This Controversial Texas Bill To Restore Moral Values In School FAILS

Bill SB 1515 was introduced by Republican state Sen. Mayes Middleton earlier this year and passed in the Senate in April. However, the bill failed to get approved before the midnight deadline on Tuesday. The proposed legislation would have required all elementary and secondary schools in the state to post a copy of the Ten Commandments in a conspicuous place, with a minimum size of 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall.

If a school did not have a poster in their classroom, they would be required under the new law to accept a privately donated sign or framed copy of the Ten Commandments, provided that the poster or copy met the requirements laid out in the bill.

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May 24, 2023

The bill had raised concerns by some members of the state Legislature that it would force a particular religion on students. However, Middleton argued that they went downhill when schools took out prayer. “There is absolutely no separation of God and government, and that’s what these bills are about,”

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Middleton said. “That has been confused; it’s not real. When prayer was taken out of schools, things went downhill — discipline, mental health. It’s something I heard a lot on porches when I was campaigning. It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time.”

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Many Texas Republicans had pointed to the Supreme Court ruling last year in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District that determined preventing Coach Joe Kennedy, a high school football coach in Washington, from praying on Bremerton school District property or as an employee of the District, was a violation of his rights under the First Amendment.

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Rachel Laser, President and chief executive of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told The New York Times that the bill was part of a “Christian Nationalist Crusade.” “Forcing public schools to display the Ten Commandments is part of the Christian Nationalist crusade to compel all of us to live by their beliefs,” Laser said. “It’s not just in Texas.”