Paxton: School Police Don’t Count for Child Abuse Reporting Law

Image: Texas Attorney General Seal — ‘Image: Texas Attorney General’s website

School employees and other licensed or certified professionals who have direct contact with children cannot satisfy their legal duty to report suspected child abuse or neglect by reporting to a school district police department.

That’s the conclusion of Opinion No. KP-0528, issued this week by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The opinion concludes that school district police departments are not what the Legislature meant by a “law enforcement agency” when it revised the reporting statute via 2025’s SB571/regular session.

According to Paxton’s accompanying press release, the opinion clarifies that a child abuse/neglect report satisfying the “law enforcement agency” requirement must go to one of the following:

The Texas Department of Public Safety.
A municipal police department.
A county sheriff’s office.
A county constable’s office.

The reports must be made within 24 hours, per 2025 legislation, which shortened the reporting window from 48 hours.

The opinion was requested by Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare.