SAN ANTONIO — Texas Republican leadership continues to go after school districts, cities and counties for flouting an executive order prohibiting COVID-19 protections, but rather than mask mandates the latest lawsuit by state Attorney General Ken Paxton targets a vaccine mandate.

What You Need To Know

  • San Antonio ISD Superintendent Pedro Martinez on Monday announced all district staff must be vaccinated

  • Martinez, in a letter, said roughly 90% of staff is already vaccinated

  • Claiming the vaccine mandate violates Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Martinez and the district 

  • The Texas Supreme Court on Thursday declined to block restraining orders against Gov. Abbott's mask mandate ban

San Antonio ISD Superintendent Pedro Martinez this week issued a vaccine and mask mandate for staff.

“We strongly believe that the best path forward as a school district is to require all staff to become vaccinated against COVID-19. And the timing is now. This is a profound moment where we can choose to lead by example,” Martinez wrote in a letter.

“I want to thank the vast majority of you, about 90%, who already are vaccinated. For those of you who are not yet vaccinated against COVID-19, you must be fully vaccinated by Friday, Oct. 15. Please note that it takes five weeks after the administration of the first dose to be considered fully vaccinated.”

Paxton, in turn, says the mandate violates Gov. Greg Abbott’s Executive Order GA-38 and is seeking a restraining order against San Antonio ISD.

“Executive Order GA-38 clearly states that government entities in Texas cannot impose mandates for vaccines with only an emergency use authorization,” Paxton wrote. “The Texas Legislature gave the Governor the authority to create and enforce executive orders during a statewide emergency – not a hodgepodge of county judges, city mayors or superintendents. If other governmental entities continue to blatantly disregard state law, I will sue every single one of them.”

Meanwhile, the Texas Supreme Court declined Thursday to block restraining orders against Gov. Greg Abbott’s mask mandate ban.

The justices remanded Paxton’s appeal to the 3rd Texas Court of Appeal in Austin for a hearing. The court did not issue an opinion for its decision.

The move came the same day that the Texas Education Agency suspended enforcement of the state’s public school systems of Abbott’s ban on mask mandates has been dropped, for now, the Texas Education Agency said Thursday.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.