School volunteer chaplains and historical displays

2025-2026 Bill 4762: School volunteer chaplains and historical displays - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 4762
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Long, Bailey, Brewer, Caskey, Chapman, Crawford, Davis, Forrest, Gatch, Gilliam, Guest, Haddon, Hiott, Hixon, Holman, Lawson, Ligon, Lowe, McCravy, C. Mitchell, T. Moore, W. Newton, Oremus, Pedalino, Pope, Rankin, Robbins, Sanders, Schuessler, Sessions, G.M. Smith, M.M. Smith, Taylor, Vaughan, Whitmire, Willis, Wooten, Yow, B. Newton, Chumley, Edgerton, Magnuson, White, Lastinger, D. Mitchell, Cromer and Gilreath
Companion/Similar bill(s): 3217
Document Path: LC-0561WAB26.docx
Introduced in the House on January 13, 2026
Introduced in the Senate on March 4, 2026
Last Amended on February 25, 2026

Currently residing in the Senate Committee on
Education
Summary: School volunteer chaplains and historical displays
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

12/16/2025

House

Prefiled

12/16/2025

House

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary

1/13/2026

House

Introduced and read first time (
House Journal-page 107
)

1/13/2026

House

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary
(
House Journal-page 107
)

1/20/2026

House

Member(s) request name added as sponsor: White

2/12/2026

House

Committee report: Favorable with amendment
Judiciary
(
House Journal-page 29
)

2/17/2026

House

Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Lastinger

2/17/2026

Scrivener's error corrected

2/17/2026

House

Requests for debate-Rep(s). B Newton, Hewitt,
Kirby, Wetmore, Weeks, Caskey, Anderson, Martin,
Magnuson (
House Journal-page 14
)

2/19/2026

House

Member(s) request name added as sponsor: D. Mitchell

2/25/2026

House

Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Cromer,
Gilreath

2/25/2026

House

Amended (
House Journal-page 30
)

2/25/2026

House

Read second time (
House Journal-page 30
)

2/25/2026

House

Roll call Yeas-84 Nays-31 (
House Journal-page 109
)

2/26/2026

Scrivener's error corrected

2/26/2026

Scrivener's error corrected

3/3/2026

House

Read third time and sent to Senate (
House Journal-page 45
)

3/4/2026

Senate

Introduced and read first time (
Senate Journal-page 27
)

3/4/2026

Senate

Referred to Committee on
Education
(
Senate Journal-page 27
)

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
12/17/2025
02/12/2026
02/17/2026
02/25/2026
02/26/2026
02/26/2026-A

AMENDED

February 25, 2026

H. 4762

Introduced by Reps. Long, Bailey, Brewer, Caskey,
Chapman, Crawford, Davis, Forrest, Gatch, Gilliam, Guest, Haddon, Hiott, Hixon,
Holman, Lawson, Ligon, Lowe, McCravy, C. Mitchell, T. Moore, W. Newton, Oremus,
Pedalino, Pope, Rankin, Robbins, Sanders, Schuessler, Sessions, G. M. Smith, M.
M. Smith, Taylor, Vaughan, Whitmire, Willis, Wooten, Yow, B. Newton, Chumley,
Edgerton, Magnuson, White, Lastinger, D. Mitchell, Cromer and Gilreath

S. Printed 2/25/26--H. [SEC
2/26/2026 12:49 PM]

Read the first time January 13, 2026

________

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION
59-1-335
SO AS TO AUTHORIZE SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND CHARTER SCHOOLS TO IMPLEMENT
CERTAIN VOLUNTEER SCHOOL CHAPLAIN POLICIES; AND BY ADDING SECTION
59-1-485
SO
AS TO PROVIDE FOR THE DISPLAY OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND OTHER HISTORICAL
DOCUMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOL AND POSTSECONDARY CLASSROOMS.

Amend Title To Conform

B
e it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

S
ECTION 1.
A
rticle 5, Chapter 1, Title 59 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:

S
ection
59-1-335
.
(
A) Each school district
or charter school may adopt a policy to authorize volunteer school chaplains to
provide supports, services, and programs to students assigned by the district
school board or charter school governing board. The school district or charter
school policy must, at a minimum:

(
1)
describe the supports, services, or programs that volunteer school chaplains
may be assigned.

(
2)
require that principals of schools with a volunteer school chaplain inform all
parents of the availability of such supports, services, and programs.

(
3)
require written parental consent before a student participates in or receives
supports, services, and programs provided by a volunteer school chaplain.
Parents must be permitted to select a volunteer school chaplain from the list
provided by the school district, which must include the chaplain's religious
affiliation.

(
B)
Each volunteer school chaplain must meet the background check requirements
required of school district employees and volunteers pursuant to Section
59-19-117
. A person with prior arrests or convictions of a serious nature that
could affect his fitness to serve as a volunteer school chaplain shall be
denied the opportunity to serve in that capacity. A person who is required to
register as a sex offender pursuant to Section
23-3-430
shall not serve as a
volunteer school chaplain.

(
C)
Any school district or charter school that adopts a volunteer school chaplains
policy must publish the list of volunteer school chaplains, including religious
affiliation, on the school district or charter school's website.

(
D)
(
1) "Volunteer school chaplain" means
an individual who:

(
a)
is endorsed by an entity subject to criteria to be established by the State
Department of Education;

(
b)
is affiliated with an established religious congregation in the local community;
and

(
c)
is authorized by a school district or charter school, pursuant to a policy
adopted under this section, to provide support, services, or programs pursuant
to subsection (A).

(
2) A volunteer school chaplain may not
advance, endorse, or require participation in any particular religion,
denomination, or belief system while acting under such an authorization during
school hours on school grounds to provide the support, services, or programs
contemplated by a policy adopted pursuant to subsection (A).

S
ECTION 2.
A
rticle 5, Chapter 1, Title 59 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:

S
ection
59-1-485
.
(
A) The legislature finds
and declares all of the following:

(
1)
In 2005, the Supreme Court of the United States recognized that it is
permissible to display the Ten Commandments on government property in Van Orden
v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677, 688 (2005).

(
2)
In 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States further recognized that the Ten
Commandments "have historical significance as one of the foundations of our
legal system ..." in American Legion v. American Humanists Association, 588
U.S. 29, 53 (2019), and the court also ruled that the displaying of the Ten
Commandments on public property may have "multiple purposes" such as
"historical significance" and represent a "common cultural heritage." Id. at
54.

(
3)
Recognizing the historical role of the Ten Commandments accords with our
nation's history and faithfully reflects the understanding of the founders of
our nation with respect to the necessity of civic morality to functional
self-government.

(
4)
Including the Ten Commandments in the education of our children is part of our
state and national history, culture, and tradition.

(
5)
The text of the Ten Commandments set forth in subsection (B) is identical to
the text of the Ten Commandments monument that was upheld by the Supreme Court
of the United States in Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677, 688 (2005).

(
6)
The Mayflower Compact of 1620 was North America's first written constitution
and made a Covenant with Almighty God to "form a civil body politic". This was
the first purely American New World document of self-government and affirmed
the link between civil society and God.

(
7)
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided a method of admitting new states to
the Union from the territory as the country expanded to the Pacific. The
Ordinance "extended the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty"
to the territories and stated that "(r)eligion, morality, and knowledge, being
necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the
means of education shall forever be encouraged."

(
8)
It is the legislature's intent to apply the decision set forth by the Supreme
Court of the United States in Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677(2005), to
continue the rich tradition and ensure that the students in our public schools
may understand and appreciate the foundational documents of our state and
national government.

(
9)
The Supreme Court of the United States acknowledged that the Ten Commandments
may be displayed on local government property when a private donation is made
for the purchase of the historical monument. Pleasant Grove City, Utah v.
Summum, 555 U.S. 460 (2009).

(
10)
It is the intention of the legislature that this Section shall not create an
unfunded mandate on any public school governing authority. The school boards
are encouraged to use documents that are printed and made available to the
schools free of charge.

(
B)
(
1) No later than January 1, 2027, each
public school governing authority shall display the Ten Commandments in each
classroom in each school under its jurisdiction. The nature of the display
shall be determined by each governing authority with a minimum requirement that
the Ten Commandments shall be displayed on a poster or framed document that is
at least eleven inches by fourteen inches. The text of the Ten Commandments
shall be the central focus of the poster or framed document and shall be
printed in a large, easily readable font. The text shall read as follows:

T
he Ten Commandments

I
AM the Lord thy God.

T
hou shalt have no other
gods before me.

T
hou shalt not make to
thyself any graven images.

T
hou shalt not take the
Name of the Lord thy God in vain.

R
emember the Sabbath day,
to keep it holy.

H
onor thy father and thy
mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth
thee.

T
hou shalt not kill.

T
hou shalt not commit
adultery.

T
hou shalt not steal.

T
hou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbor.

T
hou shalt not covet thy
neighbor's house.

T
hou shalt not covet thy
neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor
anything that is thy neighbor's.

(
2)
The Ten Commandments shall be displayed with a context statement as follows:

T
he History of the Ten
Commandments in American Public Education

T
he Ten Commandments
were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.
Around the year 1688, The New England Primer became the first published
American textbook and was the equivalent of a first grade reader. The New
England Primer was used in public schools throughout the United States for more
than two hundred years to teach Americans to read and contained more than forty
questions about the Ten Commandments.

T
he Ten Commandments
were also included in public school textbooks published by educator William
McGuffey, a noted university president and professor. A version of his famous
McGuffey Readers was written in the 1800s and became one of the most popular
textbooks in the history of American education, selling more than one hundred
million copies. Copies of the McGuffey Readers are still available today.

T
he Ten Commandments
also appeared in books published by Noah Webster which were widely available in
American public schools along with America's first comprehensive dictionary
that Webster also published. His book, Letters To A Young Gentleman Commencing
His Education: To Which Is Subjoined A Brief History Of The United States, contained
the Ten Commandments and was among works that together sold more than one
hundred million copies for use by public school children all across the nation,
many of which were still available for use in American public schools in the
year 1975.

(
3)
A public school may also display the Mayflower Compact, written and adopted in
1620, the text which reads as follows:

M
ayflower Compact (1620
A.D.)

A
greement Between the
Settlers at New Plymouth: 1620

I
N THE NAME OF GOD,
AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread
Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and
Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith. Having undertaken for the Glory of God,
and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country,
a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; do by
these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another,
covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our
better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by
Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws,
Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be
thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which
we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have
hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign
of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the
eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.

(
4)
A public school may also display The Declaration of Independence, adopted by
Congress on July 4, 1776, the text of which reads as follows:

T
he Declaration of
Independence.

I
N CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

T
he unanimous Declaration
of the thirteen United States of America.

W
hen in the Course of
human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political
bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of
the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's
God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that
they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

W
e hold these truths
to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, -- That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish
it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles
and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to
effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient
causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more
disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by
abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of
abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to
reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to
throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
-- Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the
necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated
injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an
absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a
candid world.

H
e has refused his
Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

H
e has forbidden his
Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended
in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended,
he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

H
e has refused to pass
other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those
people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right
inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

H
e has called together
legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the
depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into
compliance with his measures.

H
e has dissolved
Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his
invasions on the rights of the people.

H
e has refused for a
long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the
Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at
large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all
the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

H
e has endeavoured to
prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws
for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their
migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

H
e has obstructed the
Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing
Judiciary powers.

H
e has made Judges
dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount
and payment of their salaries.

H
e has erected a
multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our
people, and eat out their substance.

H
e has kept among us,
in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

H
e has affected to render
the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

H
e has combined with
others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and
unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended
Legislation:

F
or Quartering
large bodies of armed troops among us.

F
or protecting
them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit
on the Inhabitants of these States.

F
or cutting off our
Trade with all parts of the world.

F
or imposing Taxes
on us without our Consent.

F
or depriving us in
many cases, of the benefits of Trial by jury.

F
or transporting us
beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences.

F
or abolishing the
free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an
Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once
an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these
Colonies.

F
or taking away our
Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the
Forms of our Government.

F
or suspending our
own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for
us in all cases whatsoever.

H
e has abdicated
Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against
us.

H
e has plundered
our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our
people.

H
e is at this time
transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of
death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and
perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy
the Head of a civilized nation.

H
e has constrained
our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their
Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall
themselves by their Hands.

H
e has excited domestic
insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of
our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

I
n every stage of
these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms; Our
repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose
character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be
the ruler of a free people.

N
or have We been
wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time
to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable
jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our
emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and
magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to
disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections
and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of
consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces
our separation, and hold them, as we would the rest of mankind, Enemies in War,
in Peace Friends.

W
e, therefore, the
Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress,
Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our
intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these
Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of
Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all
Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them
and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that
as Free and independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude
Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and
Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this
Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we
mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

(
5)
A public school may also display articles I through VI of the Northwest
Ordinance enacted by Congress on July 13, 1787, which prohibited slavery in the
new territories and which stated that "religion, morality, and knowledge as
being necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind" and which
text reads as follows:

A
rticle I

N
o person, demeaning
himself in a peaceable and orderly manner shall ever be molested on account of
his mode of worship or religious sentiments, in the said territory.

A
rticle II

T
he inhabitants of the
said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas
corpus, and of the trial by jury; of a proportionate representation of the
people in the legislature; and of judicial proceedings according to the course of
the common law. All persons shall be bailable, unless for capital offenses,
where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great. All fines shall be
moderate; and no cruel or unusual punishments shall be inflicted. No man shall
be deprived of his liberty or property, but by the judgment of his peers or the
law of the land; and, should the public exigencies make it necessary, for the
common preservation, to take any person's property, or to demand his particular
services, full compensation shall be made for the same. And, in the just
preservation of rights and property, it is understood and declared, that no law
ought ever to be made, or have force in the said territory, that shall, in any
manner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts or engagements,
bona fide, and without fraud, previously formed.

A
rticle III

R
eligion, morality,
and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind,
schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good
faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property
shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property,
rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just
and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and
humanity, shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to
them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.

A
rticle IV

T
he said territory,
and the States which may be formed therein, shall forever remain a part of this
Confederacy of the United States of America, subject to the Articles of
Confederation, and to such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally
made; and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress
assembled, comformable thereto. The inhabitants and settlers in the said
territory shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts contracted or to
be contracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of government, to be
apportioned on them by Congress according to the same common rule and measure
by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other States; and the
taxes for paying their proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and
direction of the legislatures of the district or districts, or new States, as
in the original States, within the time agreed upon by the United States in
Congress assembled. The legislatures of those districts or new States, shall
never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in
Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may find necessary for
securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers. No tax shall be
imposed on lands the property of the United States; and, in no case, shall
nonresident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. The navigable waters
leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between
the same, shall be common highways and forever free, as well to the inhabitants
of the said territory as to the citizens of the United States, and those of any
other States that may be admitted into the confederacy, without any tax,
impost, or duty therefor.

A
rticle V

T
here shall be formed
in the said territory, not less than three nor more than five States; and the
boundaries of the States, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession,
and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established as follows, to wit:
The western State in the said territory, shall be bounded by the Mississippi,
the Ohio, and Wabash Rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post
Vincents, due North, to the territorial line between the United States and
Canada; and, by the said territorial line, to the Lake of the Woods and
Mississippi. The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line, the
Wabash from Post Vincents to the Ohio, by the Ohio, by a direct line, drawn due
north from the mouth of the Great Miami, to the said territorial line, and by
the said territorial line. The eastern State shall be bounded by the last
mentioned direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said territorial line:
Provided, however, and it is further understood and declared, that the boundaries
of these three States shall be subject so far to be altered, that, if Congress
shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two
States in that part of the said territory which lies north of an east and west
line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. And,
whenever any of the said States shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants
therein, such State shall be admitted, by its delegates, into the Congress of
the United States, on an equal footing with the original States in all respects
whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and State
government: Provided, the constitution and government so to be formed, shall be
republican, and in conformity to the principles contained in these articles;
and, so far as it can be consistent with the general interest of the
confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an earlier period, and when
there may be a less number of free inhabitants in the State than sixty
thousand.

A
rticle VI

T
here shall be neither
slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the
punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted:
Provided, always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or
service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive
may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor
or service as aforesaid.

(
6)
A public school may also display the Emancipation Proclamation, issued in
1863, the text which reads as follows:

T
hat on the 1st day of
January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated
part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the
United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive
Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority
thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do no
act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may
make for their actual freedom. That the Executive will on the first day of
January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States,
if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion
against the United States; and the fact that any State or the people thereof
shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United
States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the
qualified voters of such States shall have participated shall, in the absence of
strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State
and the people thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States.
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue
of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the
United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and
government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for
supressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, A.D. 1863, and in
accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of
one hundred days from the first day above mentioned, order and designate as the
States and parts of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this
day in rebellion against the United States the following, to wit: Arkansas,
Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Palquemines, Jefferson,
St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebone, Lafourche,
St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans),
Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and
Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also
the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northhampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess
Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which
excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were
not issued. And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do
order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States
and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the
Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval
authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all
violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in
all case when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. And I
further declare and make known that such persons of suitable condition will be
received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts,
positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said
service. And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice,
warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate
judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

(
7)
This section does not require a public school governing authority to spend its
funds to purchase displays required or authorized in this section. In order to
fund the displays free of charge, the public school governing authority may:

(
a)
accept donated funds to purchase the displays.

(
b)
accept donated displays.

(
8)
(
a) The State Board of Education shall adopt
rules and regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act to
ensure the proper implementation of this section for the institutions under
this jurisdiction.

(
b)
Statements intended to provide context to any text required or authorized to be
displayed pursuant to this subsection are prohibited.

(
c) The
State Department of Education shall identify appropriate resources to comply
with the provisions of this Section that are free of charge. Once identified,
the department shall list the free resources on the department's internet
website.

(
C)
(
1)
No later than January 1, 2027, each public institution of higher learning in
this State shall display the Ten Commandments in each classroom on the
institution's campus. At a minimum, the Ten Commandments shall be displayed on
a poster or framed document that is at least eleven inches by fourteen inches.
The text of the Ten Commandments shall be the central focus of the poster or
framed document and shall be printed in a large, easily readable font.

(
2) The text
shall read as provided in subsection (B)(1). Statements intended to provide
context to any text authorized to be displayed pursuant to this section are
prohibited.

(
3) This
section does not require a public institution of higher learning or its
governing board to spend its funds to purchase displays required under this
subsection. In order to fund the displays free of charge, the institution or
its governing body may:

(
a)
accept donated funds to purchase the displays;

(
b)
accept donated displays.

(
D)
Any civil cause of action arising against a public school or a governing body
thereof, filed as a result of the requirements of this section, must be
defended by the Attorney General. The State is responsible for all legal costs
including but not limited to, attorney's fees and any damages that may be
awarded.

S
ECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval
by the Governor.

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This web page was last updated on February 26, 2026 at 12:51 PM