As the summer heat lingers across Texas, a different kind of firestorm is brewing in the state’s public schools—a legal and cultural battle over the mandatory display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom. With the new academic year underway and nearly 73,000 Austin ISD students returning to air-conditioned, seatbelt-equipped school buses for the first time, educators and families are bracing for a wave of changes set to take effect on September 1, 2025. Chief among them: the implementation of Senate Bill 10, which requires that donated 16-by-20-inch posters or framed copies of the Ten Commandments be displayed in all elementary and secondary classrooms.
The law, signed by Governor Greg Abbott on June 21, 2025, has quickly become a lightning rod for controversy. It does not allocate state funding for the posters, nor does it obligate teachers or schools to purchase them. Instead, educators must accept and display any donated copies. This seemingly simple mandate has sparked a complex web of activism, legal challenges, and logistical efforts, with conservative and Christian-based nonprofits mobilizing to ensure that every classroom wall is adorned with the Decalogue.
According to Houston Public Media, organizations like Restore American Schools have taken the lead, launching a website where supporters can donate a Ten Commandments poster to a Texas classroom for just $1. The initiative, powered by MillionVoices and backed by a coalition of nearly two dozen groups—including Glenn Beck’s American Journey Experience, Patriot Mobile, Wall Builders, and the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute—has already secured posters for more than 145,000 classrooms at over 4,100 schools statewide.
“This is a movement to restore the Ten Commandments back into public school classrooms,” Glenn Beck declared in a Facebook video, urging viewers to participate in what he described as a critical mission. Other partners, such as Love Heals Youth and Texas Values, have worked to streamline donations and coordinate distribution efforts. As Jonathan Saenz of Texas Values explained, “Instead of everybody kind of doing their own thing, everybody felt it'd be good to all get together, get everything on one website, and get the focus on having the posters purchased and donated and ready to go.”
The rollout has been swift and highly visible. Social media posts show stacks of posters being delivered to district offices, with local organizations like Citizens Defending Freedom donating over 1,000 posters to Allen ISD in the Dallas area. In Central Texas, Temple ISD Superintendent Bobby Ott shared a photo of himself holding a donated poster, noting that the entire district had received enough for every classroom. Houston ISD, the state’s largest district with more than 270 campuses and 175,000 students, is among those sued over the law but has stated through Superintendent Mike Miles, “We will follow the law on September 1. We will be ready. In fact what does that mean? We will have the Ten Commandments posted in every classroom.”
Yet, not everyone is on board with this rapid transformation. The law has drawn fierce opposition from a coalition of civil liberties organizations and families representing a wide range of faiths and nonreligious backgrounds. On July 2025, sixteen Texas families filed a lawsuit—Rabbi Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District—arguing that the statute violates the First Amendment’s ban on government endorsement of religion and infringes on parents’ rights to direct their children’s religious education. The suit, backed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation, contends that the displays are coercive, presenting a distinctly Protestant version of the Ten Commandments that students of other faiths or none at all will be compelled to see daily.
“Our lawsuit is necessary to protect the religious freedom of all Texas public schoolchildren and their families,” the civil rights groups stated on August 19, according to Texas Tribune. “This law is a transparent attempt to pressure public school students to convert to the state’s preferred brand of Christianity.” They added, “Parents and children—not politicians or school officials—should get to decide if, when and how to engage with religion.”
This is not the only legal action being taken. The first lawsuit against the law was filed on June 24, 2025, by a coalition of Christian and Muslim parents, also challenging the state’s involvement in religious education. Another suit, brought by the Next Generation Action Network Legal Advocacy Fund, targets the display requirement in several North Texas school districts. In court hearings held on August 15 and 18, the Texas Attorney General’s Office defended the law, arguing that the poster requirement is a “passive display” and that “the Ten Commandments are foundational for the American system of laws.” State attorney William Howard Farrell asserted, “SB-10 doesn’t prohibit anybody from doing anything, nor does it require someone to do something. These are simply a passive display on the wall, and that does not create injury sufficient to satisfy the standing requirements in this case,” as reported by the Houston Chronicle.
Judge Fred Biery, presiding over the case in San Antonio, has not yet ruled on the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary injunction, which would apply only to the eleven districts named in the lawsuit, not statewide. “This issue is likely to get to the United States Supreme Court,” Judge Biery remarked before the proceedings, highlighting the far-reaching implications of the decision.
The Texas law is part of a broader nationwide push by evangelical groups to introduce Ten Commandments displays into public schools, with similar laws passed and challenged in Arkansas and Louisiana. In Oklahoma, teachers and parents have sued to block a Bible-infused curriculum and a directive requiring Bibles in every classroom. Supporters of these measures argue that the Ten Commandments provide essential historical context and help return the nation to “traditional values.” Opponents, however, view them as an unconstitutional blurring of the line between church and state.
Meanwhile, Texas classrooms are also contending with a slew of other legislative changes this fall. New laws ban student cellphone use during the school day, require personal financial literacy courses, prohibit certain additives in school lunches, and give parents greater control over library reading materials. Schools are also barred from sponsoring or promoting clubs or instruction based on gender identity or sexual orientation. For many families and educators, the coming weeks will be a test of how these new policies—especially the Ten Commandments mandate—are received and enforced on the ground.
As the legal battles play out and the posters go up, Texas finds itself at the epicenter of a national debate over faith, education, and the role of government in shaping young minds. The outcome of these court cases—and the response from communities across the state—will likely reverberate far beyond the Lone Star State, raising enduring questions about religious freedom, public education, and the meaning of “traditional values” in 21st-century America.
