Texas attorney general investigates Austin ISD for allegedly teaching ‘critical race theory’

From KUT News:

This story has been updated.

Attorney General Ken Paxton is seeking to depose Austin ISD’s superintendent and school board members as part of an investigation into whether the district is teaching critical race theory.

The AG’s office alleges the district is using curricula related to the “The 1619 Project,” which recenters U.S. history around the impact of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans. It was created by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill in 2021 that banned the use of “The 1619 Project” in Texas public schools and sought to restrict how educators talk about race and racism in the classroom. Abbott and other Republicans said they wanted to prevent schools from teaching critical race theory, which was developed in the 1970s and 1980s to examine the ongoing effects of racism on U.S. institutions.

In a news release Monday, the AG’s office said it was “made aware of an Austin ISD official making statements implying that they were using curricula and teaching material linked to the 1619 Project.”

“My office has begun the legal process to depose Austin ISD leaders, and we will fully investigate the district’s policies involving the teaching of illegal CRT curriculum to make sure state law is enforced,” Paxton said in a statement. “I will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that Texas school officials are focused on helping students receive a world-class education, not subject them to liberal, anti-American ideology.”

The petition from the AG’s office pointed to two “undercover interviews” Accuracy in Media, a conservative group, conducted with two different Austin ISD employees in 2021 and 2022. The AG’s office claims both interviews indicate the district may have an “unwritten policy” to get around the state’s ban on teaching critical race theory.

One of the interviews was with Stephanie Hawley, the former chief officer of organizational transformation, who announced her retirement last month. The AG’s office alleges in the petition that Hawley, who was Austin ISD’s equity officer at the time, said the district used the instructional platform Newsela to “introduce different viewpoints into the classroom” and that it lets the district “stay out of trouble with the Legislature.”

Newsela gives teachers access to news-based articles and videos. The AG’s office said some of the content available through the platform is linked to “The 1619 Project.”

“Dr. Hawley’s subsequent promotion to the District’s Chief Officer for Organizational Transformation from November 2023 through March 2025, combined with her long history of promoting ‘equity’ in the District, raise an even greater concern that her influence in reshaping the district may have entrenched an attitude of promoting Critical Race Theory while ‘staying out of trouble with the Legislature’ throughout the District’s policies and culture,” the petition states.

A spokesperson for Austin ISD said the district does not comment on pending litigation.

Daphne Hoffacker, the advocacy chair for the Austin Council of PTAs, criticized the investigation. She said Paxton, who is running against incumbent John Cornyn in a Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, is going after the district to win political points.

“Ken Paxton is running for Senate and both CRT — this nebulous term he uses to describe any anti-bigotry efforts — and his attacks on public schools are red meat to his ever-dwindling base,” she said. “This is nothing but a distraction and a waste of public resources.”

Hoffacker added the district has complied with requirements from the state.

“His investigation will find Austin has some of the most dedicated educators in the country,” she said.

David DeMatthews, a professor in UT Austin’s College of Education, said critical race theory is not taught in K-12 schools, but rather at the graduate level. He added that Republican officials have not been able to clearly define what it is.

“There has been this attack on CRT in schools without really any evidence from any politicians that CRT is actually being taught,” he said. “This just looks like one more unwarranted attack, not based on any evidence, that’s just a public spectacle that will undermine public education even further.”

DeMatthews said Texas has more pressing problems to solve when it comes to education — from the teacher shortage to improving academic achievement and providing special education services.

“I think this is just one of a long line of embarrassing moves by the state of Texas to undermine its constitutional duty to provide a quality public education to every student,” he said. “It’s unimaginable that this is where we’re at.”

DeMatthews said elected officials should be focused on increasing state funding for public schools, which have not seen an increase in the base level of per-student funding since 2019.

Austin ISD is not the only district Paxton has accused of teaching critical race theory. In March, his office sued Coppell ISD, outside Dallas. A video cited in that lawsuit also came from Accuracy in Media.

The school district filed a counterclaim on April 1 seeking sanctions against the AG’s office. Lawyers for the district argued the suit was “frivolous, unreasonable, and without foundation.” They said the video was “heavily edited and manipulated” and took comments a Coppell ISD administrator made out of context, making them “grossly misleading.”

The district asserted Paxton’s lawsuit was meant to harass public school officials and was filed to coincide with the current legislative session, during which school funding is at stake.

The AG’s office and Coppell ISD jointly filed a request this month to dismiss the original lawsuit and counterclaim. A judge has yet to sign off on the proposed order.

Paxton, however, issued a statement Tuesday to announce that the case had been resolved.

“Every school district must follow the law, and Coppell ISD is no exception,” he said. “The District made the right decision by working with my office to ensure that anti-American critical race theory is not taught in classrooms. I call on all school districts to voluntarily act to stop woke ideology from being forced on Texas kids, and if they don’t then I’ll see them in court.”

KUT News reached out to the AG’s office for more details on the allegations against Austin ISD and when school officials could be deposed.

Correction: This story previously stated Paxton sued Coppell ISD last month, but the lawsuit was filed in March.

If you found the reporting above valuable, please consider making a donation to support it here. Your gift helps pay for everything you find on texasstandard.org and KUT.org. Thanks for donating today.