DALLAS — On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Coppell Independent School District for allegedly teaching “critical race theory.”

The lawsuit stems from a video published by a conservative watchdog nonprofit, Accuracy in Media. In the video from February, an undercover representative speaks with Evan Whitfield, Coppell ISD’s director of curriculum and instruction.

Paxton’s office claims Coppell ISD broke a state law forbidding schools from teaching that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex,” and “requiring an understanding of the 1619 Project,” which is a New York Times project that claims that the arrival of enslaved Africans in 1619, not 1776, marks the real start of the United States.

The attorney general says that Whitfield noted the district’s use of “Next General Science Standards” (NGSS) curriculum, which Paxton’s office is accusing the district of employing.

Texas is one of six states that doesn’t use the NGSS curriculum. The NGSS K-12 science standards are based on a K-12 science education framework. These standards cover climate change education, emphasizing actions to curb atmospheric greenhouse gases.

Concerns over the environmental education content caused the state to reject these standards.

In the video, Whitfield states that, “one thing that I love about this district is that despite what our state standards say and despite what, you know, is going on, we do what’s right for kids.”

The lawsuit against the district includes this statement.

“Liberal administrators who want to ignore state law and unlawfully push divisive and racist CRT curriculum in classrooms will be held responsible for their actions,” said Paxton. “Texas children deserve to receive the best education in the world, not have woke ideology forced upon them. My lawsuit aims to put an immediate end to this illegal and hateful curriculum and immediately stop the blatant refusal to follow state law by certain officials at Coppell ISD.” 

A Texas bill signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021 dictates how teachers discuss current events and the history of racism in schools. The bill bans the teaching of “critical race theory” in K-12 public schools.

Critical race theory examines the influence of race and racism on the social and legal systems of the United States.

Those who opposed the law said its implementation would restrict honest discussions of race and racism in the United States’ past.

Accuracy in Media also went undercover at Dallas ISD and Irving ISD in February, where Paxton’s office said that employees at both districts were filmed “advising parents as to how the school district would consider a change of sex on a birth certificate for a student in determining eligibility to participate in sports.”