Leander ISD slams Gov. Abbott's claim the district refused to distribute Constitution copies to students

LEANDER, Texas - Leander ISD is slamming Gov. Greg Abbott’s claim that the district refused to distribute copies of the Constitution to students. District officials say that simply isn’t true.

This all began on Saturday when the right-wing news outlet "The Epoch Times" published an article, reporting that Leander ISD had rejected 4,000 pocket copies of the United States Constitution that were donated to the district by the conservative group Citizens Defending Freedom. 

The story claimed Leander ISD declined the documents on the grounds they were "political material", before reversing course and accepting them.

Then, Monday morning, Abbott shared the article on X, formerly known as Twitter, repeating the claim and saying, "That’s outrageous. EVERY school should teach the Constitution."

About an hour later, Leander ISD replied on X, saying, "Good morning @GregAbbott_TX. This information is not accurate. Our middle school campuses have been accepting this donation since Friday in recognition of Celebrate Freedom Week."

In a statement to FOX 7 Austin Monday night, LISD further explained:

"LISD middle schools have received these donations since Friday, September 15 in recognition of Celebrate Freedom Week and Constitution Day. Once the district determined how the donated materials apply to district policy, the pocket-sized Constitutions were made available to all middle school campuses.

"In an effort to be fully transparent, please know that it did take some time for the district to correctly determine how the donation of these materials fits with local policies and procedures. At first, administrative staff considered the donation as an instructional resource, which must meet a higher standard of criteria before sharing with students. Once the district determined the material was non-school literature, different parameters were met in GKDA (LOCAL), which permitted the pamphlets. Please understand, the district seeks to follow clear and consistent guidelines."

In a statement to FOX 7 Austin Monday night, Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for Gov. Abbott, said:

"There should be no question whether a public school in Texas teaches the U.S. Constitution. We are glad they changed their policies after initially refusing to distribute the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence."