(The Center Square) – Several Texas public schools are under state investigation for supporting thousands of student walkouts to protest federal immigration enforcement.
Many have either been taken over by the state or have planned school closures. Gov. Greg Abbott has called for schools that facilitate protests to be stripped of state funding.
Initial protests and walkouts occurred on Jan. 30 as part of a coordinated national movement disrupting classroom teaching with some students getting injured and lost. More than 10 days later, students are still protesting.
On Tuesday, dozens of students from the Houston Academy for International Studies walked out of school, chanting, “ICE off our streets.” It’s part of Houston ISD, which the state took over two years ago for failing grades, The Center Square reported. Last week, in Fort Bend ISD, a Kuwaiti student joined protests chanting, “There’s no human illegal on stolen land,” a common chant among Houston area protesters, The Houston Chronicle reported.
Dallas ISD students also walked out of class on Tuesday, chanting, “No Trump, no ICE, no fascists on our streets. “Dallas Police and Dallas ISD officers stood by,” KERA News reported.
Student protests continue after the Texas Education Agency issued guidance stating, “schools risk losing daily attendance funding if they allow or encourage students to walk out of class. Teachers that facilitate walk outs will be subject to investigation and sanction including licensure revocation. School systems that facilitate walkouts will be subject to investigation and sanction, including either the appointment of a monitor, conservator or board of managers.”
Austin ISD is under investigation after parents complained and the Texas Public Policy Foundation posted videos and pictures of hundreds of students holding profanity-laced signs marching in downtown Austin appearing to be escorted by AISD police. AISD said students from 14 campuses weren’t in school participating in a non-district sponsored walkout. It said in Spanish they were exercising their First Amendment right.
Its superintendent said parents were notified but one parent said his AISD middle school son “didn’t decide to protest;” classes were cancelled. “Teachers held the doors open. Everyone left. No one notified me before, during, or after. My son and a few hundred others walked 5 miles to the capitol and back, unsupervised.” He also said he filed complaints.
“Austin ISD gets taxpayer dollars to teach the subjects required by the state, not to help students skip school to protest,” Abbott said in response. “Our schools are for educating our children, not political indoctrination. This is one of many reasons why AISD is losing so many students.” Austin ISD is closing 10 campuses beginning in the 2026-2027 school year.
Hundreds of Fort Worth ISD students also protested in a district the state took over last year due to systemic failing grades, The Center Square reported. It’s also in the process of closing 16 schools. In response, Abbott said, “THIS is a school district that Texas is taking over because the FWISD has failed students for 5 years in a row. Parents are fleeing FWISD & choosing school choice because they want their kids educated not indoctrinated. The State will course correct FWISD.”
A high school principal in Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD in northwest Fort Worth “approved the protest and helped students,” encouraged them using a megaphone, and school district officials offered students a ride on a bus, Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
KERA News reported nearly 1,000 students in Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD protested. The district said staff supervised students for their safety. Its board president maintained, “Peaceful civic engagement is an important part of learning and democratic participation.”
In the San Antonio area, several thousand students protested from more than 20 high schools, News 4 San Antonio reported. Students were shouting, “USA! No Trump! No KKK, no fascists!” Outside of San Antonio in New Braunfels ISD, the district said it respected students’ “rights to express their individual viewpoints” but students that disrupted instruction or posed safety concerns would face disciplinary action.”
During a school walkout in Hays CISD, Kyle Police officers arrested two juveniles for assault, resisting arrest, interfering with public duties and consumption and possession of alcohol by a minor. In Buna, a man was arrested for allegedly assaulting a minor.
In response, Gov. Abbott said, “Disruptive walkouts allowed by schools lead to just this kind of chaos. Schools and staff who allow this behavior should be treated as co-conspirators and should not be immune for criminal behavior. We are also looking into stripping the funding of schools that abandon their duty to teach our kids the curriculum required by law. More to come.”
Hays CISD’s superintendent also informed parents that a 12-year-old student got lost after he left school “without permission during a student protest … and walked five-and-a-half miles until he found another school campus. He didn’t know how he was going to get home.” It added, CISD was “doing our best to keep kids in class, but when hundreds of students simultaneously head to the doors, we don’t have enough staff at each campus to stop them, nor are we allowed to physically restrain them.”
It also said a teacher involved in the protest holding a profanity-laced sign was placed on administrative leave and wouldn’t be returning. “Future walkouts cannot happen,” it said. Students “have the First Amendment right to participate in protests, but they are not without consequences.”
