The Ohio Senate has passed a bill that opens the door for public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms and erect monuments to them on public school grounds.
SB 34, the “Historical Educational Displays Act,” would mandate that, beginning July 2026, all Ohio school boards must select at least four of the following “historical educational documents” to display in all history and social studies classrooms, grades 4-12:
- The Ten Commandments
- The Mayflower Compact
- The Declaration of Independence
- The Northwest Ordinance
- The mottoes of the United States and Ohio
- The Magna Carta
- The Bill of Rights
- The United States Constitution
- The Articles of Confederation
All displays must be “reasonably visible” and accompanied by a description of the documents’ historical importance.
Additionally, the bill allows schools to erect “a monument or other marker inscribed with one or more of the historical educational documents” listed above.
SB 34 specifies that boards of education do not need to spend their own funds on these displays, but can accept donations for the displays themselves or the funds needed for the displays.
The bill puts no restrictions on the entities donating those funds or displays – be they churches or the anti-LGBTQ+ Center for Christian Virtue – but does give boards the power to refuse donations that come with limitations or conditions attached or to refuse a donation outright.
The bill passed out of the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday and was passed by the full Senate the following day.
Senate testimony
Sen. Terry Johnson (R-McDermott), the bill’s sponsor, said this bill is needed to support Ohio youth’s “moral essence to thrive.”
“The reason for this bill is to expose our students to documents which have in America served as the backbone of our legal and moral traditions as a people,” Johnson said on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
In the Education Committee on Tuesday, Sen. Catherine Ingram (D-Cincinnati) proposed an amendment to remove the Ten Commandments from the list of approved documents. Chair Andrew Brenner quickly swatted down her proposal and had her amendment tabled.
Ingram introduced that same amendment on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
“The Ten Commandments are religious,” Ingram said. “Everyone is not the same type of religious individual. There is not a need for you to force me to be within your thinking.”
Senate Republicans voted unanimously against Ingram’s amendment.
“This is just indoctrinating,” Ingram said. “This bill represents another example of using religion for political gain.”
Senator Kent Smith (D-Euclid) highlighted that Tuesday was the birthday of former U.S. President James Garfield – a lawyer and former Ohio state senator – and that Garfield would have seen that SB 34 violates the Establishment Clause, the part of the First Amendment that prohibits the government from establishing a religion.
“Public schools must never be pressured into a religious endorsement,” Smith said. “Doing so risks marginalizing students of minority faiths or no faiths at all and undermines the inclusive and welcoming environment that every child deserves. Inclusion of the Ten Commandments [here] is inappropriate.”
Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio said the bill was “an affront to [the nation’s] founders.”
“We shouldn’t rewrite history into favoring a specific religious text over another,” Antonio said.
Both Antonio and Smith referenced a Texas law that required school districts to display Ten Commandments, which was recently struck down. Courts also ruled against similar laws in Arkansas and Louisiana. Those three laws required districts to display the Ten Commandments, unlike the Ohio bill, which presents the Ten Commandments within a list of options.
SB 34 passed by a vote of 23-10. Rep. Nathan Manning (R-North Ridgeville) joined all Senate Democrats in voting against the bill.
The bill next heads to the Ohio House for consideration. If the bill passes through the Ohio House, it would head to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature. 🔥
IGNITE ACTION
- Check out our LGBTQ+ Legislative Guide here.
- To register to vote or to check your voter eligibility status in the state of Ohio, click here.
- To find contact information for your Ohio state representative, click here.
Know an LGBTQ+ Ohio story we should cover? TELL US!
Submit a story!
