TEA sued over 'baseless investigations' into teachers after Charlie Kirk assassination

Union sues TEA over Charlie Kirk response

Texas AFT has filed a federal lawsuit against the TEA and its commissioner alleging the state violated educators' First Amendment rights over social media posts made following the death of Charlie Kirk.

AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas American Federation of Teachers (Texas AFT) has filed a federal lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency and its commissioner, Mike Morath, alleging that the state conducted ‘unlawful investigations’ into teachers following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

FULL: Texas AFT press conference

Texas AFT has filed suit against the Texas Education Agency and its commissioner. The suit says that they violated the First Amendment rights of over 350 educators and staff with investigations into their social media posts in the wake of the death of Charlie Kirk.

What we know:

The suit alleges that the state violated educators' First Amendment rights and "chilled the protected speech of public school teachers and other Texas AFT members."

"Although public school teachers and other employees are public servants, they do not surrender their First Amendment rights simply by virtue of their employment, especially with respect to their activities as private citizens outside of the school environment," the suit says. "More specifically, the First Amendment rights granted to all American citizens, including public school teachers and other employees, protect their ability to comment on current events through their personal accounts on social media platforms, which are outside of their school roles and their official school duties."

According to Texas AFT, the state investigated more than 350 educators last September in the days following Kirk's death. The co-founder of Turning Point USA was shot and killed at a university event in Utah. 

Last September, Commissioner Morath sent a letter to state superintendents, saying the TEA was investigating "reprehensible and inappropriate" posts by public school staff about Kirk's death. The statement claimed these posts could violate the educator code of ethics and will be examined for "sanctionable conduct."

In the letter, Morath told superintendents to report "additional instances of inappropriate conduct being shared" to the TEA's Misconduct Reporting Panel. However, the letter does not identify or define what is considered "inappropriate conduct."

Charlie Kirk death: Investigation into teachers' posts

Some Texas teachers are in hot water after investigations began on posts about Charlie Kirk's death were seen as inappropriate.

READ MORE: How Charlie Kirk's death is affecting Texas education from classrooms to campuses

The suit says that some superintendents followed this instruction, leading to Texas AFT members being placed on administrative leave, reprimanded and even terminated. 

"These teachers were disciplined solely for their speech, without any regard to whether the posts disrupted school operations in any way," says the suit. "In many cases, Texas AFT members made their posts on online profiles or pages that are ‘private,’ and can be viewed only by individuals who have been specifically approved by the account owner."

Texas AFT also alleges that educators and employees have "come under immediate, vicious attack and doxxing, often by outsiders who do not live in the educator's district or have children at the educator's school, and in some cases are not even residents of Texas."

Read the complaint below:

What they're saying:

"Somewhere and somehow, our state’s leaders lost their way. A few well-placed Texas politicians and bureaucrats think it is good for their careers to trample on educators' free speech rights. They decided scoring a few cheap points was worth the unfair discipline, the doxxing, and the death threats targeted at Texas teachers. Meanwhile, educators and their families are afraid that they’ll lose everything: their livelihoods, their reputations, and their very purpose for being, which is to impart critical thinking," said Zeph Capo, president of Texas AFT. "Educators don’t give up their constitutional rights when they get their first teaching job. We look forward to defending our members and making our case in court."

What's next:

The suit is asking for a permanent injunction that would:

• Block the TEA from enforcing the policy in any way
• Compel the TEA to stop any and all investigations referred to them connected to the policy
• Compel the TEA to issue a new letter to superintendents advising them that they are not required to report to the Misconduct Reporting Portal about conduct targeted in the policy

Texas AFT is also asking for a declaratory judgment holding that the policy is "unconstitutional, void and of no effect" as well as attorneys' fees and costs.