Trump's week in review: Nat'l Prayer Breakfast, TrumpRx, guidance on religious expression in public schools
4. Department of Education unveils guidance on rights to religious expression in schools
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education published a document outlining students' and teachers' religious rights and freedoms in public schools, titled “Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer and Religious Expression in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools.”
“Under current Supreme Court precedent interpreting the First Amendment’s Free Speech, Free Exercise, and Establishment Clauses, all members of a public school community have a constitutional right to religious expression in public schools, including a right to engage in prayer, so long as the school does not compel others to participate in or otherwise affirm that religious expression, and so long as the individuals in question do not engage in such religious expression as part of the official activity of the school itself,” the guidance states.
The guidance clarifies that “Public schools must permit students to pray privately and quietly by themselves, whether in class, at an athletic event, or before a meal” and “pray in a speaking voice on the same terms as any other student might engage in non-religious speech” while stressing that “Schools need not allow students to pray in ways that violate ordinary class rules and interrupt class instruction.”
“Students also may dress in accordance with their religious faith,” the guidance states. “No public school, teacher, or school official should ever coerce or pressure a student to engage in speech or affirm a viewpoint that would violate the student’s sincere religious beliefs.”
Additional protections in the guidance include allowing religious student groups, allowing students to engage in religious expression in school assignments and at school events and permitting school employees to engage in religious expression, provided they don't coerce or force students to join them.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
