Austin ISD is under investigation for the third time this year by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, this time over compliance with a state law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
Paxton announced the investigation in a Thursday news release. The attorney general launched similar investigations in 28 other school districts.
Paxton’s office is asking districts to provide documents on their compliance with Senate Bill 10, which went into effect in September but has met multiple legal challenges. The law has been a major component of a larger push by the state to expand the role of religion in public schools. It requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms if they receive privately-donated copies of the commandments. Schools are not required to purchase their own displays. The announcement comes after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the new state law in April. Critics maintain the law violates the separation of church and state and discriminates against students of other faiths and beliefs. Proponents of the law argue that the display of Christian teachings is part of U.S. history and combats what they see as moral decline.
The nearly 30 districts listed by Paxton include several that are part of ongoing litigation over Senate Bill 10. The April court ruling only applies to districts that were parties in that particular lawsuit, including Lake Travis and Dripping Springs. Though Austin ISD was previously a defendant in that case, it exited the litigation last year, saying it would not post the Ten Commandments while litigation was still pending but would follow the final ruling. Two other lawsuits challenging Senate Bill 10 remain ongoing.
The new investigation will also look at whether school boards have voted on adding time for prayer and religious study for students and staff. Senate Bill 11, which went into effect last year, requires school boards to accept or decline the policy, which would not be mandatory and would require written parental consent for student participation. Austin ISD trustees passed a resolution in October rejecting the policy, citing that students already have a constitutional right to freely practice religion.
Austin ISD did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
“I will always 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,” Paxton said in a statement.
Paxton’s new Ten Commandments investigation spans Texas and includes the districts of: Alamo Heights, North East, Cypress-Fairbanks, Lackland, Lake Travis, Fort Bend, Houston, Dripping Springs, Plano, Northside, Conroe, Galveston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock, Wichita Falls, McAllen, Amarillo, El Paso, Corpus Christi, United, Texarkana, Victoria, Waco, Abilene, San Angelo, Brownsville, and Beaumont.
Paxton’s investigation comes in the wake of his office sending a second warning to Austin ISD last month over a separate investigation into the district’s compliance with Senate Bill 8, commonly known as the “bathroom bill,” which governs sex-segregated spaces in public schools. That investigation was spurred by two separate complaints to the state that the district was aware a student used a bathroom inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth. At the time, Austin ISD said it received the letter from the attorney general’s office on compliance and would assess the allegations to ensure the district is in compliance.
In February, Paxton’s office accused Austin ISD leaders of knowingly allowing students to walk out of the classroom during the school day in protest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations as part of a nationwide protest. Paxton’s office demanded internal communications regarding the walkout at schools across Austin ISD. The district has said no school or district staff facilitated the student-led movement.
