House lawmakers narrowly rejected Senate Bill 51 on Monday, putting a halt to a measure that would have required South Dakota public schools to prominently display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. The bill had already cleared the state Senate.
“The Ten Commandments were influential for the creation of our country and foundation of our legal system,” said Rep. Heather Baxter, who co-sponsored the measure with Sen. John Carley.
The two Black Hills Republicans and other supporters of SB 51 characterized the legislation as an educational directive to public school districts, arguing that the Christian doctrine should be enshrined similarly to the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, or the Magna Carta, which are found in other public spaces. In support of the legislation, Baxter also remarked on the House floor during a hearing on SB 51 that the Ten Commandments are depicted on government buildings throughout the country, including inside and outside the Supreme Court of the United States.
But the measure brought fierce opposition from progressives and public education groups, who criticized it as both a government endorsement of a singular theological faith and a loss of local control. Self-described faith-led conservative Republicans also voiced concerns that mandating the Ten Commandments be displayed in schools would devalue their worth.
“It is pure, it is special, and to me, taking a sheet of paper, laminated, and throwing it up on every classroom wall in the school, to me, it’s blasphemous and cheap,” Rep. Lana Greenfield said.
The Carley-Baxter bill also included a provision seeking to require K-12 students in South Dakota’s public schools receive instruction about the Ten Commandments’ influence on Judeo-Christian society, prompting speculation that the state could find itself defending the law in court if passed.
Some supporters of the Carley-Baxter bill also questioned what would be accomplished by displaying the Ten Commandments in schools.
“We have no control over the curriculum in South Dakota,” Rep. Liz May said, referring to teaching instruction requirements tied to federal education funding and the South Dakota Department of Education’s responsibility to determine what public school students learn and at what grade level. “You want the Ten Commandments in there? You better get involved in the South Dakota Department of Education and the curriculum they are putting forward.”
Even a late change to the bill — brought via an amendment by May — that instead would have required districts to place one display of the Ten Commandments in each school wasn’t enough to garner support from a majority of representatives.
The state House voted 37-31 to kill SB 51.
Joe Sneve of The Dakota Scout contributed to this report.