Paxton demands copy of Fort Worth ISD’s sex curriculum

He says parents denied access to curriculum, books.

Attorney General Ken Paxton wants to see the Fort Worth school district’s sixthgrade human sexuality curriculum.

Paxton demanded Thursday that Fort Worth Superintendent Kent Scribner send him a copy of the curriculum, which teaches about gender identity and sexual orientation. In a letter Thursday, Paxton said the Fort Worth district is defying an opinion he gave two years ago, in which he ruled that parents must have access to their children’s records at school and full information about school activities.

Clint Bond, a spokesman for the school district, said the district has not received a letter from Paxton’s office. The first time he heard about it was in a question from a reporter, he said.

“I got a call at 5:40 last evening as I was trying to leave the office, and it was the Houston Chronicle,” Bond said. “They said, ‘What’s your reaction to this letter?’ and I said, what letter?”

Paxton ordered the school district to hand over the curriculum within 10 business days of receipt of his request. But Scribner is on vacation this week, Bond said. The district is closed on Fridays during the summer, so staffers won’t be able to check for a letter again until Monday.

“We turned the mail room upside down and there was no letter,” Bond said.

According to Paxton’s letter, 22 schools use the curriculum and around 18,000 sixth-graders have been taught the curriculum since 2015. He claimed Scribner has denied parents access to the curriculum and textbooks, and refused to allow students to take pictures of the curriculum.

“Parents have the right to inspect and review information regarding what their child is learning and participating in while attending school,” Paxton said in a prepared statement. “By law, public school curriculum should be fully available to the public, and parents retain their constitutional right to direct their own child’s upbringing. Denying parental and public access to curriculum of any kind is a clear violation the Texas Education Code.”

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in May that a parental rights group, Stand for Fort Worth, pushed against the sexuality curriculum. They did not want their children to learn about gender identity, sexual attraction or gender expression, which a spokesman for the group said did not exist.

Health education is no longer a public high school graduation requirement. Schools can teach sex education, but must emphasize abstinence if they do so.

Bond said he was “befuddled” when he learned about the attorney general’s letter and news release. Bond said a phone call would have been sufficient. When the human sexuality curriculum was first discussed in midMay, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s office called and asked for a copy of the curriculum. Bond said the district sent a copy right away.