TEA received approximately 180 reports related to employee posts about Kirk assassination

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The Texas Education Agency (TEA) said it received about 180 complaints related to Texas public school teachers appearing to celebrate Charlie Kirk's murder. TEA said some of the complaints are under investigation.

"While all educators are held to a high standard of professionalism, there is a difference between comments made in poor taste and those that call for and incite further violence - the latter of which is clearly unacceptable," TEA Commissioner Mike Morath said in a statement. "TEA's Educator Investigations Division has already begun its review, and I will be recommending to the State Board for Educator Certification that such individuals have their certification suspended and be rendered ineligible to teach in a Texas public school."

TEA had already released a statement Friday evening, asking the public to share "inappropriate content... to the agency through TEA's Misconduct Reporting Portal," adding that the posts "could constitute a violation of the Educators' Code of Ethics."

After Friday's statement, President of the Texas American Federation of Teachers Zeph Capo criticized the TEA, saying, "people still have a First Amendment right to speak out on matters of civil discourse, without threats."

On Monday, State Rep. Lauren Ashley Simmons, D-Houston, echoed the sentiment.

"I was disgusted to read TEA Commissioner Mike Morath's letter threatening to investigate and intimidate Texas teachers for exercising their first amendment rights," she wrote. "Morath's shameless and transparent use of the assassination for his own political gain is reprehensible. I did not see him react in a similar way to the targeted political assignation (sic) of the leader of the Minnesota House Democratic Caucus, Melissa Hortman, and her husband — who were shot dead in their home just weeks ago."

Some of the attention was on posts allegedly created by educators at Goose Creek ISD. State Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, pointed followers to a post on social media.

"This 'teacher' must be fired immediately," Rep. Cain said the night of Kirk's assassination.

The original post said, "I'll bet if the victim had been Black or Brown or a Democrat influencer, [Utah Gov. Spencer Cox would] have been singing a different tune... Could Kirk have baited just ONE too many people? Could this have been the consequences of his actions catching up with him?"

Cain responded, "This tragedy shows how unhinged the radical left has become as they respond to differing political views with hate and by labeling opponents as Nazis, fascists, and racists. FIRE HER NOW!"

On Monday, leaders at Goose Creek ISD confirmed they have started the process to dismiss an educator in relation to posts about Kirk's death — adding that another educator's posts had drawn their attention but those comments did not "rise to the level of constituting good cause to terminate the teacher's contract."

According to the district, firing a teacher is a long process, and the teacher in question refused to voluntarily resign and has secured a lawyer.