Texas Education Agency officials on Tuesday warned that school districts across the state could face serious state action if they help facilitate student walkouts from class to attend protests. The guidance followed Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive to Education Commissioner Mike Morath to investigate a social-media post showing Austin Independent School District students participating in nationwide walkouts connected to killings of several people by federal immigration officers, the Associated Press reported.
The agency said it released the warning after students walked out during the Jan. 30 protest in downtown Austin and after videos showed Austin ISD police officers driving near some of the students. In its guidance, the state agency said students, teachers or districts participating in what it described as “inappropriate political activism” could face consequences that extend beyond individual absences.
Among the outcomes listed in the guidance were students being marked absent and districts losing state funding, the possibility of educators being investigated and disciplined (including potential loss of a teaching license), and district facing state oversight. The agency said state oversight could include replacing an elected school board with a board of managers.
Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura said district staff could not physically prevent students from leaving campus during the protest activities during school hours. He said Austin ISD Police remained with students nearby for safety, describing the school day as the period when students are the district’s responsibility.
Separately, Attorney General Ken Paxton requested documents from Austin ISD covering student leave policies and internal communications during the Friday protest. Paxton also accused district officials of encouraging students to participate in the walkout.
The walkout activity also spread to other districts, including Hays Consolidated Independent School District, where hundreds of students walked out Monday, the Associated Press reported. The district said two students were arrested by police and that the arrests were unrelated to the protest, while the district denied any connection to facilitating or condoning the walkouts and asserted that “future walkouts cannot happen.”
In addition to disputes over the protests’ impact on safety and discipline, Hays CISD said it directed parents to begin signing children out of school if they consented to participation in protests. Under the district’s policy, students not signed out would receive unexcused absences and the school would count them as truant, according to the Associated Press report.
The guidance and policy threats also drew political criticism. State Rep. Erin Zwiener, a Democrat whose district includes Kyle, criticized Abbott on Tuesday for not acknowledging an incident involving a 45-year-old man who police described as “the primary aggressor” in a fight with a group of minors participating in the protests. Zwiener wrote on social media that Abbott’s threats to schools were making protests less safe for students and more disruptive for Texas communities.
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