Senate Bill 10, passed by the Texas Legislature and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott this June, mandates all public elementary and secondary schools to display a poster of the Christian Ten Commandments in every classroom beginning with the 2025-26 school year.
Schools are not required to print their own posters. However, if posters that meet the requirements of the law are donated to school districts, they must be accepted and displayed.
Allen ISD has received a donation of over 1,500 qualifying posters of the Ten Commandments from a local organization. Thus, no district funds were used. These posters were distributed to all campuses for placement and installed by Tuesday, Sept. 23, according to a press release by Allen ISD.
In classrooms, the poster must be hung on the wall, cannot be covered by any furniture and cannot be obstructed by decorations, flags or other items.
“The teachers are not so much offended by the, ‘Hey, we’re only representing one religion here,’ as they are the, ‘The state is making us put [the 10 Commandments] in a certain place and display them a certain way,” campus principal Carrie Jackson said. “They don’t like all of [those] regimented rules.’”
The Ten Commandments are not part of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for the majority of courses in Allen ISD. There are only three courses that reference the Ten Commandments: 9th grade world geography, 10th grade world history and 12th grade U.S. government. Teachers are not expected or required to provide instruction of the Ten Commandments, according to Allen ISD officials.
The bill was signed into law just one day after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a similar law mandating the Ten Commandments in Louisiana was “plainly unconstitutional.” The court determined that requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments would cause an “irreparable deprivation of [the Plaintiffs’] First Amendment rights,” according to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
“We recognize our staff members and students will have varying personal opinions on the display of the Ten Commandments,” the Allen ISD Central Administration said in its press release. “Regardless of our personal beliefs, the law requires compliance from every public school district, and we are obligated to follow this directive. We appreciate your professionalism as we implement this requirement in a consistent manner that adheres to the law.”
On Aug. 20, 2025, a federal district court issued a preliminary injunction in Rabbi Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District, prohibiting the school district defendants from implementing the law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments.
“[T]he displays are likely to pressure the child-Plaintiffs into religious observance, meditation on, veneration, and adoption of the State’s favored religious scripture, and into suppressing expression of their own religious or nonreligious background and beliefs while at school,” according to the judge.
However, this ruling only impacted specific school districts in Texas that were clearly stated in the lawsuit. Allen ISD was not named in the lawsuit and therefore must comply with the law. Schools that were named include Alamo Heights ISD, North East ISD, Lackland ISD, Northside ISD, Austin ISD, Lake Travis ISD, Dripping Springs ISD, Houston ISD, Fort Bend ISD, Cypress Fairbanks ISD and Plano ISD.
“Some of our neighboring districts were named in those lawsuits because the community members in their districts said we do or we do not want the Ten Commandments posted in our districts and they name the districts [in their lawsuit],” Jackson said. “The difference in Allen so far, as we’re speaking right now, [is that] we have not had a community member rise up and name us in a lawsuit.”
Jackson said she has not personally received feedback about the law from community members, although she believes that the Superintendent Robin Bullock has received some positive and negative comments from community members.
“Most people have been very understanding that as a campus principal, we’re simply following the law,” Jackson said. “It’s not so much about beliefs and values as it is the state of Texas says we have to do it.”
Jackson said she does not think the posters will have a large impact on classroom environments.
“Some kids may look at them, [and] some maybe not,” Jackson said. “Will it cause some people who are sitting in a room looking at a poster to say, ‘Hmm, I think I’m gonna look that up and look into it more?’ Maybe. And whether or not that’s a good thing depends on one’s beliefs and values…I don’t think [the law] will hurt anything. I don’t know that it will necessarily positively impact anything. It will be interesting to see.”
