Texas AFT sues state over investigations of teachers’ comments on Charlie Kirk

The Texas branch of the American Federation of Teachers filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday in Austin, challenging the Texas Education Agency’s investigations of scores of public school teachers over comments they made after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The suit names the state education agency and its commissioner, Mike Morath, and argues the agency violated teachers’ free speech rights by directing state officials and school districts to investigate comments made mostly on private social media accounts and outside of work.

The complaint calls the policy an “unconstitutional viewpoint-based restriction on speech.” Randi Weingarten, president of the national American Federation of Teachers, said she traveled to Austin to support the local union and described the actions as a “state-sponsored attack on teachers.” According to the suit and related reporting, Mr.

Morath told superintendents the agency had seen “reprehensible” and “vile” postings and instructed them to report other “inappropriate” content; he also said principals and superintendents who did not report such content could face discipline. Gov.

Key Topics

Politics, Texas Education Agency, Mike Morath, Charlie Kirk, Randi Weingarten, Greg Abbott