SAN ANTONIO – A federal judge on Wednesday ruled to temporarily block a new law that would require Texas public schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
The decision comes just days before the law was supposed to take effect on Sept. 1.
Families had filed a lawsuit against 11 school districts, including Alamo Heights, North East, Northside and Lackland Independent School Districts in the San Antonio area.
The injunction impacts an estimated 5.5 million students, as it only applies to the school districts directly listed in the lawsuit.
Texas Attorney Ken Paxton released a statement on the ruling, saying that the state would appeal the court’s decision.
KSAT’s Stephanie Serna sat down with parents to hear their reactions to the ruling.
Edith Tyler, a San Antonio resident, said that the Ten Commandments are a basic belief system that should have a place in schools.
“I think they should be standard for beliefs for everyone, and so I think there’s a place for that,” Tyler said.
Megan Beers, another parent, disagrees with Senate Bill 10.
“I know Texas is pretty strong on parents having the choice of what their children are exposed to,” Beers said. “So I feel like the Ten Commandments should fall under that.”
A third San Antonio parent fell somewhere in the middle of the issue.
“Our family’s Christian, so the Ten Commandments are OK with us,” Sasha Kiger said. “But I do respect that maybe for inclusivity, there should be other religious tenets included in the classroom, then. So that it’s not all just not one faith.”
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