Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed civil suits against nearly a dozen school districts for their illegal electioneering during the 2024 primary season because the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals blocked his office’s ability to prosecute such cases. Since then, voters have begun filing criminal complaints with their local district attorneys.
Yesterday, we asked readers what they thought should happen to school districts found to have illegally engaged in electioneering.
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Here is a sampling of the comments we received from our readers after they voted in the survey.
“Why take recess away from the whole class because of a couple of bad actors? A little jail time and loss of job would probably stifle these illegal actions by others.” – Tobie Hall
“The public school districts are tasked with just one agenda, teach our children!! They should not be a paid political arm of either party, if caught doing so should be punished accordingly.” – Greg Burr
“They need to understand that what they have done is not ok and maybe with them going to jail it will teach them a lesson and it’ll hopefully never happen again.” – Kathy Hernandez
“If there are never any consequences for the crime, then the acts will continue. At some point you have to set examples of the wrong doers.” – Manuel Blanco
“The loss of state funding hurts the students as does the jailing of school personnel. The schools are already lacking personnel. I think a stiff financial penalty for the persons directly engaged in electioneering would be a much stronger deterrent.” – Evelyn Montalvo
“Without the threat of losing funding, school boards will NOT police the administration. The administration has already proven that it cannot keep itself within the law.” – Arthur Potter
“The recurrent theme of ‘No consequences for bad behavior’ is why we are in such a mess as it is. All responsible parties should be decisively punished.” – Tara Souther
“Breaking the law is breaking the law, it’s time for the elitists (socialists) to suffer the consequences for their efforts to undermine the citizens of this great state!” – Ken Bintliff
“If you break the law you pay a price. Only until a deterrence is enforced will lawbreakers think twice about breaking laws.” – Kathy Lane
“Job losses for those employees involved, at a minimum.” – Gene Glass
“This sort of behavior happens in most schools in Texas. I was a Maintenance Director for a School District for 11 years. Every election season, teachers and staff would be gathered together and told whom to vote for; we were told this would make more money for the district.” – Gene Klutts
“Why should the school lose funding for his behavior. Sending him to jail would be a long drawn out expensive process. Fire him and cancel his administration certification.” – Angela Hairston
“Withholding funding punishes the students. Jail time isn’t the answer either. I think they should be fined and fired, and prevented from serving in any capacity in any other school in Texas, ever. That sends a message to other school administrators.” – Karen Coombes
“School administrators using public school resources for the purpose of electioneering should be subject to the same punishments as any one guilty of election fraud or interference which should include jail time and fines where appropriate. Ultimately, it’s teachers unions who would benefit from this type of criminal behavior so perhaps fines should be levied against school district teachers’ representatives!” – M. D. Edinburgh
“Until public officials- including teachers and school administrators-start going to prison for breaking the law, nothing will change.” – Catherine Buschold
“I answered BOTH. Anything less will not get their attention to the seriousness of their actions!” – Dennis Scharp
“If found guilty, then there needs to be consequences for electioneering. If there are no consequences, then they will just keep doing it. Punish the wrong doers with jail time but don’t punish the school (cut funding) because of some bad actors.” – Randall Woodman
“I voted both because it is about time administrators and school systems were held accountable for not following state laws. It always seems like they are not held accountable or receive a slap on the wrist. Jail time and loss of funding should send the message.” – Ashton Oravetz, III
“Hit ‘em where it hurts most! Withhold state funding and arrest the administrators/employees who engaged in these illegal election activities! Publicly funded school districts need to remain neutral in elections.” – Dana Krasinski
