Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a suit against Denton ISD late Thursday following the discovery and publication of separate emails from two Denton ISD administrators. The attorney general says both emails violate the Texas Election Code forbidding electioneering among school officials.
“It is absolutely improper for publicly funded entities like school districts to engage in electioneering as Denton ISD has done,” Paxton said in a news release. “State law prohibits government officials — including school district personnel — from using either their positions of authority or taxpayer resources to influence the outcome of elections. Government officials everywhere are on notice that I will use every legal remedy available to me to stop school districts from influencing or coercing their employees to vote any particular way, especially when a district uses taxpayer resources and money to do so."
A screenshot of a purported Feb. 5 email from Lindsay Luján, Denton ISD’s director of special programs, urged her elementary school staff to hit the polls in the Texas Republican primary and cast their ballots in favor of candidates who support public education.
The screenshot is attached as evidence in Paxton’s lawsuit, as well as an apparent email by Borman Elementary School Principal Jesús Luján urging his school staff to do the same.
Lindsay and Jesús Luján are married, and Lindsay Luján is still listed as the principal of Alexander Elementary, the post she is due to vacate once her replacement is hired.
On Friday, Denton ISD released a statement regarding Paxton's suit.
"Denton ISD has been in conversation with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, and we agree that election laws should be followed," Denton ISD Chief of Communications Julie Zwahr said in an email. "In fact, our Board of School Trustees adopted board policies in 2018 and 2021 regarding elections and campaign ethics, and we train all trustees and administrators on these policies annually. It is our expectation that these policies be followed."
Right-wing activist Michael Quinn Sullivan, publisher of the Texas Scorecard, criticized Lindsay Luján’s email on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday morning, saying, “How illegal is this?” The Texas Scorecard published stories about the administrators’ emails on Wednesday and Thursday.
A group of Collin County Democrats also took exception to Lindsay Luján’s email on X, saying it could constitute a violation of the Texas Election Code.
Lindsey Lujan is a Spec Ed Director, Denton ISD. She has sent an email out to staff urging them to vote in the Republican Primary, which might be a violation of the Texas Elec Code, Title 15, Chptr 253.0031, Unlawful Use of Internal Mail System for Political Advertising & 255.003 pic.twitter.com/SiogPa5Fyh
— CollinCountyDemocrats (@CollinDems) February 22, 2024
Wednesday evening, Paxton posted on X about Lindsay Luján’s email, calling it a criminal offense, as schools can’t use public resources to promote or oppose a political candidate or a group of political candidates. The Texas Penal Code defines election coercion as a Class A misdemeanor.
“This constitutes illegal electioneering under the election code, which is completely unacceptable,” Paxton said in the post on X. “It is a criminal offense for an officer or employee of a school district to knowingly spend or authorize the spending of public funds for political advertising.”
But he also said in his post that his office can’t prosecute criminal election offenses.
This constitutes illegal electioneering under the election code, which is completely unacceptable. It is a criminal offense for an officer or employee of a school district to knowingly spend or authorize the spending of public funds for political advertising.
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) February 21, 2024
Unfortunately, the… https://t.co/gDMVhO3jti
In her email, Lindsay Luján urged staff members to register to vote so they would be eligible to cast a ballot in the state’s Republican primary election.
Early voting began Tuesday, and both administrators’ emails informed staff members that Borman staff members would have 30 minutes of “coverage” to vote on Feb. 21 and 26.
The email also references the nonprofit Texans for Public Education and a database the group maintains that rates statewide officeholders as “friendly,” “unfriendly,” “neutral” or “not rated” to public schools.
Lindsay Luján’s email references the recent legislative session’s failure to fully fund Texas public schools. With 2019 funding levels still in place, some Texas districts are planning deficit budgets. Denton ISD gave its staff compensation increases for this school year out of savings but made 10% cuts across the board and shuttered its growing virtual academy. Both emails mention school vouchers, which would use public school funds to pay for private and religiously affiliated education and home-schooling throughout the state.
Texas school districts pressed their communities during the legislative session to call their elected officials in Austin and voice support for a better school funding and teacher raises. Districts across the state have also urged voters to tell their elected leaders not to fund private schools and home-schooling from the public school budget. These campaigns avoided electioneering violations because they didn’t advocate for a candidate or ballot initiative.
Vouchers ultimately failed, with Democratic and rural Texas Republican lawmakers opposing the funding reform.
While it might seem like a head-scratcher for a school administrator to support voting in a Republican primary, it makes some sense in Texas. Democratic lawmakers largely support more robust public education spending and oppose vouchers. And since Texas still leans Republican in state offices, ballots cast in GOP primaries represent serious electoral muscle.
Texas holds open primaries, which means voters can cast a ballot in either Republican or Democratic primary elections. In a state that has made it increasingly difficult to vote, open primaries give voters a little bit of leverage to influence the outcome, regardless of the voter’s party affiliation.
Denton ISD officials said that the primary election season is significant for public education. Zwahr said the school district is in the company of hundreds of Texas school systems struggling to fund a state in the midst of a population boom. The winning candidates will make decisions that affect Denton families and students.
"Our employees' passion for serving our students and community is undeniable," she said. "The current primary elections on March 5 are especially significant for public education. These elected officials will make crucial decisions that impact our students, teachers, families and our district as a whole.
"Making your voice heard starts with voting in these primary elections," Zwahr said. "We encourage all registered voters to do their homework and learn about the candidates and their positions before they vote in the primary of their choosing. Denton ISD strives to create a culture of routine voting, and we believe that participating in the democratic process is every citizen’s civic duty."
As voters head to the polls, Denton ISD faces legislative forces that, to educators, amounts to defunding local schools.
"This means we are currently in the process of having to make difficult financial decisions that could negatively impact our students and community," Zwahr said. "The state has not increased the basic allotment per student since 2019, despite inflation being well over 15 percent and the state sitting on a record $32.7 billion surplus. Public education supporters need to proactively engage in the democratic process."
