A college student and native-born Texan, Carlos Turcios saw a need for conservative involvement in Texas’ education system while still in high school—and stepped up to the plate.
Turcios attended Fort Worth ISD’s World Languages Institute, which offered Spanish Immersion and Dual Language Enrichment programs. However, then-Superintendent Keith Scribner announced a plan to split the school into two campuses.
The plan received pushback from parents, teachers, and students concerned that the split would strain the school’s resources. Turcios joined others in protesting the plan and calling for the World Languages Institute to stay intact—and eventually convinced the district to reject the proposal.
“Despite the fact that every single teacher and parent soon rejected the plan, [Scribner] just ignored us and pursued the plan,” Turcios told Texas Scorecard. “So, it took us several months during public comment, petitions, and little protests and school meetings to ultimately get the ball rolling and just stop the whole plan altogether.”
Equity and Excellence
Turcios later became a student member of FWISD’s Equity Committee—an organization he soon discovered was promoting critical race theory and infusing politics into public education.
Although Turcios could have left the committee, he continued attending meetings to collect information and alert the public.
“I decided to stay, and the reason I decided to stay is because the parents in the community would have no idea what was happening because I was the only conservative-leaning person in that committee. Everyone else is pretty left-leaning,” said Turcios. “And so, if I leave, no one would know about what was happening.”
Turcios started informing FWISD parents about how their school district was operating. He soon brought attention to teacher training presentations discussing “institutional racism” that Turcios says “just fixated on the color white and that whiteness equated to oppression.”
Teachers and former teachers told me that they broke down in tears and they had to go get some type of counseling because they were dehumanized during these trainings.
“There are a lot of teachers that hate it. They just can’t say anything, unfortunately, because the directors or the principals would just retaliate,” said Turcios.
After graduating from FWISD, Turcios fought against the district’s Equity and Excellence Department, which FWISD is now expected to eliminate at the end of the current academic school year. According to Turcios, the push for “equity” in public schools harms students.
“I think it’s, frankly, a tumor,” said Turcios. “The whole equity industrial complex is a tumor that’s just infected.”
Grassroots Activism
Since the age of 18, Turcios has organized marches and rallies to promote conservative causes, including a Back the Blue march and a rally to protest FWISD’s Equity and Excellence Department.
“I was comfortable by then to create such large events and to rally up people to support the type of issues as those affecting us today,” said Turcios. “And of course, I think it’s something that is fun. It is something that gets the whole conservative community together.”
Turcios, who says he may run for political office in the future, condemned critical race theory and called for conservatives to get involved with their local public school districts before Democrat activists take over.
“Too many young people are spoiled, too indoctrinated, and basically nihilistic and hedonistic, and I think that needs to change,” said Turcios. “I think conservatives have an obligation to be involved in education, because if we don’t do anything in education, then in 20 to 30 years from now, there’ll be no country to be fighting for because our very own children and grandchildren will have burned this country to the ground and have made it into a dystopian hellhole.”
Turcios currently attends the University of Texas at Arlington, where he is the chapter president for Turning Point USA and enjoys helping fellow students learn how to handle attacks from left-leaning students.
“And the one thing I always tell the members from the club is, ‘No matter what you do, no matter what you say, they’re always going to label you as a transphobic bigot, racist, whatever. Don’t let them get under your skin.’”
“You’re probably doing something right. And you’re probably making a difference.”
No ads. No paywalls. No government grants. No corporate masters.
Just real news for real Texans.
Support Texas Scorecard to keep it that way!
