The Texas Education Agency released “guidance” regarding student walkouts in schools on Feb. 3. It is one thing to want to keep students safe and educated; it is another to try to keep them silent.

The guidance was in response to Gov. Greg Abbott posting on X that he had Education Commissioner Mike Morath investigate a school walkout. The post highlighted the Austin Independent School District’s walkouts in protest of the recent ICE killings, such as Renee Nicole. TEA released a series of consequences for “inappropriate political activism.” Two that stand out are “students being marked absent and districts losing state funding” and “educators being investigated and disciplined, including losing their teaching license.” Despite what the TEA might think, these guidelines will not help the young scholars.

Threatening students with marked absences and teachers with losing their teaching license should not be the response to exercising free speech and a right to assembly. These guidelines to keep students safe and the teachers employed are also stripping them of their First Amendment rights — a right that was guaranteed by our founding fathers, among others they wrote. The First Amendment in particular protects American citizens’ right to free speech and free assembly. 

In the past, student protests have been a national discussion. A Supreme Court case, Tinker v. Des Moines, addressed this issue in 1969. Students sued Mary Beth Tinker High School for suspending them after wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment applied in the academic setting as well, declaring that schools cannot prohibit protests due to the discomfort of the person in charge. This ruling still applies today. TEA cannot just outlaw student-led protests because Abbott decided that they are unseemly.

These future leaders that Abbott and the TEA are trying to keep off the streets are infringing upon the rights given to them by their past leaders. These students are speaking out against an unjust ruler, just like the Founding Fathers did with King George III. Students are making a stand against the wrongful detainment, deportation and treatment of the nation’s citizens. They are repeating the history of the former soldiers of freedom. The state’s guidelines are not protecting the students; they are a Trojan horse — a way to hide the fact that they keep students from being a thorn in the side of corrupt politicians. The only learning that TEA is providing these kids with is persecution for taking peaceful action. 

TEA, whether or not ill-intentioned, is hurting the students of schools across Texas, showing them that any attempt to speak out will result in them being gagged and shoved back at their desks. TEA is taking away the students’ right to free speech.