The school sought to leave the church because of differences over gay marriage and clergy. The court did not decide whether SMU could be prevented from separating.

The decision, stemming from a 2022 lawsuit, narrows the public’s legal options to challenge Texas officials under the state’s open records law.

The long-awaited vote survived objections from the panel’s most right-leaning Republicans, who criticized the lessons as “un-American woke indoctrination.”