Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath delivers remarks on the release of 2025 A-F accountability ratings at North East ISD’s Harmony Hills Elementary School in San Antonio, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025.
Marvin Pfeiffer/San Antonio Express-News
One teacher was fired by his district and placed on a statewide “do not hire” list for a private Instagram story after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Another was forced to go on leave for writing on a private Facebook page, “Some men improve the world only by leaving it.” A third was sent to state education officials for investigation even though their principal confided that they had done nothing wrong.
They’re among several educators who say they were unfairly targeted by the Texas Education Agency’s investigation into teachers’ social media posts about Kirk. A federal judge is weighing this week whether to halt the agency’s probe, which has been ongoing for months.
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BACKGROUND: Texas teachers union files lawsuit against TEA over Charlie Kirk investigations
One of the state’s top teacher’s unions sued the agency in January after TEA Commissioner Mike Morath put thousands of educators on notice about sharing their political views on social media. In a letter, Morath directed superintendents to report to the agency any “reprehensible and inappropriate” social media posts about Kirk’s killing.
“While the exercise of free speech is a fundamental right we are all blessed to share, it does not give carte blanche authority to celebrate or sow violence against those that share differing beliefs and perspectives,” Morath, who is appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, wrote in the letter in September.
Local school districts placed several teachers on administrative leave, fired or otherwise disciplined them after Morath sent the letter, and the agency routed hundreds of complaints to its Education Misconduct & Investigations division, which more typically handles cases of sexual misconduct or child abuse and has the power to issue subpoenas to school officials.
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At the heart of the case is who should answer for the disciplinary actions. The TEA has denied that it had any influence over school districts’ discipline of teachers, arguing that Morath’s letter did not constitute a binding policy change. Instead, TEA argues, it was “a reminder of existing policy and how to refer complaints.”
“Investigations alone are not harm,” the agency’s attorneys write in a March 24 response to the court. The agency contends that the teachers’ union’s complaints do not meet the high bar that would justify a preliminary injunction, and asks the court to hold off on judgment until the lawsuit has played out.
School districts have so far had discretion in how to handle complaints about Kirk-related posts. A Houston-area independent school district, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, put six staff members who made critical comments after Kirk’s death on administrative leave, then passed the complaints to the TEA. One was reported for writing, “RIP I guess,” while another was written up for posting that the killing “couldn’t have happened to a more sh***y person.”
Among them was a temporary employee who shared a post after the assassination that said, “Love seeing people get what they deserve.” It was later determined that the post had not referred to Kirk, but to a former roommate who owed him money.
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All six were eventually reinstated.
In another district, a middle-school art teacher was fired after he posted a private Instagram story quoting the conservative activist on gun violence.
“‘I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights,’” the story quoted Kirk saying. In the story, which none of his students or their parents could access, the teacher added a sticker reading “DAMN RIP LOL.” The art teacher regained his job months later, but said he lost ten pounds from the stress and no longer “has the stomach for” political discourse.
In his case, the TEA has sinceblamed the teacher’s local school district and argued it did not cause the firing. The agency also noted Morath did not directly threaten any punishment for superintendents who did not discipline teachers.
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Texas American Federation of Teachers President Zeph Capo speaks at a press conference before the start of the 88th Legislature at the state Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023.
Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
“Simply having oversight authority over someone does not render everything one says coercive,” the TEA wrote.
Whether the agency will seek discipline in its investigations is unclear. So far, it has dismissed hundreds of complaints but kept many others pending, with no time frame for closing them.
While under state investigation, educators are susceptible to having their teaching certificate suspended if they are deemed “a threat to public safety,” though no suspensions have been announced nearly nine months after the investigations began. The TEA did not answer Hearst Newspapers’ questions about the status of the inquiries by Wednesday afternoon.
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The lawsuit from the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers argues that the TEA has infringed on educators’ rights to exercise free speech by encouraging districts to take action. Government employees have the right to weigh in on political events as private citizens, including in many personal social media posts, according to First Amendment precedent cited in court filings.However, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has previously ruled that speech is unprotected when it has “caused disruption” or impeded working relationships.
The AFT argues that Morath’s policy targeted protected speech, and that statements criticizing Kirk or even celebrating his death “are not denied First Amendment protection merely because they may be offensive.”
Because of the TEA’s actions, “public school teachers withdrew as active participants in democracy and instead stayed on the sidelines for fear of discipline that could cost them their livelihood,” a March 10 court filing reads.