Gov. Mike Braun warned Indiana teachers could lose their licenses for making negative statements about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, there have been some terrible things shared, particularly across social media,” Braun said in a statement Wednesday. “While we must protect the First Amendment, calls for political violence are not freedom of speech and should not be tolerated.”
Braun said Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner has the authority to revoke or suspend K-12 teachers’ licenses. Jenner’s office will review reported statements made by K-12 teachers and administrators that “celebrate or incite political violence.”
State code gives the secretary discretion to suspend or revoke a license for immorality, misconduct in office, incompetency, or willful neglect of duty.
Braun’s comments follow national efforts by conservative activists to identify people who made social media posts criticizing Kirk and reporting them to employers and calling for them to lose their jobs. In Indiana, employees at the Department of Child Services and Ball State University have already been fired over social media posts about Kirk’s death.
Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on Sept. 10 while speaking on stage at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
Some organizations in Indiana say the governor’s warning threatens lawful free speech.
“People don’t lose their First Amendment rights just because they take a job with a public employer,” said Josh Bleisch, an attorney with the ACLU of Indiana. “You still have a right to comment on matters of public concern as a citizen.”
The Indiana State Teachers Association condemned political violence but warned against silencing educators.
“While celebrating political violence is unacceptable, threatening educators’ licenses for lawful speech risks silencing those who are teaching honestly or sharing personal views responsibly,” the state’s largest teachers union said in a statement Thursday. "In this moment, our focus should be on keeping students safe and supporting classrooms and communities. Political violence threatens our democracy, but so does censorship.”
Beckwith, Rokita also eyeing educators’ comments
Braun’s stance comes as other Indiana leaders move to scrutinize public employees’ comments.
Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith invited the public to email reports of any educator or state employee to his office and said he would review the submissions and potentially send them to the employee’s management team.
Attorney General Todd Rokita also recently said his office would investigate evidence of statements made by educators that “celebrate or rationalize the assassination of Charlie Kirk” submitted by the public to his Eyes on Education portal.
“These individuals must be held accountable—they have no place teaching our students,” Rokita wrote on social media.
As of Thursday evening, screenshots of social media posts from educators at eight schools are on the page.
Rokita launched the portal in early 2024 to crowdsource examples of “objectionable curricula, policies, or programs affecting children.”
The portal primarily focused on policies rather than specific educators.
More 'stress' for teachers
Some groups framed the nationwide push by conservatives and some GOP elected officials to punish people for their speech about Kirk as part of an ongoing effort to undermine public school teachers.
In a statement Thursday, National Education Association President Becky Pringle called on the country to “reject the vitriol that is making schools and communities less safe and poisoning our public discourse.”
The NEA represents several school districts in Indiana.
The nonprofit and bipartisan Indiana Coalition for Public Education said that the state should focus on supporting teachers instead of targeting them.
“We at ICPE worry that the governor's words will exacerbate this situation, creating even more stress for the children and teachers in the classroom,” the organization said in a statement. “Threatening to suspend or revoke teacher licenses for expressing one's personal opinions outside of the classroom and on their own time smacks of the ‘Red Scare’ of the 1950s and builds on the Indiana Attorney General’s ‘Eyes on Education’ portal. Such efforts undermine the trust that parents and communities have placed in our teachers and schools.”
Bleisch, the ACLU attorney, said that the courts consider a balancing test in issues related to public employees’ speech.
“The more that person’s speech touches on a matter of public concern — a political issue, something like that — the greater the burden is going to be on the government to show that their interests win the day,” he said.
President Donald Trump is slated to speak at a memorial service for Kirk on Sunday in Glendale, Ariz.
