New lawsuit against Ten Commandments in schools names Fort Worth and local ISDs
The Fort Worth Independent School District and other Tarrant County school districts have been named in a new lawsuit seeking to stop the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.
A complaint filed on Monday, Sept. 22 in a San Antonio federal court calls for more than a dozen school districts to stop complying with a new Texas state law requiring the display of the religious decree, arguing that the requirement violates the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The suit was filed by 15 Texas families with multifaith and nonreligious backgrounds against 14 school districts, including Fort Worth, Arlington, Northwest, Azle and Mansfield ISDs. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas is among the organizations representing the plaintiffs.
A ruling issued last month by the same federal court temporarily blocked the display of the Ten Commandments in 11 school districts named in that case, which included Austin ISD, Houston ISD and Plano ISD. A group of reverends in a third case filed a similar suit in June in the Northern District of Texas. That case is still pending, according to court records.
Plaintiffs who are part of the case filed on Monday released statements calling the Texas law a threat to the separation of church and state. They also characterized it as an overreach that prevents them from teaching their children about their religious values of their choosing, or lack thereof.
“As a devout Christian and a Lutheran pastor, the spiritual formation of my children is a privilege I take more seriously than anything else in my life,” said the Rev. Kristin Klade, a plaintiff and Lutheran pastor who leads Kyrie Pub Church, which worships in various bars across Fort Worth.
Klade referred to a Bible verse, Proverbs 22:6, when explaining that the display of the Ten Commandments doesn’t allow her to “train up my child in the way he should go.”
“The mandated Ten Commandments displayed in my children’s public school impedes my ability to ‘train up my child in the way he should go’ (Proverbs 22:6). I address questions about God and faith with great care, and I emphatically reject the notion that the state would do this for me,” Klade added.
Chloe Kempf, staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement the lawsuit reflects another pending challenge to “this blatantly unconstitutional law.”
“This lawsuit is a continuation of our work to defend the First Amendment and ensure that government officials stay out of personal family decisions. All students — regardless of their race or religious background — should feel accepted and free to be themselves in Texas public schools,” Kempf said.
Officials of Northwest, Arlington, Azle and Northwest ISDs said on Monday they have not been served a copy of the lawsuit yet. Mansfield ISD and officials of other school districts said they do not comment on pending litigation. Fort Worth ISD has not provided a comment on the lawsuit as of Monday afternoon.
Arlington ISD officials noted that none of their classrooms have posters of the Ten Commandments hung up. The lawsuit contends that the named school districts either have the commandments displayed or intend to post the commandments soon, naming Arlington ISD specifically as a district that “has accepted donated Ten Commandments posters and has indicated that it will hang the displays in its classrooms.”
After last month’s ruling temporarily blocking the display of the commandments in certain school districts, counsel for the plaintiffs in the case sent a letter to all Texas school districts warning them to abstain from complying with the new state law, calling it a First Amendment violation. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton then sent out a letter ordering districts that weren’t a part of the litigation to follow state law and keep the Ten Commandments displayed.
Texas Senate Bill 10 requires posting of Ten Commandments
Senate Bill 10 became law on Sept. 1 after lawmakers passed the legislation during their regular legislative session this spring. Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law on June 20.
It requires each classroom to have a poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments at least 16 inches wide by 20 inches tall, which must be legible from anywhere in the classroom by a person with average vision.
Districts aren’t required to purchase posters, but they must hang them if they are donated and meet the correct display standards. A coalition of conservative groups, known as Restore American Schools, have been coordinating the purchase and delivery of posters throughout Texas with about 4,700 schools adopted and more than 165,000 classrooms impacted, according to the coalition’s website.
The wording of the decree required in classrooms is:
“I AM the LORD thy God.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 3:38 PM.
