Bill to force schools to display Ten Commandments fails

HOUSTON — A push to inject religion into public schools across Texas faltered on Tuesday after the state House failed to pass a contentious bill that would have required the Ten Commandments to be displayed prominently in every classroom.

The measure was part of an effort by conservative Republicans in the Legislature to expand the reach of religion into the daily life of public schools. In recent weeks, both chambers passed versions of a bill to allow school districts to hire religious chaplains in place of licensed counselors.

But the Ten Commandments legislation, which passed the state Senate last month, remained pending before the Texas House until Tuesday, the final day to approve bills before the session ends next Monday. Time expired before the legislation could receive a vote.

It would have required schools to display posters of the words and to do so “in a conspicuous place in each classroom” and “in a size and typeface that is legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom.”

Schools that did not furnish their own posters would have had to accept donations of posters, according to the bill. The legislation also specified how the commandments were to be rendered, with the text including prescribed capitalization: “I AM the LORD thy God.”

Tuesday was the final day for the House to pass bills. As Republicans rushed to do so, Democrats, who wield little direct power, delayed the proceedings by speaking at length and repeatedly at every opportunity for much of the day, a process known in the Texas Capitol as “chubbing.”

By doing so, they prevented the Ten Commandments bill — and many other contentious measures placed late in the day’s calendar — from coming up for a vote.

“This bill was an unconstitutional attack on our core liberties, and we are happy it failed,” David Donatti, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said in a statement.