Committee pares back SB245 to bar exclusive use of social media for school communications

Sen. Head (author of SB245) moved to amend SB245 to strike everything from line 27 through the end of the bill and retain the portion stating that school systems should not communicate exclusively through social media for extracurricular updates. The amendment was prompted by constituent concerns that exclusive social-media communications leave some families uninformed.

Sen. Head explained the narrower remaining provision would require school systems to provide alternative methods of notification unless a superintendent authorized an exception. Supporters described the change as a commonsense step to ensure equitable access to scheduling and extracurricular information.

Sen. Van Valkenburg and other senators described the amendment as "commonsensical" and noted they had heard similar complaints from constituents and school communities. An educator on the committee raised concerns about scheduling conflicts with national exam dates, to which proponents replied that an earlier consistent start date for some districts is a separate policy discussion.

Sen. Henn moved that the committee report SB245 as amended and re-refer it to the Finance Committee; Sen. Boisco seconded. The clerk opened the roll and the committee voted Ayes 15, No 0. The amendment narrows the bill to require that schools not rely exclusively on social media for communications about extracurricular activities, while preserving a superintendent exception for unusual circumstances.

The committee's action sends the amended, narrowed SB245 forward for finance consideration.