![\"Texas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AFT-president-Randi-Weingarten.png\")
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AFT President Randi Weingarted is backing the fight of Texas teachers who are resisting attacks on their right to free speech on the Internet.| AP<\/p>\n
AUSTIN, Texas\u2014In the latest right-wing violation of the U.S. Constitution\u2019s 1st Amendment freedom of speech, and of teachers\u2019 rights as workers, the Texas Federation of Teachers and its parent union, the Teachers\/AFT, sued the state\u2019s far-right Republican school superintendent, Mike Morath, for disciplining teachers\u2014and ordering local districts to do so\u2014for their private social media postings about assassinated right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n
The suit, filed January 6 in U.S. District Court in Austin, demands a judge order Morath to withdraw an order he issued after Kirk\u2019s murder, saying any private social media postings about Kirk that Morath deemed \u201cvile\u201d would be referred to investigators for potential discipline.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about muzzling protected speech,\u201d Teachers\/AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a joint 45-minute press conference with Texas teachers\u2019 President Zeph Capo.<\/p>\n
The unions also demand that Morath stop retaliating against the teachers involved and \u201cwrite a different memo,\u201d overriding his prior anti-free speech order. They don\u2019t seek monetary damages.<\/p>\n
Morath\u2019s discipline has so far affected 95 teachers statewide, Capo told the press conference in Austin. Some teachers also started getting death threats, he added. \u201cSome of them are terrified.\u201d Those who get fired could lose their teaching licenses, too. Morath\u2019s agency has started 350 investigations, not counting local school district probes.<\/p>\n
Teachers needed guidance from Morath and his agency on how to deal with student questions about the shooting of Kirk and others, said Weingarten. Teachers did not need to be threatened, vilified, or have their rights stripped away. Those actions have \u201ca chilling effect,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead, they got blame and shame in a Star Chamber,\u201d said Weingarten, referring to a secret judicial proceeding against supposed enemies, run by kings in medieval England.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a difference between liking or disliking someone\u2019s speech and defending one\u2019s right to speak. That is the essence of what America is about,\u201d added Weingarten, a New York City civics teacher who also has a law degree.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Morath has a reputation statewide, and to some extent nationally, for his heavy-handed imposition of far-right dictates and mandates on school systems throughout Texas. In the most-notorious case, he fired the entire elected school board of the Houston Independent School District, the state\u2019s largest, on the grounds that its schools were failing the students.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In reality, the Houston schools had vastly improved, rising from a \u201cD\u201d grade in Morath\u2019s department\u2019s own findings to a \u201cB-\u201c. But the school district educates mostly students of color, and the board was majority female and people of color. Morath replaced it with his own hand-picked board, mostly white, which promptly closed several \u201cunderperforming\u201d schools in the middle of the year,\u00a0 dislocated thousands of students, and fired dozens of teachers.<\/p>\n
This time, the suit says, he\u2019s gone way too far.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Morath told local school districts \u201che would refer any educators whose Kirk-related posts he personally considered \u2018vile\u2019 to the Texas Education Agency\u2019s (TEA) Educator Investigations Division,\u201d the lawsuit says. After Kirk\u2019s killing, Morath established a hotline for anonymous complaints about transgressing teachers.<\/p>\n
Morath\u2019s attitude was \u201creport them so we can fire them,\u201d Capo said. The only other state with such a law on the books, including anonymous tipsters, is another deep-red Southern megastate, Florida.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMorath mandated superintendents across Texas do the\u00a0 same, directing as follows: \u2018If you are made aware of additional instances of inappropriate conduct\u00a0 being shared, it should be reported to the agency through TEA\u2019s\u00a0 Misconduct Reporting Panel.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Morath\u2019s order did not \u201cidentify or define inappropriate conduct, or provide any other guidelines or protections to ensure due process and free speech rights of educators are preserved and protected. Texas AFT members are subject to the\u00a0 TEA Policy,\u201d the lawsuit adds.<\/p>\n
At least four teachers contacted the Texas union about Morath\u2019s order. Capo, in turn, tried several times to meet Morath to work out the problem. Morath never replied. The teachers are anonymous to prevent further retaliation from TEA.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne popular high school English teacher, Teacher 1, was fired after a politician used her [social media] posts\u2013which simply raised questions about the circumstances of Kirk\u2019s death and did not promote violence in any way\u2013as the centerpiece of his election campaign, encouraging his supporters to call for Teacher 1\u2019s dismissal. Tellingly, only two members of the school board voted for Teacher 1\u2019s termination;\u00a0 the remaining five present members abstained in protest.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two unions also filed suit because they literally had no alternative after Morath refused to even discuss his order. Texas is not only a right-to-work state but also bans collective bargaining for public sector workers. Unions representing them\u2014such as the Texas Federation of Teachers, which has 66,000 members statewide\u2013may only \u201cmeet and confer\u201d with officials on overall working conditions, including pay and benefits. They may also file grievances, but that\u2019s all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough public school teachers and other employees are public servants, they do not surrender their First Amendment rights simply by virtue of their employment, especially with respect to their activities as private citizens outside of the school environment,\u201d the suit says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMore specifically, the First Amendment rights\u00a0 granted to all American citizens, including public school teachers and other\u00a0 employees, protect their ability to comment on current events through their personal\u00a0 accounts on social media.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t lose your constitutional rights when you decide to become a teacher\u2014the Constitution, for it to have any meaning at all, has to work for all Americans, not just some,\u201d Weingarten concluded. No trial date has been set yet for the Texas lawsuit<\/p>\n
We hope you appreciated this article. At\u00a0People\u2019s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading\u00a0People\u2019s World\u00a0and the stories we bring you, please\u00a0support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today<\/a>. Thank you!<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCONTRIBUTOR<\/p>\n
![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/200x262shearon.jul10-200x200.jpg\")
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