Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed and included in the school curriculum.

Highlights:

• Requires the Ten Commandments be displayed in a prominent location in each school (Sec. 1)

• Specifies that the display must be at least 8 x 14 inches and that the Ten Commandments must be the focus of the display, printed in a large and easily readable font (Sec. 1).

• Requires that the text of the Ten Commandments be as follows (Sec. 1): 

• I AM the Lord your God, thou shalt have no other gods before me;

• Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image;

• Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain;

• Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy;

• Honor thy father and mother;

• Thou shalt not murder;

• Thou shalt not commit adultery;

• Thou shalt not steal;

• Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor; and

• Thou shalt not covet.

• Requires the following statements to be displayed near any poster or document listing the Ten Commandments: (Sec. 2):

• The 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;

• The 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 early 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; and

• The Ten Commandments also appeared in textbooks published by Noah Webster, which were widely used in American public schools along with America’s first comprehensive dictionary that Webster also published. His work, "Letters to a Young Gentleman Commencing His Education: To Which is Subjoined a Brief History of the United States," was among works that together sold more than one hundred million copies for use by public school children all across the nation and was still available for use in American public schools in the year 1975.

• Authorizes school districts to display the Mayflower Compact, the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and other documents that are the foundation of the legal government systems (Sec. 3).

• Requires the South Dakota Board of Education Standards to publish on the website of the Department of Education, a list of documents that are fundamental in the legal government system. (Sec. 3).

• Authorizes the school district to accept donated displays as long as they meet the requirements (Sec. 4).

• Amends the instruction of the Constitution and governments of the United States in school curriculum and (Sec. 5):

• Requires that instruction must cover the following:

• The Constitution of the United States;

• The Constitution of this state;

• The Declaration of Independence;

• The Bill of Rights;

• The Ten Commandments, presented as a historical legal document; and

• Other documents foundational to the legal and governmental systems of the United States and this state, as determined by the South Dakota Board of Education Standards.

• Requires that this curriculum be taught once between grades 1-4, once between grades 5-8, and once between grades 9-12 (Sec. 5).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed and included in the school curriculum.

Highlights:

• Requires the Ten Commandments be displayed in each classroom in each school (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that the display must be at least 8 x 14 inches and that the Ten Commandments must be the focus of the display, printed in a large and easily readable font (Sec. 1).

• Requires that the text of the Ten Commandments be as follows (Sec. 1): 

• I AM the Lord your God, thou shalt have no other gods before me;

• Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image;

• Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain;

• Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy;

• Honor thy father and mother;

• Thou shalt not murder;

• Thou shalt not commit adultery;

• Thou shalt not steal;

• Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor; and

• Thou shalt not covet.

• Requires the following statements to be displayed near any poster or document listing the Ten Commandments: (Sec. 2):

• The 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;

• The 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 early 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; and

• The Ten Commandments also appeared in textbooks published by Noah Webster, which were widely used in American public schools along with America’s first comprehensive dictionary that Webster also published. His work, "Letters to a Young Gentleman Commencing His Education: To Which is Subjoined a Brief History of the United States," was among works that together sold more than one hundred million copies for use by public school children all across the nation and was still available for use in American public schools in the year 1975.

• Authorizes school districts to display the Mayflower Compact, the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and other documents that are the foundation of the legal government systems (Sec. 3).

• Requires the South Dakota Board of Education Standards to publish on the website of the Department of Education, a list of documents that are fundamental in the legal government system. (Sec. 3).

• Authorizes the school district to accept donated displays as long as they meet the requirements (Sec. 4).

• Amends the instruction of the Constitution and governments of the United States in school curriculum and (Sec. 5):

• Requires that instruction must cover the following:

• The Constitution of the United States;

• The Constitution of this state;

• The Declaration of Independence;

• The Bill of Rights;

• The Ten Commandments, presented as a historical legal document; and

• Other documents foundational to the legal and governmental systems of the United States and this state, as determined by the South Dakota Board of Education Standards.

• Requires that this curriculum be taught once between grades 1-4, once between grades 5-8, and once between grades 9-12 (Sec. 5).

Full Bill Text