Texas voters approve adding parental rights amendment to state constitution

Houston, Texas, Nov 5, 2025 / 10:47 am (CNA).

Texas voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved Proposition 15, the Parental Rights Amendment, with more than 72% in favor.

The measure, which passed alongside all 16 other constitutional amendments on the ballot, enshrines parents’ fundamental authority over their children’s upbringing directly into the Texas Constitution, marking the first such explicit protection in any U.S. state charter.

The amendment adds language affirming that parents have the right “to exercise care, custody, and control of the parent’s child, including the right to make decisions concerning the child’s upbringing,” alongside their responsibility “to nurture and protect the parent’s child.” It takes effect immediately upon certification by the Texas secretary of state, expected within weeks.

Texas already ranked among the 26 states with a Parents’ Bill of Rights in state law, enacted in 2023, which granted access to “full information” on a child’s school activities, student records, state assessments, and teaching materials.

Proponents argued the constitutional upgrade provides an ironclad shield against potential future encroachments, building on U.S. Supreme Court precedents like Troxel v. Granville (2000) that recognize parental rights but lack explicit federal legislative backing.

A majority of voters in almost every county in the state voted for the amendment’s passage. Only Travis County voters, where the state capital of Austin is located, voted against it by 57%.

The Texas secretary of state’s office estimated that 2.9 million people voted in this election. This represents about 15.8% turnout among the state’s 18.4 million registered voters — a slight uptick from the 2023 amendment election’s 2.5 million (14.4%) but still historically low for a non-presidential year.

More than half of the 17 state constitutional amendments voters approved concerned taxes, and six lowered property taxes for specific groups, such as senior citizens and those with disabilities.

The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops told CNA in October that it supported the passage of the amendment, which recognizes “the natural right of parents to direct their children’s upbringing.”

Opposition, though limited, came from both Democrats and some conservative factions.

In the Texas House, two dozen Democrats — many from the Texas Legislative Progressive Caucus — opposed the measure, warning it could sideline children’s needs and government protections against parental abuse. Despite the debate, the amendment passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan rural support.

Houston attorney Marcella Burke told CNA that “while these rights to nurture and protect children are currently safeguarded thanks to existing Supreme Court case law, there is no federal constitutional amendment protecting these rights.”

The amendment’s addition to the state constitution “will make governments think twice and carefully consider any actions affecting child-rearing. Keep in mind that no rights are absolute, so in this context, parents don’t have the right to abuse their kids — and that’s the sort of exception the amendment reads in.”

The True Texas Project, a group of former Tea Party activists, decried the language as too vague and unnecessary, arguing it implies the state confers a right that “God has already ordained. … And we know that what the state can give, the state can take away.”