Harris County (Houston) Shuts Down Schools Due to COVID19
Austin, Texas – Harris County Public Health issued a new order today requiring all public and non-religious private schools to remain closed to in person instruction until September 8th. This follows a series of recommendations released earlier in the week encouraging schools to remain closed, but not requiring it at that time.
Jonathan Saenz, President and Attorney for Texas Values said, “It’s important and wise that Harris County exempted religious schools from their most recent local government power grab banning all other private and public schools from having in-person instruction in the fall for now. But due to previous actions by county officials and our concern about the infringement by the local government on the rights of other private schools, we think this order is dangerous and should be opposed. We also think that any Texas county which tries to control religious schools should rescind their orders immediately, as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been very clear on this issue.”
Other Texas counties like Travis and Dallas County issued orders recently banning all public and private schools from having in-person instruction, which was followed by a legal letter from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton making it clear that a local government order restricting religious schools in this manner is unconstitutional and should be ignored. Read of copy of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s letter concerning religious schools and local governments here.
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Texas Values is the largest statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to standing for faith, family, and freedom in Texas. More information is available at txvalues.org.