Well, here we go. Attorney General Ken Paxton has turned his attention toward Austin-area school districts, launching an investigation into whether local campuses are complying with that new state law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in every public school classroom.
If you missed it, Texas passed a law last year mandating that a poster or framed display of the Ten Commandments — in large, readable text — go up in every K-12 public school classroom in the state. Several districts, including some right here in the Austin metro, have been dragging their feet or pushing back on the requirement, citing ongoing legal challenges to the law in federal court.
Paxton's office isn't buying the wait-and-see approach. His team is now looking into which districts haven't fallen in line, and Austin's backyard is apparently squarely in the crosshairs. No big shocker there — Austin ISD and some of its neighbors have never exactly been rushing to cozy up to this particular mandate.
The law itself has been tangled up in court since pretty much the moment it passed, with civil liberties groups arguing it's a clear violation of the separation of church and state. Districts in legal limbo have been using that uncertainty as cover for not putting anything on their walls yet.
But Paxton seems intent on forcing the issue regardless of what the courts eventually decide. It's shaping up to be another one of those classic Austin-vs.-the-rest-of-Texas standoffs that we've all gotten pretty used to watching play out. Stay tuned — this one's far from over.