Texas teachers sue over investigations into social media posts following Charlie Kirk’s death

The Texas Education Agency urged superintendents in September to report teachers who were critical of the far-right political activist on social media.

The Texas American Federation of Teachers—a union representing millions of educators across the state—announced Tuesday that it’s suing the Texas Education Agency and its commissioner, Mike Morath, for investigating educators over comments made on social media following the death of far-right political activist Charlie Kirk.

In a letter to educators on Sept. 12, Morath announced that anyone who made “inappropriate” comments about Kirk’s death on social media—even from their personal accounts—would be investigated for potentially violating the educators’ code of ethics. 

He encouraged superintendents and the public to report teachers, despite his letter not identifying or defining what is considered “inappropriate conduct.”

Shortly after Morath’s announcement, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced in a post on X that any teacher “whose actions called for or incite violence following the Charlie Kirk assassination” would be fired and deemed ineligible to teach in Texas public schools.

Hundreds of complaints were made.

Now, Texas AFT President Zeph Capo and national AFT President Randi Weingarten claim that Morath’s letter “unleashed a wave of retaliation and disciplinary actions against teachers” and violates teachers’ First Amendment protected speech that is made outside of the classroom.

Over the last four months, Texas AFT members have been placed on administrative leave, faced reprimands, and were terminated for their social media posts, according to the union.

Capo explained that lawmakers have chosen to infringe on teachers’ constitutional rights and paint targets on their backs at the same time to score political points.

“Somewhere and somehow, our state’s leaders lost their way,” Capo said. “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.”

He said the TEA’s complaint policy surrounding Kirk was “impermissibly vague,” “overbroad” and could have “lasting detrimental impacts” on an educators’ employment prospects.

The lawsuit, which details four teachers from Houston and San Antonio who faced disciplinary action or were fired for posts about Kirk’s death, argues the TEA failed to “identify or define ‘inappropriate conduct,’ or provide any other guidelines or protections to ensure that the due process and free speech rights of educators are preserved and protected.”

It also asks the the court to require that Morath retract his policy calling on school leaders to report any instances of “inappropriate content” related to Kirk’s death posted to teachers’ social media accounts, and asks that Morath issue new guidance making clear to superintendents that districts do not have to report such conduct to the state.

As of Jan. 5, the TEA is still investigating 95 complaints, according to The Texas Tribune.

Capo and Weingarten also noted that the education agency did not issue similar letters for teachers who posted about the assassination of Democratic Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman in June.

“The TEA appears to mandate investigations only for school personnel voicing criticism of the Commissioner’s preferred political figure,” the lawsuit says. 

Read the full lawsuit here.

Kirk’s death continues to affect education in Texas, with both Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Abbott vowing to put Turning Point USA chapters—an organization that advocates for far-right, conservative politics co-founded by Kirk—in all Texas schools.

The Texas Education Agency did not respond to a request for comment.