Texas students will receive steeper punishments for the possession of e-cigarettes thanks to a new state law, which Tomball ISD leaders began enforcing at the start of the school year Aug. 15.

What you need to know

In hopes of addressing the growing problem of students vaping in schools, House Bill 114—which will go into effect Sept. 1—changes the punishment for students caught with vape devices on campus.

The bill:
  • Steepens the penalty for students caught with a device on campus so that they are sent to their district’s disciplinary alternative education program, or DAEP‚ rather than being sent to county programs
  • Lowers the punishment for those caught with THC, which previously resulted in expulsion
  • States vaping students can be placed in in-school suspension if the DAEP is at capacity to make room for violent offenders but must be placed back in if space opens up
State Rep. Ed Thompson, R-Pearland, who authored the bill during the 88th legislative session, said the idea was to give districts more flexibility in how they handle students caught with vape pens.

Zooming in


Vaping, which for years was seen as an alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes, is a habit that's been picked up by more teens and young adults in recent years, said Sandeep Gupta, a pulmonologist in the Greater Houston area. In the 2022-23 school year, TISD saw more than:
  • 270 student offenses related to e-cigarettes
  • 97 student offenses related to THC
Going forward

TISD has prepared for a potential uptick in students placed in the DAEP because of the new law, TISD Superintendent Martha Salazar-Zamora said. TISD has never allowed students to use vapes on campus, she said during the Aug. 8 board meeting, when trustees approved the 2023-24 student code of conduct, which included the district's new vaping policy from HB 114.
  • The new law includes the possession of an “e-cigarette, vaping device, or associated paraphernalia,” according to an Aug. 9 news release from TISD.
  • Getting sent to the DAEP could impact a student's extracurricular participation and enrollment in some advanced courses, Trustee Michael Pratt said Aug. 8.
“It’s not a bluff; it’s a law—a law that we will follow,” Salazar-Zamora said during the Aug. 8 meeting.

On the other hand

Trustee Tina Salem said she supports students being held responsible for their actions but wondered if there was a grace period in the new law for districts to implement the changes slowly.


“My concern is we have good kids that they get caught with the vape, they automatically go to [the DAEP], but sports are their ‘why’ in ‘why they want to be in school,’” Salem said.

However, Salazar-Samora said the new law is effective upon the start of the 2023-24 school year for all districts statewide.

Learn more

“The bigger part of this is that some parents may not even be aware their children are vaping,” Salazar-Zamora said. “We need to make sure that parents understand all students could potentially fall victim to this activity that’s very, very dangerous.”


TISD leaders recommended these resources should a student need help quitting vaping:Jake Norman contributed to this report.