Dan Patrick Put Government in Your Kid's Classroom

Conservatives have spent decades warning Texans about government in the classroom. Bureaucrats deciding what your kids see. The state overriding local schools and parents. Then Dan Patrick's Senate did exactly that — and called it a victory.

Senate Bill 3 wasn't it. This one is Senate Bill 10, and its official caption is plain: a bill "relating to the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms." Translation: the state of Texas now reaches into every public school classroom and tells local districts what they must hang on the wall.

A mandate, not a choice

Read the caption again. This isn't "schools may." It's the state directing what goes in the room. SB 10 passed the Texas Senate — the chamber Dan Patrick presides over and runs with an iron grip — and became law, effective September 1, 2025. Whatever you think about the Ten Commandments, ask the conservative question: since when does Austin get to dictate the walls of your kid's classroom?

The principle Patrick abandoned

For years the pitch was local control and parental rights. Trust families. Trust the district down the street, not the politicians in the Capitol. SB 10 throws that out. It takes the decision away from your local school board, away from your local parents, and hands it to the same Lieutenant Governor who decided he knew better than 50,000 Texans with hemp jobs.

A government big enough to mandate the posters in your child's classroom is big enough to mandate the next thing too. That's not a slippery-slope hypothetical. That's the bill he just passed.

Who pays when the lawyers show up

Mandates like this don't stay on the wall. They land in court, and it's local Texas school districts — already stretched thin — that get stuck defending a fight Dan Patrick picked for them. He gets the headline. Your neighborhood school gets the legal bill.

There's a better way to represent Texas

Texas has an election in 2026, and Dan Patrick's seat is on the ballot. Vikki Goodwin (D, Texas House District 47) believes the people closest to your kids — parents and local schools — should make these calls, not a Lieutenant Governor chasing his next culture-war trophy. If you believe in limited government, vote like it.