Alabama House, Senate bills mandating Ten Commandments school displays pass committees
Rep. Mark Gidley, R-Hokes Bluff, listens to a presentation in the Alabama House of Representatives on April 3, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Gidley's bill that would require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public K-12 schools passed the House Education Policy Committee unanimously on April 9, 2025. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
Two bills that would require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools moved through their respective chambers' committees on Wednesday.
SB 166, sponsored by Sen. Keith Kelley, R-Anniston, and HB 178, sponsored by Rep. Mark Gidley, R-Hokes Bluff, both passed with substitutes that exclude higher education from the mandate.
'The display would still be in a common area there inside the public schools, and the display would be among other historical documents,' Kelley told members of the Senate Education Policy Committee.
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Under the legislation, public K-12 schools will be required to display an 11-inch-by-14-inch poster of the Ten Commandments. Alabama voters in 2018 approved a constitutional amendment allowing the Ten Commandments to be displayed on public property but not mandating such displays.
Local school boards do not have to use their state-allocated funds to purchase a poster to display, Gidley said. The legislation does not list any sanctions for schools that do not comply.
'The substitute does not require the LEAs to post the display unless the State Superintendent certifies that donations are available,' Gidley told members of the House Education Policy Committee.
The Senate version of the bill heard from critics and supporters in March. Most of the critics said the translation of the Ten Commandments in the bill is not an accurate historical account of the Hebrew-derived text. Supporters said the text is the foundation of Western civilization.
Both bills were approved unanimously by their respective committees and will now be considered by each chamber.
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