The Austin, Texas, school district is facing criticism after administrators decided to remove the Good Friday holiday and instead celebrate a day honoring liberal labor leaders Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.
Texas Values, an advocacy group opposing the move, sent a letter last week to the district’s superintendent and board members accusing them of “placing politics above a religious holiday.”
“It appears that the goal was to highlight a controversial and divisive figure like Dolores Huerta over acknowledging a holiday that a significant portion of Americans observe and that ties to our state and nation’s Christian heritage,” the conservative group wrote.
The group cited the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which found that 31% of state and local government employers in the country offer a paid holiday for Good Friday and 19% of private employers offer it as a paid holiday.
Other large districts, such as Houston and Fort Worth, offer both days as holidays –something Texas Values urged Austin to do. The group also cited what it called the district’s “history of diminishing viewpoints of a Christian background,” which it said could include refusing to give a true day off for Easter.
While students will be off on Monday, April 6, staff will be working during a “campus staff development day.”
“Choosing to remove Good Friday sends the message to students and staff that their religious views are not appreciated to the extent that they will be forced to attend school and work while other kids across the state will enjoy the day off,” the letter reads. “Many churches choose to have special religious services on Good Friday that students and staff may want to attend that day.”
The group asked the district to restore Good Friday “as a staff and student holiday” and noted it has time to do so before the next semester begins, which is when Easter occurs.
The district told KXAN it made the schedule to avoid having two holidays in the same week, since Chavez-Huerta Day falls on Tuesday, March 31, just a few days before Good Friday.
The district also said its Calendar Task Force “deliberately included representatives of different faiths and cultures,” including Christian viewpoints, to ensure varied perspectives were considered.
Chavez, who died in 1993, co-founded what became the United Farm Workers union with Huerta in 1962. President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994. President Barack Obama proclaimed a national holiday in his honor in 2014, and a bust of Chavez was displayed in President Joe Biden’s Oval Office in 2021.
Huerta, who is still alive, is known as a feminist and labor leader who fought for Hispanic and workers’ rights.
Good Friday commemorates the day Jesus Christ was crucified, dying to pay for the sins of humanity. Easter celebrates his resurrection two days later.