The American Federation of Texas Teachers (AFT) strongly rejected this measure, calling it a “witch hunt.”
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has launched a campaign to suspend the licenses of more than 100 public school teachers in the state, in retaliation for comments the educators made on social media following the murder of Charlie Kirk, the ultraconservative activist and commentator who died last week.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott endorsed the initiative, echoing a TEA statement that it had received approximately 180 reports of teachers allegedly posting or sharing “inappropriate content” on their online profiles following Kirk’s death.
Mike Morata, TEA commissioner, detailed that the agency opened a formal investigation into these cases .
If an individual is found to have incited “further violence ,” his or her professional license will be revoked and he or she will be prohibited from teaching in the state’s public school system.
At the same time, Morata issued a letter announcing that all Texas educators who expressed opinions about Kirk’s murder will be investigated .
The American Federation of Texans Teachers (AFT), a state teachers union representing 66,000 educators and support staff, strongly rejected the measure , calling it a “witch hunt” exemplified by an authoritarian government.
Zeph Capo, president of the Texas AFT, lamented that the “purge of public officials” is beginning with teachers, urging all Texans to speak out to defend their constitutional right to speak out on matters of civic debate.
Capo denounced that what began with legislators using their platforms to attack public servants morphed into a state directive to "hunt down and fire educators for opinions shared on their personal social media accounts . "
In the United States, a country celebrated as a nation of “free speech,” this TEA directive follows a series of dismissals and sanctions affecting professors at public universities in Texas for ideological reasons.
For example, Texas State University fired a history professor for “inciting political violence ,” and Texas A&M University dismissed two members of the College of Arts following controversies over “gender ideology.”
State representatives like Briscoe Cain and Hillary Hickland used platforms like X to target teachers, demanding their firing, and Rep. Brian Harrison launched an online smear campaign against a Texas A&M professor for recognizing LGBTQ+ people .
Adam Goldstein of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression warned that trying to “paint everyone with the same brush” is a key symptom of “cancel culture ,” a term coined by conservatives but now adopted by President Trump and his administration from the right.