IDRA 2025 Policy Digest for Texas
Culturally-sustaining schools offer positive, safe and supportive school climates for all students to receive a high-quality education.
Recent classroom censorship policies have made schools less safe and less supportive for students, especially those who are significantly more likely to experience identity-based discrimination, like Black and Latino students and those who identify as LGBTQ+.
Identity-based bullying in schools is on the rise
Incidents of students experiencing bullying, harassment and hate crimes based on their identity have increased in the past 10 years.
About one in five students report being bullied in schools. Twenty-four percent of bullied students say they were targeted based on their identity, such as their race, ethnicity, gender, religion or ability status (GAO, 2021; NCES, 2024). Bullying or harassment based on sex or gender accounts for over half of incidents, while racially-based incidents account for over a third of incidents. Identity-based bullying can lead to increased student absenteeism, increased disciplinary actions, lower levels of school engagement and academic achievement, and other negative health outcomes (Duggins-Clay & Lyons, 2024).
Classroom censorship laws keep students from getting a quality education
Educators play a huge role in creating culturally-sustaining safe school climates. But recent policies that restrict how educators can talk and teach about identity make it difficult for them to teach accurate history, current events, and curricula that engage students in their own learning (Hernández et al., 2024).
Book bans and censored instructional materials that limit students’ exposure to diverse voices and perspectives leave students disconnected and jeopardize students’ access to rigorous coursework (Wilson, 2023).
All students should be able to engage in safe learning environments where they can be their authentic selves. Culturally-sustaining schools provide in-school support for students, teachers and staff to create safe school climates.
What Texas Needs the Legislature to Do
• Adopt protections against identity-based bullying and harassment
• Promote accurate and rigorous coursework, curriculum and instructional materials that reflect students’ diverse backgrounds.
Contact Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., IDRA Deputy Director of Policy at chloe.sikes@idra.org
Duggins-Clay, P., & Lyons, M. (May 2024). Preventing and Addressing Identity-based Bullying in Schools – IDRA Model Policy Issue Brief. IDRA.
GAO. (2021). K-12 Education: Students’ Experiences with Bullying, Hate Speech, Hate Crimes, and Victimization in Schools. Report to the Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives. U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Hernández, M., Lokensgard, J., Rosales, H., Montemayor, A., & Quintanilla-Munoz, C. (March 2024). MAS for Our Schools – A Youth Participatory Action Research Project on the Status of Mexican American Studies in San Antonio. IDRA.
