AUSTIN, Tx., September 13, 2025: In letter released yesterday, Texas Education Agency (TEA) Commissioner, Mike Morath, put Texas teachers on notice that their comments on social media about the murder of Charlie Kirk can “constitute a violation of the Educators’ Code of Ethics.” The Texas Educators’ Code of Ethics includes various teacher conducts that range from criminal acts to integrity and dishonestly. The severity of the sanction depends on the violation.
Kirk was murdered at an event in Utah last September 10. He was a conservative activist who founded Turning Point USA. Yesterday, police arrested Tyler Robinson and charged him with the murder of Kirk.
In yesterday’s letter, Morath writes that some Texas teachers “have posted and/or shared reprehensible and inappropriate content on social media related to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.” The letter did not provide examples of the inappropriate teacher postings.
The letter went on to state that any such posts “will be thoroughly reviewed to determine whether sanctionable conduct has occurred and staff will investigate accordingly.” Morath added in his latter that “while the exercise of free speech is a fundamental right we are all blessed to share, it does not give carte blanche authority to celebrate or sow violence against those that share differing beliefs and perspectives.”
One of the controversies surrounding Kirk was his support of the Second Amendment – the right to keep and bear arms. On April 5, 2023, Kirk told the audience at a faith event that “it’s worth it to have a cost, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”
The right to own a gun in America has been controversial for most of America’s existence. The national debate on gun violence intensified in 1999 when school violence started to rise. Commentary about gun violence started to intensify online after Kirk was killed with a gun.
This morning, the Texas AFT, a teacher’s union released a statement. In it, the union states that “Texas formalizes online hate campaigns against individual teachers.” The teacher’s union called Morath’s letter “the most extreme case of government officials witch-hunting those who disagree with Kirk’s politics.” The statement adds that the letter is now “a statewide directive to hunt down and fire educators for opinions shared on their personal social media accounts.” The release states that “if you value your freedom, now is the time to speak up and defend the rights of all Texans to exercise their constitutional right to have an opinion on matters of civil discourse.”
Neither Morath nor the union defined what kind of post would constitute an inappropriate social media post.
Like Us and Follow Us On Our Social Media!
The post TEA Commissioner Puts Teachers on Notice About Inappropriate Social Media Comments About Murder of Charlie Kirk appeared first on El Paso Herald Post.
Read more: Read More