AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin Independent School District is pushing back against state investigations into the district’s handling of recent student walkouts, saying the district cannot physically restrain students from leaving campus.

In a letter to the Texas Attorney General’s office, AISD General Counsel Kenneth M. Walker II said the walkouts were not sanctioned by the district and that students organized the demonstrations themselves.

“The suggestion contained in your correspondence that somehow AISD assisted students with their demonstrations is misplaced,” Walker wrote. “In fact, we share the same sentiments as you that the most ideal place for students to be during instructional hours is in school.”

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Walker said the district employed “best efforts” to deter students, including informing students and parents that absences would not be excused, consistent with Texas Education Agency guidance published Feb. 3.

However, he said Texas law does not allow schools to use force to compel attendance. The state’s truancy laws address repeated absences, but Walker said a single day of walkouts was insufficient to warrant truancy referrals.

“Short of physically restraining students, we cannot stop them from leaving campus,” Walker wrote.

The letter comes after Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton announced investigations into AISD following student protests. Abbott accused the district of helping students “skip school to protest” rather than educating them, while Paxton alleged AISD officials were imposing a “radical political agenda.”

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Walker defended the district’s decision to have staff and police accompany students who left campus, saying it was motivated by safety concerns.

He cited a recent incident in Buda where students and an adult male became involved in a physical altercation during a demonstration.

Walker also said the district would not impose harsher disciplinary consequences than a standard unexcused absence, as doing so “would suggest that we are doing so based on the reason for their protest, i.e. the content of their speech.”

“AISD is the only district that the Attorney General has announced it will investigate,” Walker wrote. “Despite being singled out, we stand firm that we have not engaged in any practice inconsistent with the parameters in which we are permitted to engage with our students.”

The Texas Education Agency confirmed it is investigating AISD, saying state law requires educators to support learning in ways that are “objective and free from political bias.”