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When teenagers across Tarrant County walked out of class last week to protest federal immigration enforcement, many of them expected the usual consequences: Missed instruction, an unexcused absence, maybe a trip to the office.

Instead, the warning that followed landed on the adults.

After Gov. Greg Abbott called on Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath to investigate student walkouts, the Texas Education Agency chief reminded public schools statewide that they could face consequences — including the removal of locally elected boards — if they facilitate what the agency described as inappropriate political activism. 

Legal experts say that raises longstanding civic questions: What free speech rights do students have in public schools — and what happens when the government links demonstrations to potential consequences?

Students who participated in the walkouts said the protests were meant to draw attention to immigration enforcement they said is affecting families in their communities.

Cece Espinoza, a senior at L.D. Bell High School who joined a Jan. 30 walkout in Hurst, said the teens understood there could be consequences for leaving class but felt speaking out was necessary. 

“We shouldn’t have to face repercussions for speaking up about something that shouldn’t even be taking place in today’s world,” she said. 

Now the warning that districts also could be punished is prompting renewed scrutiny of the constitutional protections students retain on campus. 

“Students have First Amendment rights in public schools,” said Chip Stewart, a Texas Christian University journalism professor who studies media law and the First Amendment. “They do not surrender the First Amendment rights when they enter the schoolhouse gates.”

That line comes from a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that remains the cornerstone of student-speech law. Under that case, schools can restrict student expression that causes a “material and substantial disruption” to operations — a standard that can include walking out of class, Stewart said.

An education agency spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some say student activism plays a necessary role in a functioning democracy. José Ángel Gutiérrez, a veteran civil rights organizer, helped lead the Crystal City student walkouts in 1969 and 1970.

“It makes (free speech) real,” Gutiérrez said of student activism. “Otherwise, it’s just rhetoric. It’s just fiction, you know. You cannot have free speech if you can’t exercise it.”

Legal experts said the state leaders’ posture creates a complicated dynamic for educators trying to follow the law. 

Texas officials are not simply telling administrators to mark students absent, they said. They are placing the threat — the loss of accreditation, funding and oversight — on the schools. 

“The state of Texas should not have the power to use what seems, on their face, to be legal means for the purpose of silencing students and lawful dissent,” Stewart said. “Threatening the funding of districts so the districts do it for them has real First Amendment issues as well.”

State law grants Morath broad authority to order special investigations into public schools. 

Depending on findings, the commissioner can change a district’s accreditation status, appoint a monitor or conservator or replace elected trustees with a board of managers.

The pressure places school leaders in an unusually difficult position, he said, as they must balance students’ constitutional rights with the state’s expectations for maintaining order.

Educators themselves face limits. 

As government employees, teachers still retain First Amendment rights, but they cannot allow personal views to interfere with their duties, Stewart said. That constraint can create what legal scholars often call a chilling effect.

“They’ll shy away from anything that might be remotely controversial even if it’s legal because they don’t want to get in trouble or cause any trouble for their colleagues or their principals,” he said.

State leaders say the guidance is intended to protect instructional time and ensure schools remain focused on teaching students.

In a correspondence to administrators, state leaders stressed that schools have a duty and obligation to ensure students are safe and attend class, noting that state law prohibits districts from supporting political activism that disrupts learning during the school day.

Abbott struck a sharper tone in a social media post following arrests in Austin, writing that “disruptive walkouts allowed by schools lead to just this kind of chaos” and that state leaders were “looking into stripping the funding of schools” that abandon their duty. 

First Amendment protections hinge on consistent enforcement

Khai Huy Nguyen, a senior at Richland High School who helped organize students, said participants expected attendance consequences but were surprised by the possibility of sanctions aimed at school systems.

“Without the context of the protests’ purpose and the current political atmosphere, it’s easy to take the policies as concern for student safety,” Nguyen said. “But these policies were a response to Abbott’s comments regarding school funding and potential takeovers.”

Kevin Goldberg is a First Amendment expert and vice president at the nonpartisan nonprofit Freedom Forum. He said a walkout generally qualifies as civil disobedience inside a school setting — a choice students may make knowing they can face consequences.

Even so, Goldberg said the First Amendment still matters in how schools and governments respond, especially when the speech is political.

“Political speech is entitled to the strongest First Amendment protection,” he said, adding that officials must apply rules evenly. 

The First Amendment prohibits viewpoint discrimination, meaning schools and the state cannot punish one protest more harshly than another based on the message, he said.

That principle becomes a red flag if districts feel pressure to crack down on one kind of demonstration while ignoring another, he said.

“If those two are treated differently, that violates the First Amendment,” Goldberg said.

Gutiérrez, a retired political science professor and lawyer, said the state leaders’ warnings sounded similar to what Texas did when students protested a half-century ago for equal treatment in their schools.

Student protests often force communities to confront injustices that official policies ignored, Gutiérrez said — and he sees parallels today, even across generations.

“I love it,” he said of the current student walkouts. “I think it takes a cycle before you get back to that kind of activism and that awareness.”

When he hears state leaders now linking student protests to the possibility of sanctions or state control of school districts, Gutiérrez said it fits a pattern.

“They repress,” he said. “This is what they always do.”

Schools must balance competing pressures

Goldberg said school administrators are often trying to thread a needle. 

They must enforce rules, keep kids safe and keep instruction moving, all while avoiding treating political speech differently based on viewpoint.

“The best answer is certainly to apply whatever rules there are even-handedly,” he said. “That is what the First Amendment demands.”

Gutiérrez said communities should remember that student activism has often been part of how democracy moves from slogans to reality and in shaping American public education — from civil rights demonstrations to protests over gun violence.

Civic participation is what schools are meant to cultivate, Goldberg added.

“We want to instill First Amendment values in our youth,” he said. “You’re never too young to learn about the importance of free speech and how to make things happen in society.”

Still, those moments rarely produce easy answers for school leaders, who must weigh competing expectations from parents, lawmakers and their communities, experts said.

“You are never going to make everybody happy,” Goldberg said.

How Tarrant districts responded to student walkouts

School administrators across Tarrant County said their priority during last week’s student walkouts was maintaining safety and instruction.

Fort Worth ISD officials said they respect students’ rights to express their views but expects them to remain in class during the school day. Students who leave campus without following normal checkout procedures are marked with an unexcused absence, consistent with Texas Education Agency guidance, district officials said.

Birdville ISD had additional administrators and staff on campuses during the walkouts, officials said. Police assisted in monitoring student safety once students left school property. Officials said they follow compulsory attendance laws but declined to discuss if anyone faced discipline, citing student privacy protections.

Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD officials warned families ahead of the demonstrations that students who left class would receive unexcused absences and could face disciplinary consequences for disrupting learning. After a group of roughly 70 to 80 students left a junior high campus, police monitored the students as they walked away from school grounds, according to a letter sent to families.

Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD officials told families district leaders were aware of plans for students to leave campus without permission and said at least one campus experienced a disruption that raised safety concerns. Students who leave campus without authorization receive an unexcused absence and may face disciplinary consequences, which can include suspension or loss of privileges, officials said.

Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1. 

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