For now, the Austin Independent School District does not have to comply with a federal appeals court ruling requiring Texas schools to display posters of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.<\/p>\n
Nine out of 17 judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday<\/a> in favor of Texas officials regarding Senate Bill 10. Texas families had sued, claiming the law is an \u201cestablishment of religion\u201d and coerces students into reverence of the Commandments.<\/p>\n AISD was initially a defendant in the case, but last year the district said it would not post the Ten Commandments<\/a> while litigation was still pending and would abide by a final ruling.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a federal court who approved the stipulation that Austin agreed to not post until litigation is totally complete,\u201d said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, one of the civil rights organizations representing the plaintiff families. \u201cThe attorney general would be in contempt of court if he went after Austin because he would be violating that court order.\u201d<\/p>\n Laser said the decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals only applies to the districts that are part of the legal challenge, including Lake Travis and Dripping Springs. As two other lawsuits challenging SB10 are awaiting a decision and other states have taken similar steps, Laser said courts in the state and around the country are paying attention to this ruling.<\/p>\n An AISD spokesperson told KUT that the district’s legal team is still working “to determine any next steps after this ruling.”<\/p>\n Central Texas parents and advocates are raising questions about the ruling, saying the law is a religious freedom violation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt shows how far removed they are from being children in a public school classroom setting and looking up at the walls and knowing that what’s posted there is what you’re supposed to follow,\u201d Laser said. \u201cThey don’t remember what it’s like to be a kindergartener and to have to ask, ‘what does adultery mean?’\u201d<\/p>\n SB 10, which passed during the last legislative session<\/a>, requires all public elementary and secondary schools to display donated posters of the Ten Commandments in each classroom. The poster must be at least 16 by 20 inches and displayed in a \u201cconspicuous place.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt sends this visual message that the Judeo-Christian values are the ones that count in this place that is paid for by public tax dollars,\u201d said Kimmie Fink, a former teacher and a Liberty Hill Independent School District parent. \u201cThat’s a huge problem to create an environment in which one religion is privileged over another.\u201d<\/p>\n