Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is demanding proof that school districts across the state, including three in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, are displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms, as required by a 2025 state law.
Paxton’s office announced the investigation Thursday. As a part of the investigation, the attorney general’s office is also demanding that the 29 school districts turn over proof that their boards have voted on a policy to require school prayer.
The 29 districts targeted by the investigation were involved in lawsuits challenging Senate Bill 10, which requires public schools to display donated copies of the Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Dallas, Fort Worth and Plano ISDs are among the districts.
Officials with Dallas, Fort Worth and Plano ISDs didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The requirement has been a topic of ongoing court battles since before the law went into effect in September. In August, a federal judge barred 11 districts, including Plano, Austin and Houston ISDs, from putting up displays.
In a separate lawsuit, a federal judge issued a ruling in November ordering 14 districts, including Fort Worth, Arlington, McKinney, Frisco, Northwest, Azle, Rockwall, Lovejoy and Mansfield, to remove their displays. The same month, Paxton sued Round Rock, Leander and Galveston ISDs, seeking to force them to put up the displays.
In a statement, Paxton pledged to “fight for students’ fundamental right to pray in our schools and work to ensure that Texas kids are able to learn from the Ten Commandments daily.”
“Texas schools districts must comply with Texas law by displaying the Ten Commandments and taking a school board vote regarding the implementation of prayer time in schools,” he said. “I will never stop defending our students’ religious freedom and the moral foundation of our nation.”
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