Washington Parish school officials are awaiting instructions from the state government so they can begin following a new law that requires the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools.
The law was passed by the state legislature and then signed by Gov. Jeff Landry on June 19.
The new law requires a poster containing the Ten Commandments to be placed in every classroom of every public school in the state. The posters must be in place by the beginning of 2025, according to the new law. The law only refers to public schools, not private or religious schools.
Opponents of the law have termed it “unconstitutional” and have vowed to challenge it in court. On Monday of this week a Hindu religious organization announced that it wanted to also post Hindu Sanskrit verses in public schools, and some opponents have said that the new law “opens the floodgates” to every diverse religion in the country to demand equal access for its documents.
In Washington Parish, school officials have said that they will follow the new law, but they want to wait for in-depth instructions from the state government before doing so.
Because the new law states that the posters must be in place by the beginning of 2025, school officials have some time to seek definite guidance.
The posters will not be paid for out of state funds. Instead, private donations will be used for the printing and distribution of the posters. With the new law requiring the Ten Commandments posters to be placed in every single public school classroom in the state, the cost of the printing and distribution is expected to be significant.
