A bill in the Texas legislature that would have required public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom failed to pass the Texas House of Representatives.
The Republican-controlled chamber had a deadline of midnight on Tuesday to vote on the legislation, but that deadline was not met, consequently killing the bill.
If legislators had met the deadline and voted in favor of the bill, it would have advanced to its final passage.
The legislation, Senate Bill 1515, was written by Senator Phil King (R-Weatherford) and passed in the Texas Senate in April, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The bill would have required public elementary schools to display a poster or framed copy of the text of the Ten Commandments in a place where students could clearly see the text.
SB 1515 was one of multiple pieces of legislation in the State of Texas intended to promote more religion in public schools.
Senate Bill 1396, for example, would permit school boards to hold a record vote to “adopt a policy requiring every campus of the district or school to provide students and employees with an opportunity to participate in a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text on each school day.”
SB 1396 was referred to the House Committee on State Affairs on April 25 after its passage in the Texas Senate.
The House’s failure to vote on SB 1515 has already been celebrated by those who argue religion should not have a place in public schools.
“This bill was an unconstitutional attack on our core liberties that threatened the freedom of and from religion we hold dear as Texans. It never should have gotten this close to passage,” said David Donatti, an attorney for the ACLU of Texas, in a press release.
However, the bill’s author has defended the legislation by saying the Ten Commandments are part of the heritage of the United States, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
King said during a Senate committee hearing in April that having the Ten Commandments displayed in public school classrooms would “remind students all across Texas of the importance of the fundamental foundation of America,” according to The Texas Tribune.
