The teachers' union alleges that teachers were unlawfully targeted for comments they made on social media in the aftermath of the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk, and that Education Commissioner Mike Morath essentially ordered or encouraged investigations that violated the teachers' constitutional rights.
Political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10. Days later, Morath sent a letter to superintendents across the state, in which he cited that some educators had posted or shared reprehensible or inappropriate content on social media related to Charlie Kirk's murder.
He asked superintendents to investigate them and report them to the TEA's misconduct reporting panel.
This week, the teachers union filed suit after contending Morath would not meet with them to discuss the issue.
"Consequences for our members have run the gamut from written reprimands and administrative leaves to doxxing and termination from their jobs," Zeph Capo, the President of AFT-Texas, said during a press conference in Austin on Tuesday.
The TEA would not comment on pending litigation, but it did confirm to ABC13 that it received 354 complaints, though in some cases a single educator received multiple complaints. Some of the complaints were just commentary on the issue. Of those 354, 95 remain open. Josh Blackman, a professor of constitutional law at The South Texas College of Law, said the teachers likely have a case.
"What the court could potentially say is that the letter cannot be enforced. School districts might still investigate on a case by case basis, but this sort of blanket policy itself will probably be unenforceable," Blackman said. "There are two issues. Is the speech protected? Sure. But is it smart to say? No. It's stupid. These are teachers who should be modeling good behavior for their students. I think it's regrettable that they're putting these messages online."
"We didn't want to take this to court," Capo said, "but he (Morath) should know by now that we will leave no rock unturned when it comes to protecting our members and their constitutional rights."
For updates on this story, follow Tom Abrahams on Facebook, X and Instagram.