A federal court has temporarily blocked the Houston, Katy and Plano school districts from enforcing key parts of a state law that bans diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in K-12 public schools.
U.S. District Judge Charles Eskridge ruled Feb. 20 that the three districts must avoid compliance with four major provisions of Senate Bill 12, including a ban on student clubs that focus on sexual orientation or gender identity and a mandate that schools design policies to discipline employees who engage in diversity-related efforts.
Eskridge’s ruling only applies to the three districts named in the lawsuit.
“To say that SB 12 is a complex law presenting complicated constitutional issues is a vast understatement. It proceeds over thirty-one sections directing detailed edits and additions in numerous respects to the Texas Education Code, which itself is sprawling, detailed, and, at times, arcane,” Eskridge wrote. “Houston, Katy, and Plano ISDs explain none of it. Nor do they address any facts or present any legal rationale opposing entry of the requested preliminary injunction.”
In a lawsuit filed last year, attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the Transgender Law Center argued that SB 12 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments as well as the Equal Access Act. Gov. Greg Abbott signed the legislation in June 2025, and it went into effect Sept. 1 alongside an array of other transformative laws for public education in Texas.
“Senate Bill 12 is a blatant attempt to erase students’ identities and silence the stories that make Texas strong,” said Brian Klosterboer, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas. “Every student — no matter their race, gender, or background — deserves to feel seen, safe, and supported in school.”
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Supporters of SB 12 say DEI programs use class time and public funds to promote political agendas, while opponents believe banning those initiatives will disproportionately harm marginalized students by removing spaces where they can find support.
Here’s what you need to know about the effort to block the law.
What the ban does: Authored by former Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, SB 12 prohibits public school districts from considering race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation in hiring decisions. The ban also bars schools from offering DEI training and programs, such as policies designed to reduce discrimination based on race or gender identity, except for when required by federal law.
The law requires families to give written permission before their children can join any school club, and prohibits school groups created to support LGBTQIA+ students. Parents will be able to file complaints if they believe their schools are not complying with the DEI ban, and the law requires school districts to discipline employees who knowingly take part in DEI-related activities.
Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Allen, said SB 12 builds on a 2021 state law barring public schools from teaching critical race theory, an academic discipline that explores how race and racism have influenced the country’s legal and institutional systems. While critical race theory is not taught in Texas public schools, the term has become a shorthand used by conservatives who believe the way some schools teach children about race is politically biased.
DEI advocates say initiatives that promote diversity provide support for marginalized communities in workforce development and higher education, while critics say DEI practices give preference to people based on their race and ethnicity rather than on merit.
What the lawsuit says: Attorneys from the ACLU and the Transgender Law Center sued Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath and the Houston, Katy and Plano school districts on behalf of a teacher, a student and her parent. The attorneys are also representing the Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, two organizations that say they would be harmed by the ban. The ACLU later amended the complaint, adding as plaintiffs the Texas American Federation of Teachers, another student and his parent.
The suit calls SB 12 an “overzealous” attempt to ban DEI in public schools and argues that it censors constitutionally protected speech and restricts students’ freedom of association. It’s also vague and overly broad, the suit says.
“S.B. 12 seeks to erase students’ identities and make it impossible for teachers, parents, and volunteers to tell the truth about the history and diversity of our state,” said Cameron Samuels, executive director at Students Engaged in Advancing Texas. “The law also guts vital support systems for Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, and LGBTQIA+ students and educators.”
As part of the lawsuit, the Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network claims SB 12 singles out the organization by explicitly restricting student clubs based on “sexual orientation or gender identity,” language the group uses to describe the student organizations it sponsors at schools. That restriction harms the freedom of speech of the group and its members, the suit says. The Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network has chapters in Texas at more than a dozen school districts, according to the filing.
Lawsuits against similar laws have had mixed results in the past.
Because of SB 12’s ban on discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms, opponents have compared it to Florida’s “don’t say gay” law, which attracted widespread media attention in 2022 due to its far-reaching impacts in public schools. Civil rights lawyers sued to block it, saying the law violated free speech and the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause. But a federal judge dismissed the case and said the plaintiffs had no legal standing and had failed to prove harm from the law. The attorneys ultimately agreed to a settlement with Florida education officials that clarified the law to allow discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms only if it’s not part of instruction.
The Texas Education Agency did not respond to a request for comment following the lawsuit.
What the court ruled: The Houston, Katy and Plano school districts are blocked from complying with key parts of SB 12 as legal proceedings against the law continue.
The blocked parts of the law include a ban on student clubs based on sexual orientation or gender identity, a requirement that districts discipline employees who engage in DEI duties, a mandate that schools only refer to students by their name and sex as assigned at birth, and a directive that schools do not offer activities or instruction related to sexual orientation or gender identity.
The court also dismissed Morath as a defendant in the lawsuit, saying the education commissioner did not implement or enforce the challenged provisions of SB 12. Therefore, the temporary blockage only applies to the Houston, Katy and Plano districts — not the rest of the state.
The three districts did not challenge the claims in the lawsuit, the court noted.
Eskridge, the judge, concluded: “It is simply not the job of this Court to parse those declarations and match up what might or might not fit with controlling authority on behalf of the ISDs, who decline opportunity to do so themselves.”
The districts must notify the court by early March if they plan to defend SB 12 or seek representation from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office.
None of the districts responded to emails for comment sent after normal work hours.
The broader push against DEI: The DEI ban on K-12 schools came two years after the Texas Legislature passed a similar ban for the state’s higher education institutions. Senate Bill 17 requires public universities to close their diversity offices, ban DEI training and restrict hiring departments from asking for diversity statements, or essays in which a job candidate expresses their commitment to promoting diversity in the workplace.
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Supporters say diversity initiatives close educational and income gaps born from a history of prejudice. Republican officials say they prioritize identity over merit.
Creighton, who also authored that bill, warned higher education leaders that they could lose millions of dollars in state funding if they fail to comply with the law. In 2025, Abbott threatened Texas A&M University President Mark Welsh III’s job after claims spread online that Texas A&M was sending students and staffers to a conference that limited participation to people who are Black, Hispanic or Native American.
At the national level, President Donald Trump has ordered all federal agencies to end “equity-related” practices and asked contractors to certify they do not promote DEI efforts. Trump also told schools and universities they would lose federal money if they do not eliminate diversity practices.
Over the last five years, Texas and other Republican-led states have also taken other steps to abolish and ban DEI efforts in public education and the workforce. Similar to Trump, Abbott issued an executive order in January mandating that Texas agencies end all forms of DEI practices.
“We must always reject race-based favoritism or discrimination and allow people to advance based on talent and merit,” Abbott said.
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