LPSS Has Until Friday to Post Ten Commandments in Every Classroom—Here’s What Principals Were Told

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) — Ten Commandments posters are going up in every Lafayette Parish classroom, and principals have until Friday to get it done.

LPSS Associate Superintendent Dr. Mark Rabalais wrote to all principals on Monday, March 9, telling them to pick up their school’s posters from the district office and have them on the walls in every classroom by March 13. The push comes from House Bill 71 (Act 676), which Governor Jeff Landry signed in June 2024. The law requires every public school classroom in Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments.

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What the Letter Told Principals

Each poster has to be at least 11x14 inches with the text clearly visible and readable. Principals who couldn’t make the trip to the district office were told to send a staff member. Rabalais also told anyone who came up short on posters to reach out to the district so the gap could be filled quickly.

Taxpayers didn’t foot the bill. The state Attorney General’s guidance on HB 71 requires that the displays or funding for them come from donors. Love Acadiana, a Broussard-based faith nonprofit and one of the founders of the Love Our Schools initiative, delivered 3,000 posters to LPSS schools, a mix of all state-approved styles.

How the Law Got Cleared to Move Forward

Friday’s deadline didn’t happen overnight. After Landry signed the bill, a multi-faith group of Louisiana families sued in federal court, arguing HB 71 violated the First Amendment. A federal district judge in Baton Rouge agreed in November 2024 and blocked the law statewide.

Go Further...

• Fifth Circuit Hands Louisiana a Win on Ten Commandments in Schools
• LSU Will Soon Display The Ten Commandments in Classrooms

That injunction fell apart in late February. The full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, tossed it in an 11-7 decision. The court didn’t declare the law constitutional outright. It said the lawsuit was premature because the posters had never actually gone up anywhere. Without a real-world record of how the displays get used, the court said it couldn’t do the kind of fact-specific analysis these cases require.

Attorney General Liz Murrill called it a win. Her office had already put out guidance on how schools should implement the law and released sample posters that clear the constitutional bar.

Opponents weren’t satisfied. Civil rights groups warned the ruling would force objecting families to fight the law one school district at a time once the posters are actually hanging.

The Fight Isn’t Finished

The Fifth Circuit was careful to keep the door open. The ruling doesn’t prevent future “as-applied” challenges once the displays are up and there’s a concrete record to argue over. Lafayette Parish is moving forward either way.

Posters go up this week.