Two Denton ISD principals were indicted this week after allegedly using their school email addresses to encourage staff members to vote in last month’s Republican primary election.
On Feb. 5, Lindsay Lujan, Denton ISD’s director of special programs and principal of Alexander Elementary School, sent an email from her school address urging staff to vote in the March Republican primary. Including a quote from a Texas superintendent warning that “if Texas educators do not come together and vote on a candidate that will support public schools, [they] are in trouble,” Lujan urged staff to do “[their] part.” She included a link to a list of candidates organized by whether they support or oppose public school education.
Jesus Lujan, principal of Borman Elementary School and Lindsay’s husband, sent out a similar email in February from his school email address encouraging staff to vote, even if they aren’t Republicans, “for candidates who support public education and school funding.” Stating that “85% of primary votes in [Texas] want vouchers,” he emphasized the importance of teachers and public schools turning out to vote.
Both principals stated within their emails that they’d allotted 30 minutes of coverage for employees to go vote during the primaries.
On Feb. 22, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Denton ISD over those emails. The use of government resources to circulate voting guidelines to other public employees directly violated Texas’s prohibition against the use of “state or local funds or other resources of the district to electioneer for or against any candidate, measure, or political party,” Paxton’s office said in a news release. The injunction orders Denton ISD employees to “not use any funds or resources of Denton ISD, including email, or other means to engage in electioneering in violation of the Texas Election Code.”
“School districts should be aware that illegal electioneering is criminal conduct and violators could be subject to criminal prosecution by local authorities,” Paxton’s office said in a statement. “While unable to criminally prosecute violators at this time, Attorney General Paxton is committed to using all available means to protect the integrity of Texas elections.”
Earlier this week, Jesus and Lindsay were indicted for “unlawful use of internal mail system for political advertising,” according to Denton County court records. A Denton ISD spokesperson provided the following statement Thursday:
“Denton ISD and the Texas Attorney General’s Office previously settled this case on Friday, March 1. As stated previously, we agree that election laws should be followed. Our Board of School Trustees adopted board policies in 2018 and 2021 regarding elections and campaign ethics, and we train all trustees and administrators on these policies annually. It is our expectation that these policies be followed.”
Part of this news story originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/23/ken-paxton-sue-denton-isd-texas/.
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