BATON ROUGE, La. — While there is already legal proceedings underway over a new law in Louisiana that requires that Ten commandments to show in classrooms, the details of how the mandate will be implemented and enforced remain unclear.
Across the country, there have been conservative efforts to integrating religion into the classroomfrom Florida law that allows school districts to volunteer chaplains to guide students to oklahoma’s top education official directing public schools to incorporate the Bible into lessons.
In Louisiana, the logistics of the new law are still unclear.
Unless a court stops the legislationSchools have just over five months before they are required to have a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in all K-12 public school classrooms and publicly funded university classrooms. But it is unclear whether the new law has sufficient tools to enforce the requirement and punish those who refuse to comply.
Supporters of the law say donations will pay for the thousands of needed posters, while critics argue the law is an unfunded mandate that could burden schools. And teachers at some schools have said they are unlikely to put up the posters, including in the blue city of New Orleans, where residents and officials have a history of pushing back against conservative policies.
Louisiana has more than 1,300 public schools. Louisiana State University has nearly 1,000 classrooms on its main campus in Baton Rouge alone, and seven other campuses across the state. That means thousands of posters will be needed to comply with the new law.
The Louisiana Department of Education is required under the new law to identify and publish on its website sources that can provide the posters for free.
Lawmakers who supported the bill said during debate in May that the posters or funds to print them would likely be donated to schools in the deep Bible Belt state. National praise for the bill came from conservative groups and figures, including, most recently, former President Donald Trumpcould result in external financial support for the mandate.
Louisiana Family Forum, a Christian conservative organization, has already created a page on its website for donations that “will be used specifically to produce and distribute ’10 Commandments’ displays to Louisiana educational institutions.”
But the question of what happens if a school does not receive enough donations has lingered for months, without any clarity.
“So schools have the option to raise money or they (the posters) can be donated. But what if you can’t raise the money or can’t find a donor?” asked Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat who voted against the bill debate on the legislation last month.
“I don’t know what happens then,” said Sen. Adam Bass, a Republican who co-authored the bill.
The Associated Press has contacted several co-authors of the bill, including Bass and the offices of Attorney General Liz Murrill, Louisiana Education Superintendent Cade Brumley and the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, but has not received answers to questions about financing.
Legislators who supported the bill were adamant during the debate that the law is clear in saying that donations would be used to obtain the posters. Others suggest that the language of the bill still allows for the purchase of displays with public funds.
“Louisiana law does not appear to prohibit the use of public funds to pay for the Ten Commandments display. Such use of taxpayer dollars would only exacerbate this blatant violation of the Constitution,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which opposes the bill.
The law says it “shall not require” a public school board to spend its funds to purchase displays. Instead, “to fund the displays at no cost, the public school board will “either accept donated funds to purchase the displays or accept donated displays.”
Even with enough donations, opponents say the state is still spending money and resources to defend itself in a lawsuit over a requirement they say is unconstitutional.
But supporters say it’s a battle they’re willing to fight.
Chris Dier, the 2020 Teacher of the Year in Louisiana, said he has no plans to hang the Ten Commandments in his classroom.
“I don’t believe in doing something that is unconstitutional and harmful to students,” said Dier, who teaches at a high school in New Orleans.
It’s unclear whether failure to comply will result in a penalty, as the language in the law does not specify any repercussions. While the law specifies that Louisiana’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall adopt “rules and regulations” to ensure the “proper execution” of the mandate, enforcement could fall to parish school boards or local school districts.
A similar law passed last year requires that “In God We Trust” be displayed in classrooms. Enforcement and penalties for noncompliance are determined by local education agencies, said Kevin Calbert, spokesman for the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The AP emailed 55 members of parochial school boards across the state, including rural and urban parishes in Republican-dominated and Democratic-leaning areas, to ask whether they support the law and how they plan to enforce it. Two responded, saying they support the mandate.
Carlos Luis Zervigon, vice president of the Orleans Parish School Board, had a different view, describing it as “blatantly unconstitutional.”
“I haven’t heard any conversations or interest in considering enforcing this,” the former history teacher said. “My instinct would be to do nothing unless I’m forced to.”
With schools closed and many school boards meeting less frequently in the summer, Zervagon said his board has not yet discussed the requirement. However, if he is charged with figuring out how to implement and enforce the mandate, he will likely take a “wait and see” approach until the court rules.
“I could imagine drafting a resolution that would say something like, ‘We will not enforce it until we have legal clarity on whether this is constitutional or not,’” he said.
However, if New Orleans takes the lead, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry could “retaliate,” Zervagon said.
Landry, a Republican, tried to punish New Orleans in the past after city officials opposed enforcement of Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban.