SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – A bill requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public South Dakota classrooms passed the Senate with a 18-17 vote.
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Senate Bill 51 would require every classroom in the state to display the Ten Commandments on a poster no smaller than eight by 14 inches. The Ten Commandments must be the focus of the poster and in large, easily readable font.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. John Carley, told the Senate up until 40 years ago, the Ten Commandments appeared in school textbooks. According to Carley, the document is relevant to American tradition and history and should be restored.
“This is about history, not religion,” he said.
Senators opposed to the bill included both Democrats and Republicans. Democratic Sen. Jamie Smith pointed to permissive language in state law that already allows the Ten Commandments in schools.
“We keep putting more and more on our teachers and our public schools, telling them ‘Do this, do this,’” Smith said. “Local control people, let your communities decide what’s best for them.”
Republican Sen. Stephanie Sauder, a retired teacher, also criticized the lack of local control and the effect of another state government mandate on schools.
“Voting for this bill would remove the school’s freedom of choice to decide what’s best for the students and the district,” Sauder said.
Republican Sen. Mykala Voita strongly supported the bill.
“We have allowed the outside culture to tell us that saying anything about faith is bad,” Voita said. “This is what founded our country, all of our morals and things that we base our law systems off of.”
Two senators introduced amendments to the bill; one passed.
Democratic Sen. Red Dawn Foster introduced an amendment to include the Ten Commandments or Woope Sakowin, the seven laws of the Lakota language.
Foster said her constituents were concerned about the rise of forced assimilation through education and Christianity for native youth. The amendment failed.
Senators accepted an amendment from Republican Sen. David Wheeler that he said absolves school districts from any potential lawsuit that results from the proposed law. The amendment would make the state responsible for any fees or penalties related to lawsuits.
The bill, with the approved amendment, will now move over to House committee hearings.
Republican Sen. Chris Karr broke a 17-17 tie with a deciding “Aye.” Karr voted last because he was presiding as the Senate president pro tempore, the chamber’s No. 2 officer, in the absence of a lieutenant governor. The South Dakota Constitution designates the lieutenant governor as the Senate president.
Here’s how the Senators voted:
Yeas (18) — Beal, Blanc, Carley, Crabtree, Grove, Hohn, Howard, Hulse, Jensen (Kevin), Marty, Mehlhaff, Nelson, Perry, Peterson (Sue), Pischke, Voight, Voita and Karr.
Nays (17) — Davis, Deibert, Duhamel, Foster, Kolbeck, Lapka, Larson, Miskimins, Otten, Reed, Rohl, Sauder, Schoenfish, Smith, Vilhauer, Wheeler and Zikmund.
Capitol News Bureau reporter Bob Mercer contributed to this report.
