Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has continued to sue to secure temporary injunctions against school districts across the state by claiming that district officials illegally used taxpayer resources to electioneer for certain candidates.
The AG is currently prevented from prosecuting criminal violations of the Texas Election Code due to the Court of Criminal Appeals’ decision in Texas v. Stephens, thus the need to resort to civil injunctive relief.
On Monday, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) announced in a press release that Paxton had secured an agreed injunction with Denton ISD “to end its unlawful attempts to influence elections.”
Paxton had sued Denton ISD after a school principal in the district had used an official email to encourage staff members to vote against specific candidates because of the policies they advocated.
Using taxpayer resources — in this case, an official email — to distribute voting guidance to other employees potentially violates Texas’ prohibition against the use of “state or local funds or other resources of the district to electioneer for or against any candidate, measure, or political party,” according to the press release.
This marks the third case of injunctive relief that the OAG has obtained in the last two weeks to prevent districts from continuing to electioneer, the others being against Castleberry ISD and Frisco ISD.
The Dallas Express reported at the time on the alleged instances of electioneering at Castleberry ISD and Denton ISD, where officials at the districts had sent out voting guides to their peers and subordinates urging votes for candidates deemed adverse to AG Paxton and opposed to school choice. The OAG has also sued Denison ISD, Huffman ISD, and Aledo ISD for similar illegal acts.
On February 29, the District Court of Collin County issued a temporary restraining order against Frisco, which was to remain in effect for no more than 14 days. According to a story published Thursday in The Dallas Morning News, Frisco officials voted to authorize the district’s lawyers to begin negotiations with Paxton. This comes despite the district’s general counsel, Esther Kolni, maintaining, “We cannot let fear or intimidation prevent us from providing accurate information to the public about matters of public concern,” per DMN.
A hearing in the case is set for March 20.
