Texas law orders “In God We Trust” signs displayed in schools, but where they go is up for debate

After being donated by a locally-owned wireless provider, signs saying “In God We Trust” will now be placed in Carroll ISD schools, located in Texas. The Carroll Independent School District received signs as a donation by Patriot Mobile, which labels itself a Christian conservative wireless provider and they will now be hung in CISD schools. Schools are required to display signs or posters bearing the national motto in a conspicuous place provided that the signs were donated to the school or bought with private donations, according to a state law passed in 2021.

The chief marketing officer for the carrier, Scott Coburn said: “Patriot Mobile is honored to donate these posters to CISD, and we are very excited to see them amongst all of our schools.” Three people spoke in favor of the signs, during a night’s school board meeting, with no opposition during the presentation to the panel, said NBCDFW.  But concerns were raised by the Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition. Anya Kushwaha, who is their founder, says the law is a disturbing dissolution between the separation of church and state, as she told NBC 5.

Anya Kushwaha, co-founder of the Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition said: “I feel like they don’t have a choice right now to put them up, but hopefully this will spark larger conversations about having more freedom of expression, so if they are allowed to put up signs like this there should be no reasons that other students or people can’t put up signs that have different messaging.”

In 1956, the national motto, “In God We Trust,” was signed into law by President Eisenhower and, several times since, reaffirmed by Congress as the nation’s official motto, as recently as 2011. The sign or poster must contain a representation of the United States flag centered under the national motto and a representation of the state flag; and may not depict any words, images, or other information other than the representations listed in Subdivision (1), according to SB797.