‘Critical race theory’ lawsuit against Coppell ISD resolved, Texas AG Ken Paxton says

After suing Coppell ISD, alleging educators were breaking state law by teaching critical race theory, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday he “resolved” the case with the district.

The development was hailed by the district as a “decisive legal victory.”

The lawsuit, filed in March, based its claims on a hidden-camera recording originally published in 2023 by a group called Accuracy in Media. Video appeared to show a Coppell ISD discussing ways to get around the state’s anti-CRT laws. District officials insisted in a court filing that the footage was “heavily edited and manipulated so to be grossly misleading.”

Critical race theory is an academic framework that probes the way policies and laws uphold systemic racism — such as in education, housing or criminal justice. In recent years, many conservatives conflated it with work aimed at making schools more equitable for students.

In 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law aiming to eliminate critical race theory from public schools, though it did not use those three words.

In Tuesday‘s announcement, Paxton said the lawsuit was resolved after district officials “voluntarily took measures to ensure that unlawful critical race theory (“CRT”) will not be taught in its classrooms.”

Those measures included disavowing the theory and circulating to staff Texas laws surrounding the teaching of race and the importance of being fully compliant with state law, according to the news release.

Coppell ISD officials issued a statement Wednesday, which said the lawsuit was “riddled with demonstrably false allegations and intentionally misleading content.”

“This lawsuit was never about justice. This was about generating headlines, scoring political points and undermining public education,” Superintendent Brad Hunt said in the statement.

The statement also points out that the AG’s office obtained the district’s full curriculum through a records request before the lawsuit was filed. Those records show the district does not teach critical race theory, according to the statement.

“In other words, the Attorney General knew — or should have known — that the allegations were false before the lawsuit was ever filed, wasting taxpayer money, staff ’ time and district resources," the statement said.