Denton principals sued by Texas AG Ken Paxton indicted on illegal electioneering charges

Two Denton ISD employees were indicted Tuesday on illegal electioneering charges, a little under two months after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the school district.

Jesus Lujan, principal at Borman Elementary, and Lindsay Lujan, director of special programs for the district, are each facing a charge of unlawful use of the school district’s internal mail system for political advertising, according to the indictments. The two are married, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle.

The indictments allege the couple knowingly used or authorized use of “an internal mail system to distribute political advertising.” According to the attorney general’s lawsuit, the couple’s emails encouraged school employees to vote for candidates who would support increased funding for public education rather than a voucher program to help Texas parents send their kids to private schools.

“They so desperately want to deny parents the right to school choice and wanted to force parents into government mandated schools they apparently violated Texas criminal laws,” Gov. Greg Abbott, who has unsuccessfully pushed for state legislators to approve a type of voucher program, wrote in a post on X on Friday. “They must be held accountable.”

The indictments come after Paxton sued the Denton school district on Feb. 22, alleging that the two administrators sent emails to employees urging them to vote in the March 5 primary for Republican candidates who support public education. At the time the suit was filed, Lindsay Lujan was a principal at Alexander Elementary.

The suit also named Superintendent Jamie Wilson and school board members as defendants.

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The emails that Jesus and Lindsay Lujan sent out included links to sites with information about the candidates, according to the suit. Lindsay sent her email on Feb. 5, telling employees to register to vote and that educators are being held “hostage as millions of dollars are being held up over vouchers.” The suit includes exhibits of the emails the administrators sent to employees.

“The Texas Legislature has not increased the public school allotment per student since 2019 even with inflation going up! No school in Texas, including Denton ISD will NOT be able to provide raises next year if legislation doesn’t change,” Lindsay’s email said, according to the suit.

Paxton said in a news release that “it is absolutely improper for publicly funded entities like school districts to engage in electioneering as Denton ISD has done. State law prohibits government officials — including school district personnel — from using either their positions of authority or taxpayer resources to influence the outcome of elections.”

The employees were also encouraged by the principals to sign up for times to vote and were told they would be given time off to do so, the suit says.

“No matter what your party affiliation is, Republican or Democrat. Consider thinking from a ‘purple’ mindset in future elections, voting for the candidate that will support public ed and funding in the future, despite their party affiliation,” Lindsay wrote in her email.

The school district said in an emailed statement to the Star-Telegram in February that officials were communicating with the attorney general’s office.

“Denton ISD has been in conversation with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, and we agree that election laws should be followed,” the district wrote. “It is our expectation that these policies be followed.”

The school board sets policies on electioneering and board members and administrators are trained concerning the policies annually, the district said.

Denison, Castleberry, Huffman and Aledo ISDs were also sued by Paxton on allegations of illegal electioneering.