Sara Gonzales exposes a Texas public school for handing out Qurans, hijabs, and pamphlets on Sharia law.  The ACLU has long tried to keep the separation of church and state when it comes to Christianity in public schools, and now BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales is calling on them to have the same energy when it comes to Islam.  “If you try to teach Christianity, if you try to preach the Bible inside the schools, they are right there to tell you how there has to be a separation of church and state. And I’m just wondering, I’m wondering if we will hear the same outrage from the ACLU on this next story,” she says. view article

A current and a former Winnsboro ISD superintendent were arrested on additional charges Thursday, according to the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office. Brian David Wilcox, 50, and Aaron David Nation, 39, were both held Thursday at the Hopkins County Jail on warrants charging them with tampering with physical evidence with intent to impair and with unlawful interception of a wire, oral or electronic device. view article

Lubbock ISD responded to a threat made against one of its middle school campuses Thursday. While the threat was deemed false, Brian Ellyson Director of student and parent resolution for the district said they take every report seriously. “You know that’s our job, is to make sure our kids are educated and our kids are safe,” Ellyson said. view article

Wylie Independent School District is investigating an incident at Wylie East High School after an outside religious organization distributed materials on campus without district approval, according to a letter sent to parents on Tuesday. "Parents send their kids to school with the presumption that they're going to get a good education. They don't expect to come home with a Quran or hijab on their head," said Jacquez Jones, the Chairman of the High School Young Republicans. view article

A Wylie Independent School District employee is on leave after an incident at Wylie East High School, when an outside religious organization distributed materials on campus without district approval, according to a letter sent to parents. view article

Critics of the nondisclosure agreements say they have protected abusers and institutions for decades.   Cindy Clemishire was 12 years old on Christmas night in 1982 when a traveling evangelist staying with her family first abused her.  According to Clemishire, the sexual abuse continued over the next four years. She eventually told her family and the abuse stopped. But her abuser, Robert Morris, went on to found Gateway Church in Texas, which became one of the largest megachurches in the nation.  When Clemishire sought restitution in 2007, Morris’ attorney offered her $25,000 if she would sign a nondisclosure agreement that would prevent her from speaking publicly about the abuse. She refused. view article

A now-former Overton ISD basketball coach accused of grabbing and twisting a seventh-grade student’s ears, causing significant pain during practice, was arrested last week. Zachariary Joseph Griffin-Guidry, 30, was booked into the Rusk County Jail on a charge of injury to a child/disabled/elderly person on Jan. 29. view article

Former Celina Independent School District teacher and coach Caleb Elliott has officially been indicted by a Collin County grand jury on felony charges. Charges include possession of child pornography, invasive visual recording and sexual performance by a child. Elliott is accused of secretly recording boys in the Moore Middle School locker room. view article

Cypress-Fairbanks ISD leaders say they are following the law — not politics — as the state's third-largest district becomes the latest flashpoint in Gov. Greg Abbott's escalating fight over the Islamic Games and a Muslim civil rights group.  Superintendent Douglas Killian wrote a personal letter to the GOP governor late last week, expressing frustration over his demands for Cy-Fair ISD to cancel the Islamic Games of North America at its facilities and saying he needed to clear up "significant inaccuracies related to this situation."   According to the letter, which the Chronicle obtained Monday, Killian challenged Abbott's demand directly, saying that it would be illegal for the district to discriminate against the Islamic Games and that the group "is not identified as a foreign terrorist organization." view article

The application period will close March 17. If demand exceeds the $1 billion available, the state will prioritize students based on family income and whether they have a disability. view article

A student was rushed to the hospital on Monday after being stabbed at Grand Oaks High School, school district officials said. According to Conroe ISD, a student suffered three shallow stab wounds after an altercation with another student occurred at 9 a.m. on campus at Grand Oaks High School, which is located at 3800 Riley Fuzzel Road in Spring. view article

A Harris County Sheriff’s Office sergeant is facing both state and federal charges after authorities say he engaged in explicit online communications with someone he believed to be a 13-year-old child. view article

A San Antonio resident is asking a judge whether a recent special Judson Independent School District board meeting was legal. The plaintiff, Lisa Butler, is “highly interested in the affairs of the Judson Independent School District, including its Board of Trustees,” according to a temporary restraining order (TRO) filed Jan. 23. view article

The Texas Education Agency confirmed Monday that it is investigating Austin ISD and several other districts following student protests across the state last week. The move comes after Gov. Greg Abbott announced he directed Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath to launch an investigation into AISD in a post on X Friday. view article

A man employed as an Athens ISD teacher and assistant basketball coach has been arrested and accused of having marijuana and other “dangerous drugs” on campus. The man, who is employed at Central Athens Elementary School, was arrested early Monday morning outside the campus, according to an Athens ISD release. The school said they notified authorities after they learned of a “potential concern.” view article

An attorney representing a McKinney student’s family revealed new allegations Thursday surrounding the arrest of a high school athletic trainer. Personal injury attorney Paul Herz met with reporters in his Dallas office, sharing additional details about the arrest of a McKinney Independent School District athletic trainer accused of sexually assaulting a student. Herz also raised concerns about whether the trainer was properly licensed in Texas at the time of the alleged incidents. view article

A recently elected Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD (SCUCISD) board member was terminated from his teaching position after abandoning several children at a Judson ISD elementary school hours before being sworn in, according to records obtained by KSAT Investigates. view article

The award is the largest the Texas conspiracy theorist has been ordered to pay as part of three defamation lawsuits against him for falsely claiming that the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax. view article

Attorney General Ken Paxton is demanding information from Cypress-Fairbanks and Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School Districts (“ISDs”). The information demands are part of an ongoing investigation regarding the schools’ ties to the Islamic Games of North America, which hosts events sponsored by a chapter of a designated foreign terrorist organization—the Council on American-Islamic Relations (“CAIR”). view article

A Harris County judge has dismissed the case alleging a Klein ISD cosmetology teacher operated a sex trafficking ring with her son, after prosecutors said they did not have sufficient evidence. Kedria Grigsby, 43, a former cosmetology teacher at Klein Cain High School, was arrested in 2024 and charged with three counts of compelling prostitution of a minor and three counts of trafficking a child. Grigsby was accused of assisting in her son's efforts to recruit teen runaways from the school district for prostitution. view article

The 89th legislative session has produced a staggering number of changes to the landscape of Texas education. Perhaps one of the more jarring changes was the addition of chapter 26A to the Texas Education Code. This new chapter codifies the grievance provisions that school districts are required to implement in policy. Some of the requirements in the Chapter simply mirror the procedures already common amongst school districts, such as the use of a multi-tiered grievance appeal process. Others, however, depart from the usual grievance procedures or create new procedures entirely. This article will highlight some of the largest departures from past grievance procedures and discuss the implications of these changes for Texas school districts.

My favorite article that I have written over the years is one on official state holidays and recognitions. I find it fascinating to see which lobbyists succeed in recognitions for their cause. I look at this calendar and wonder why Monarch butterflies and veterinarian technicians get their own week, Lung Cancers Awareness gets only one day, Gold Star mothers get a day but not fathers, and there are no recognition days in December? Did you know that the 11 th day of each month is a recognition “day?”

In case you are running low on things to worry about this semester, never fear. This article is dedicated to the False Claims Act (FCA), another tool the federal government appears happy to point in the direction of public schools.

Governments rely on private contractors, or vendors. Many times, using a vendor is either more efficient, less expensive, or gives the government access to expertise that it does not have. Given the ubiquitous nature of contracts with the private sector, devoting some time and attention to your vendor contracts is important.

During the 89th Regular Legislative Session, HB 6 made a number of changes to Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code and the content of the 2025-2026 Student Code of Conduct. Many of these changes will likely be welcomed by Texas public schools, such as the ability to have more discretion in the determination of appropriate behavioral consequences for a student found in possession of a VAPE device.

If you’re one of the many Texas school districts operating under a District of Innovation (DOI) Plan, you’ve already embraced flexibility and local control. But with each legislative session, it becomes increasingly important to reevaluate whether your plan still fits within the legal boundaries.

During the 87th (2021) legislative session, the Legislature quietly expanded the authority of the Commissioner to investigate complaints against public schools and intervene beyond accreditation matters. These legislative revisions to Chapter 39 of the Texas Education Code (TEC) are resulting in a new wave of investigations into locally controlled policies and procedures like school district discipline procedures, bullying and harassment policies, and even student record keeping—previously considered the domain of local school officials and beyond the reach of officials in Austin. As a result, filing a complaint with TEA’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has become the weapon of choice for anyone disgruntled with the actions of a public school.

Congratulations on passing your bond. It’s time to get to work. Let’s, for just a few minutes, set aside the beautiful architectural renderings and the excitement of the benefits that your construction program will bring to you community, and talk about ways to minimize the risk inherent in such a large undertaking.

A Garland ISD employee is on administrative leave after allegedly taking photos of a female elementary school student while she was in the restroom. The incident reportedly took place during the week of March 29 at Abbett Elementary, according to an email sent to parents on Thursday, April 1. view article

Pursuant to subsection 38.001(f) of the Education Code, the Legislature provided that a student who has not received the immunizations required by law “for reasons of conscience, including because of the person’s religious beliefs, may be excluded from school in times of emergency or epidemic declared by the commissioner of public health.” Read in context, a court likely would conclude that this exception does not permit exclusion of students who lack vaccinations unrelated to an existing "epidemic" contemplated by subsection 38.001(f). view article

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On May 4, 2020, the Department of Education (“DOE”) issued new Title IX regulations, which direct how educational institutions receiving federal funds must address reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault involving both students and employees. view article

At SL&A, we offer a full array of legal services for our school law clients throughout Texas. We strive to deliver a high-level of client service through teamwork, calling upon our attorneys’ decades of public and private experience to provide practical solutions and advice for all school needs. view article

Officers with the Hudson ISD Police Department arrested a former math teacher for the school district on Monday in connection to allegations that he had an improper relationship with a high school student that included sexual contact. view article

On Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) officially filed a grievance against the Wimberley Independent School District, according to our partners at the Austin-American Statesman. The grievance is the result of an email Superintendent Dwain York sent to some parents in December 2019 regarding the altering of the district's logo to include the colors of the gay pride flag, according to the Statesman. view article