Texas AG Ken Paxton Sues THREE East Texas School Districts Regarding Mask Mandates

COVID cases are on the rise in East Texas and across the US, and just like last winter it seems as if we all know a few families who are being affected by it this time around. Unfortunately for our kids and school teachers, this resurgence has coincided with a new school year.

This afternoon (September 14th), as COVID continues its march across Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton took to Twitter to announce that he is following through on his plan to sue Texas school districts that are requiring students and staff to wear masks.

"I filed suit against 9 more Texas schools in violation of GA-38. We will continue until we have law and order. I have filed 9 more lawsuits against the following ISDs for defying Exec. Order 38: La Vega, McGregor, Midway, Waco, Diboll, Lufkin, Longview, Paris and Honey Grove. There will be more to come as lawlessness continues across the state."

This round of lawsuits includes East Texas school districts: Longview, Diboll, and Lufkin ISDs.

At the time of the mandate announcement, on September 1st, Chapel Hill ISD cited that in August 2020, while requiring masks they only had 8 cases, this month, one year later, without a mask mandate they are battling 122 cases, this from to Superintendent Lamond Dean via KLTV.

While Governor Abbott has threatened to impose penalties on governments or school districts who impose mask mandates, according to a court filing in Dallas from the Texas Tribune, he will not be able to enforce that.

As it turns out a District Attorney is the only one that can prosecute those who are trying to defy the governor's orders. "For instance in Texas most populous county, Harris County, their District Attorney has said she doesn’t anticipate enforcing Abbott’s executive order because it’s not a criminal matter, a spokesperson said. Many are also wanting Abbott to make an official public statement."