§ 118.002.Liability

This is the liability section, and every word of it limits the claim.

The school’s own conduct is what is on trial. The claim is for gross negligence, recklessness or intentional misconduct in hiring, supervising, or employing the professional school employee.

Ordinary negligence is not enough. A school that made a careless hiring decision is outside the chapter; the standard demands far more.

The employee’s act must be one of two things. Sexual misconduct as Section 118.001 defines it, or failure to report suspected child abuse or neglect under the Family Code.

The victim must be a student enrolled in the school. The chapter is about the school’s duty to the children in its care.

The failure-to-report ground is a considered inclusion. Abuse continues when adults who suspect it stay silent, and the reporting duty is the mechanism the state relies on to interrupt it.

The employee must be named as a defendant. A claim against the school alone does not proceed.

That requirement puts the underlying conduct in the case. The school’s liability depends on what the employee did, and the person who did it is before the court to answer for it.

Section 118.006 supplies what the claim needs to survive: governmental immunity is waived to the extent of this liability, and the employee cannot assert official immunity.