UT HB0227

H.B. 227 - Student Journalist Amendments

• Student journalists have the right to exercise freedom of speech and press in school-sponsored media, including determining news, opinion, feature, and advertising content, regardless of school financial support or course affiliation.

• Schools may not impose prior restraint on student media except for content that is libelous, slanderous, obscene, invasive of privacy, illegal, or creates clear and present danger of unlawful acts or material disruption of school operations.

• Student media advisers are protected from dismissal, suspension, discipline, reassignment, or retaliation for refusing to censor protected student speech or for defending student journalists' rights.

• LEA governing boards must adopt written policies on student journalist free speech rights, including time/place/manner provisions and an appeal process, and make these policies available to students and parents.

• Schools and LEAs are shielded from civil and criminal liability for student-published content unless they interfered with or altered the student expression; students and advisers may seek injunctive relief and attorney fees for violations. Effective May 6, 2026.