Texas parents demand schools remove ‘In God We Trust’ posters donated by conservative firm

A group of parents is demanding North Texas schools remove posters emblazoned with “In God We Trust” that were donated by a conservative, Christian company.

The Kaplan Law Firm is issuing cease and desist letters to area districts that do not replace those signs with new ones that are being donated by parents, which feature rainbow lettering.

A new Texas statute requiring schools to display posters of the national motto if donated also stipulates that such signs cannot depict words other than “In God We Trust” or images other than the state and American flags.

Recently, Southlake Carroll trustees accepted some posters with the national motto but rejected others.

In August, CISD trustees received a shipment of posters, with the all-capital letters displayed in white, on a blue background, above the American flag. The posters were donated by Patriot Mobile, a Christian wireless provider tied to a political action committee that spent big money to help elect conservatives to North Texas school board seats, including in Southlake.

But those posters also feature light stars in the background, lawyers noted.

The posters from Patriot Mobile are “noncompliant for multiple reasons,” the cease and desist letter states. “It contains no fewer than 31 fully or partially visible five-pointed stars, all of which are prohibited by the plain language of the statute.”

The parents attempted to notify North Texas districts — including Carroll, Keller and Grapevine-Colleyville — of the “noncompliance,” and requested school officials replace any Patriot Mobile posters with compliant ones: posters they provided that include the national motto, with “God” written in rainbow lettering, above the American and Texas flags.

“The Legislature passed this law to set a good example for school children, so we are taking action to ensure schools do just that, and conspicuously display compliant posters that everyone is sure to love, equally,” attorney Trenton Lacy said in a statement.

Carroll school officials said their legal counsel is reviewing the notice. Keller ISD spokesman Bryce Nieman said in a statement that the district also had received the cease and desist request.

“It is our practice not to comment on issues of pending or potential litigation, but our legal counsel will review the request and draft an appropriate response,” he said.

The main goal of the parents’ effort, Keller mom Laney Hawes said, was to “highlight the ridiculousness of the law.”

But the parents, in a joint statement, also emphasized their deep concerns over “hyperpartisan politicians and organizations who intend to turn our children’s classrooms into ground-zero for their political culture wars.”

Beyond the posters, some North Texas school boards also have taken steps recently to limit students’ access to library books and passed policies targeting discussions of race, gender and sexuality.

The fight over these posters has been brewing all month.

Carroll ISD trustees posed for photos with the signs after Patriot Mobile donated them. Company officials touted the gift in a blog post — titled “Putting God Back Into Our Schools” — and said they were just getting started.

Later, they posted that the publicity has brought “additional order requests and to date, we have delivered almost 1,000 posters throughout Texas to be conspicuously displayed in public schools.”

“This has become a movement to bring God back into our schools!” they wrote on Aug. 31. The company could not immediately be reached for comment.

Some students have taken issue with the law. The Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition, for example, labeled the donations a “blatant intrusion of religion in what should be a secular public institution.”

The parent group reiterated that concern during a Friday news conference, saying “our schools cannot be places that prioritize a singular religious ideology.”

Earlier this week, Southlake parent Sravan Krishna attempted to donate “In God We Trust” signs at a Carroll school board meeting, including one poster written in Arabic and others with rainbow lettering. The school board president responded by saying that schools already have enough posters displaying the national motto.

Trustee President Cam Bryan said during the meeting that the district doesn’t have to display more than one copy at a time, so as to not overwhelm campuses.

The Texas statute does not explicitly mention a limit.

But the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, recently sent a letter to Texas Education Agency commissioner Mike Morath clarifying his intent.

Hughes noted that the singular tense in the law conveys that schools only had to hang one donated copy. He added that the requirement applies solely to the national motto as it is written into the law, which is in English.

Krishna was among the parents who attempted to donate alternate signs Friday. He went to the CISD administration with a large cardboard box filled with posters.

“Noncompliant signs cannot stay,” he said. “Rules are rules.”

The group of parents said they’re prepared to escalate their legal fight.

If the districts don’t comply, Lacy wrote, “our clients will be left with no choice but to seek court intervention.”

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