state has spent years strengthening reporting requirements and attempting to stop schools from “passing the trash.” The Do Not Hire Registry and educator certification system provide mechanisms for keeping offenders away from students. TEA now has an Inspector General for Educator Misconduct. HB 4623 creates civil consequences for sufficiently serious institutional failures. Abbott is proposing to strengthen the criminal side of that system with a mandatory 10-year prison sentence.

That may ultimately be appropriate. An educator who uses a position of trust to sexually exploit a student commits an especially serious offense, and Texas already uses mandatory sentencing floors for selected crimes. But the 2027 Legislature should resist treating passage of another law as evidence that the underlying problem has been solved.

Lawmakers should examine whether the reforms Texas has already enacted are working, whether existing reporting requirements are being enforced, whether dangerous employees are actually being prevented from moving between schools, and whether HB 4623 is producing the institutional accountability lawmakers intended. Where genuine gaps remain, lawmakers should address them. Where existing law is sufficient but poorly enforced, the answer should be better enforcement rather than another redundant mandate.

Predators who exploit students should face serious consequences, and government institutions that meet the statutory threshold for culpability should be held accountable. The better measure of Texas policy, however, will be whether the entire system works well enough to identify dangerous behavior before another student becomes a victim.

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