Part of his message was about education. After his speech, ABC13 asked him his thoughts about the student walkouts in several school districts now under state scrutiny, wherein grade school students protested ongoing immigration and customs enforcement actions.
"The attorney general is involved, and the commissioner of education, Mike Morath, is involved, separately, investigations about that also," Abbott said. "To what extent were educators, whether they be teachers or administrators or others, to what extent were they involved in this process?"
The state is considering withholding enrollment funding from districts in which students protested. The Texas Education Administration, led by Commissioner Morath, warned districts of that potential punishment and instructed them to mark protesting students as absent. The state distributes money to schools based on daily enrollment.
Teachers also face the possibility of losing their licenses or jobs.
Texas state law does restrict students' abilities to protest by not allowing what's considered a disruption of the learning environment.
"If a child wants to protest," Abbott told ABC13, "they have certain rights to be involved in that protest, however it would be inappropriate and maybe a violation of the code of ethics or the responsibilities of teachers for them to assist or aid or abet with a child leaving a school during the school day."
Attorney General Paxton has not said why he believes teachers or administrators encouraged the walkout. Abbott speculated it may have been a national teachers' union. There is no indication of how long the investigations might take.
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