Texas public schools ordered to display Ten Commandments

The Texas Attorney General has ordered public schools to comply with a new law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom.

It follows a federal court ruling last week that temporarily blocked the enforcement of Senate Bill 10 (SB 10) in 11 independent school districts (ISDs) across the Lone State state.

“Schools not enjoined by ongoing litigation must abide by [SB 10] and display theTen Commandments,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a directive issued on 24 August, reports the Catholic News Agency (CNA). A state attorney general is the chief legal officer and chief law enforcement officer for a respective US state.

On 20 August, US District Judge Fred Biery issued a preliminary injunction after 16 families sued 11 Texas school districts, arguing the law violates the First Amendment’s separation of Church and State.

The school districts that, due to the federal ruling, won't have to comply with the law’s implementation, set to begin 1 September, are located in and around San Antonio, Austin, Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

Paxton’s office filed an appeal on 21 August, asserting that the law reflects Texas’s historical and moral foundation.

“From the beginning, the Ten Commandments have been irrevocably intertwined with America’s legal, moral and historical heritage,” Paxton said in a press release on 25 August.

SB 10, signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott, a practising and staunchly pro-life Catholic, on 21 June, requires all public elementary and secondary schools to display a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments, measuring at least 16-by-20-inches, in every classroom, CNA reports.

Paxton added: “While no school is compelled to purchase Ten Commandments displays, schools may choose to do so. However, schools must accept and display any privately donated posters or copies that meet the requirements of SB 10.”

Attorney Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, director of The Conscience Project, told CNA: “These laws requiring a passive display of the Ten Commandments do not violate either the establishment clause or the free exercise clause.”

Republican state Sen. Phil King, who introduced the legislation along with state Sen. Mayes Middleton, has argued the law promotes values that are foundational to Texas and to US law.

“The Ten Commandments are part of our Texas and American story,” King said of the law earlier this year. “They are ingrained into who we are as a people and as a nation. Today, our students cry out for the moral clarity, for the statement of right and wrong that they represent.

"If our students don’t know the Ten Commandments, they will never understand the foundation for much of American history and law.”

The law’s opponents, however, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), contend that it unconstitutionally favours Christianity.

Heather Weaver, an attorney with the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, who represented the plaintiffs, acknowledged that US District Judge Biery's ruling is "a technical matter” that only “covers the school district defendants". Though she added: “Every school district should heed it, even if they are not a defendant in the case.”

The 11 school districts affected by the temporary injunction have a combined enrollment of approximately 680,790 students, CNA reports. This represents about 12 per cent of the total 5.5 million public school students in Texas for the 2024-2025 school year.

Texas has 1,246 public school districts, comprised of 1,026 ISDs and 220 charter school districts, according to the Texas Education Agency.

Texas public schools are organised into geographical districts that are separate from other local units of government and it is for this reason that they are called independent school districts, or ISDs, notes Texapedia.

It adds that, for comparison, public schools in some other states are run by county or city governments, whereas in Texas, county and city governments have nothing to do with education.

ISDs vary considerably in size. Populous counties tend to have multiple school districts. Rural counties sometimes share ISDs across county lines. Statewide, there are more than 1,000 ISDs for 254 counties.

Approximately 80 per cent of school-age children in Texas attend an ISD school, 8 per cent attend public charter schools, 6 per cent attend private schools, and about 6 per cent are homeschooled.

CNA notes that the legal fight mirrors similar battles in Louisiana and Arkansas, where courts have also blocked Ten Commandments display laws. Paxton’s appeal could escalate the issue to the US Supreme Court.

“The woke radicals seeking to erase our nation’s history will be defeated," Paxton said in his 25 August press release. "I will not back down from defending the virtues and values that built this country.”

Photo: The Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, 20 September 2021. (Photo by Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images.)

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