On Thursday, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a statewide investigation into independent school districts across Texas, including Houston ISD, Cy-Fair ISD and Fort Bend ISD.
The target of the investigation relates to school districts' implementation of two recently passed pieces of legislation, Senate Bill 10 and Senate Bill 11. According to the press release, Paxton's office is investigating whether schools are displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms as required by SB 10. The law does not require districts or teachers to purchase posters themselves but orders them to accept any donated posters.
The attorney general's office is also requesting that districts submit proof of having voted on whether or not to create a designated prayer period. SB 11 required districts to vote on whether or not to adopt a prayer period by March 1.
Since last August, some of the school districts named in the attorney general's press release had been under an injunction prohibiting them from complying with the law while a legal battle played out. However, those districts are now required to hang posters of the Ten Commandments in every classroom after the state won a key appeal with the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, overturning the injunction that had blocked the policy's rollout in 11 school districts. The court ruled in a narrow 9-8 majority that the law does not establish an official state religion.
"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. "Texas schools [sic] districts must comply with Texas law by displaying the Ten Commandments and taking a school board vote regarding the implementation of prayer time in schools. I will never stop defending our students' religious freedom and the moral foundation of our nation."
Most Houston-area school districts voted to reject creating a prayer period in schools. Magnolia ISD is one of a handful of districts across the state that voted to create the prayer period. However, district leaders told Houston Public Media there are no plans to discuss next steps for actual implementation of the prayer period.
The list of districts provided by the attorney general's office includes Galveston ISD, which was already under investigation by Paxton's office for non-compliance with SB 10 because, although the district was not one of the 11 covered by the injunction, it refused to comply, instead deciding to wait and see how the legal battle played out.
Galveston ISD's director of communications said the overturning of the injunction came too late for the school board to discuss it at its scheduled April meeting and that the next opportunity for the school board to formally discuss the issue will be at their regularly scheduled meeting in May.
Houston Public Media reached out to the three local Houston-area school districts impacted by the court’s ruling — Houston ISD, Fort Bend ISD and Cy-Fair ISD.
As of the time of publication, neither Houston ISD nor Fort Bend ISD had not responded to a request for comment regarding their plans to comply with the law. When the injunction was initially ordered, all three school districts said they would abide by the law and follow the federal court’s order.
In a statement to Houston Public Media on May 1, Cypress Fairbanks ISD said the district planned to comply.
"Unless there is an appeal that restores the injunction, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD will proceed with administrative implementation to ensure the district remains in compliance with the requirements of the state law to accept and display qualifying, privately donated posters. CFISD community members donated posters in the summer of 2025. The district is working on a uniform rollout to have the posters delivered and displayed at each campus before the start of the 2026-27 school year," Joel Weckerly, assistant superintendent of communications for CFISD, wrote in a statement. "CFISD will provide information and guidance to its staff in this regard, prior to [the] display of the posters. The district will continue to monitor legal developments to ensure we remain compliant with the law."
Senate Bill 10,which took effect Sept. 1, requires public schools to display donated posters of the protestant version of the Ten Commandments, sized at least 16 by 20 inches, and in a visible space on classroom walls.
The now-overturned injunction was issued after several families sued 11 school districts across Texas — including Houston ISD, Cy-Fair ISD and Fort Bend ISD — to challenge SB 10. The families argued the law violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prevents the government from establishing or promoting a single religion.
Attorney General Ken Paxton called the overturning of the injunction a "major victory for Texas and its moral values."
The plaintiffs condemned the decision and said they anticipate appealing to the Supreme Court.
“We are extremely disappointed in [the April 21] decision," the ACLU, one of the organizations representing the plaintiffs, wrote in a statement. "The First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction. This decision tramples those rights."
RELATED: Galveston ISD stands by decision not to display Ten Commandments despite state lawsuit
Douglas Laycock, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Texas School of Law, said the decision "violates the religious liberty of every parent who sends their children to a public school."
"Young children are impressionable and don’t make the kinds of distinctions the court makes," Laycock said. "They say, no kid is coerced, no child has to believe any of this, no child will be punished if he doesn’t believe it, but it has to be prominently posted, readable from across the room [for] six, seven hours a day, 180 days a year for first graders. What does it mean to say, they don't have to believe it? It’s drilled into him. It’s present all the time."
A number of politically conservative organizations from across Texas and the country are tackling the massive task of getting posters donated and hung, with multiple schools in the Houston area and across the state having already received them. Several groups are ushering prospective donors to one website, Restore American Schools, where a poster can be made and donated to a classroom in Texas for the cost of $1.
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