The Attorney General’s office in Texas announced it is launching a probe into several Independent School Districts (ISDs) across the state to verify that they are in compliance with SB 10 and SB 11, bills passed in 2025. Many of these districts were involved in litigation challenging SB 10.
Senate Bill 10, which took effect in September 2025, requires schools to display the Ten Commandments on posters that are made available through donations, not being directly funded by the taxpayer. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently vacated a lower district court ruling which had issued a preliminary injunction on the law, dismissing the case and allowing enforcement of SB 10 to proceed.
Senate Bill 11 stipulates that the boards of trustees for the ISDs must take a vote on whether to allow schools to implement designated prayer time during the school day.
The statewide probe in Texas is asking the ISDs to provide proof of compliance with both SB 10 and SB 11 and includes the following locales: Alamo Heights, North East, Austin, Cypress-Fairbanks, Lackland, Lake Travis, Fort Bend, Houston, Dripping Springs, Plano, Northside, Conroe, Galveston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock, Wichita Falls, McAllen, Amarillo, El Paso, Corpus Christi, United, Texarkana, Victoria, Waco, Abilene, San Angelo, Brownsville, and Beaumont.
Legal history in the United States
Louisiana and Arkansas also have similar laws requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in the classroom, and both are facing legal challenges. The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit regarding the Texas law may bolster efforts in these states to confirm the constitutionality of the law, and also open the possibility of the issue eventually reaching the U.S. Supreme Court.
Historically, many schools throughout the United States displayed the Ten Commandments or incorporated some type of biblical instruction during the school day. The 1980 Stone decision from the Supreme Court struck down a Kentucky law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, but two later cases added layers to that ruling.
After Kentucky began displaying the Ten Commandments in its courthouses, the ACLU challenged the displays. In a 5-4 ruling, McCreary County v. ACLU (2005) rendered these displays as unconstitutional, judging them to be religious in intent.
But another 2005 ruling, Van Orden v. Perry, added another layer to the legal discussion surrounding the Ten Commandments issue. The U.S. Supreme Court decided this time in a 5-4 ruling that a Ten Commandments display in the grounds surrounding the Texas Capitol, erected in 1961, was constitutional because it was one of many historical monuments, and viewed as part of the broader history of Texas.
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