AUSTIN, Texas — On Tuesday, a Senate panel advanced a pair of bills to infuse more significant religious influence into public schools. The Senate Committee on Education K-16 voted to pass Senate Bill 10 and Senate Bill 11, which are top priorities for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
SB 10
Senate Bill 10 would require the Ten Commandments to be posted in all elementary and secondary classrooms. Senate Bill 11 would require school boards to vote on allowing designated prayer time.
Under SB 10, it must be a “durable poster” or framed copy of the Ten Commandments. The display must be at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall, and the text must be clear enough to read for a person with “average vision” from anywhere in the classroom.
If a classroom doesn’t display the Ten Commandments, it would have to accept any privately donated poster or framed copy as long as it meets the standards defined in the bill.
“It is time for Texas to pass SB 10 to bring back the historical tradition of recognizing our national heritage and help eliminate outdated legal thinking, still living in 1970s Establishment Clause jurisprudence,” Sen. Phil King (R-Weatherford), who authored SB 10, said. “SB 10 restores those liberties that were lost and reminds students across Texas of the importance of a fundamental foundation of American and Texas law, the Ten Commandments.”
King said the Ten Commandments are a foundational document that can teach moral principles that go beyond one religion.
“I think the kids in our schools are crying for moral clarity and understanding our religious heritage in America and Texas,” he said. “I think it helps embed that.”
In the last session, the Senate passed a bill requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms, but it died in the House.
The law is similar to one in Louisiana, which has been challenged in the courts.
SB 11
Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) filed SB 11, which would allow schools to designate time during the school day for prayer and Bible reading.
School boards would have to vote to allow the prayer time. Parents would have to opt their children in, and it could not interfere with instruction time. It would require parents to sign a consent form before a student would be allowed to participate.
“Senate Bill 11 is about providing space for free expression of religion in our public schools and open enrollment charter schools,” Sen. Middleton said. “This bill does not make participation in prayer or reading religious texts compulsory. The period provided under his bill does not replace or supplant any elective courses or classes a student may take as part of their education. It’s simply meant to allow a time for students and faculty to express their faith freely.”
If it passes, school boards would have to vote on prayer time. The law requires the Texas attorney general to defend school districts from lawsuits arising from the legislation.
“When prayer was taken out of our schools, things started to go downhill in America. We know that the cornerstone of a good education is always going to be reading and math, but character and values matter too,” Middleton said. “After all, our children spend much of their time in the school building and the classroom. As we know, our founders certainly never intended separation of God from government.”
Discussion of the bills
Critics, including Sen. José Menéndez (D-San Antonio), argued the bills violate the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause, which prevents the government from favoring a religion.
“I fear that we alienate children of different faiths and teachers of different faiths and others. I don’t feel that that’s appropriate,” Menéndez said. “I believe in God. I was raised with my parents a certain way. I don’t have a problem with any of the things you said regarding my choices. What I don’t want to do is impose them on other people. And that’s a concern that I have. That’s one of my fears that we’re taking our public schools and maybe creating a Sunday school environment.”
Among those who testified on Tuesday was Joseph Kennedy, a high school football coach from Washington state who knelt and prayed on the field after games. The high court ruled that the First Amendment protected the coach’s prayer. State lawmakers said that the decision paved the way for the acceptability of religious practices in public school settings.
“Every single founding father who went on to become a governor or president issued prayer proclamations,” David Barton, a historian and founder of Wall Builders, testified. “This idea that you can’t have any kind of religion or you’re establishing a religion, it’s a modern misnomer from a misunderstanding of history and this application of the Constitution.”
Sen. King said he expects legal challenges if the bill passes.
“I would expect that somebody will file a lawsuit, and some judge will issue an injunction, and then hopefully, it’ll work its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court,” he said. “The bad law of Stone v. Graham will be overturned.”
Both bills now head to the Senate floor.
SB 13
Lawmakers also advanced Senate Bill 13 to the full Senate for consideration.
Senate Bill 13, authored by State Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney), deals with explicit or inappropriate content in library books. SB 13 would allow parents to review materials at their child’s school and create a list of items that cannot be checked out or used by that child. It would also require school libraries to allow parents to obtain a written list of books and other items their child has checked out.
Under SB 13, libraries would be held to the same standards the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) applies to what is acceptable on television between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when children could reasonably be watching.
It would create local school advisory councils to “assist the district in ensuring that local community values are reflected in each school library catalog.” The district’s board of trustees would appoint the council’s members. Most of the members would be parents of district students but not district employees. The council can have non-voting members who are teachers or librarians employed by the district, district students, businesses or clergy.
Districts would have to consider the council’s recommendations before adding or removing books or changing policies or guidelines.