Attorney General Ken Paxton has initiated legal action against Coppell Independent School District (ISD) officials, accusing them of unlawfully incorporating critical race theory (CRT) into their teaching practices.
The lawsuit emerged following the release of a video featuring Evan Whitfield, Director of Curriculum and Instruction for Coppell ISD. In the video, Whitfield discusses how the district navigated around state prohibitions on CRT by claiming they were not explicitly teaching it. He stated that despite state standards, Coppell ISD pursues what they believe is right.
When questioned about whether teachers could independently teach "what's right," Whitfield responded affirmatively, implying that such practices occur discreetly. He also mentioned using the "Next Generation Science Standards" curriculum, which lacks approval from the State Board of Education. Textbooks with similar content have previously been rejected due to their approach to environmental education.
"Liberal administrators who want to ignore state law and unlawfully push divisive and racist CRT curriculum in classrooms will be held responsible for their actions," Attorney General Paxton asserted. "Texas children deserve to receive the best education in the world, not have woke ideology forced upon them. My lawsuit aims to put an immediate end to this illegal and hateful curriculum and immediately stop the blatant refusal to follow state law by certain officials at Coppell ISD."