State lawmakers passed a bill in the latest legislative session that requires school boards to vote yes or no on adopting a policy for prayer and religious study during the school day for students and staff.
On Tuesday, the Denton ISD school board unanimously decided against passing a resolution to adopt a new policy.
The decision was in response to Senate Bill 11, a bipartisan law that lets school districts set aside time during the school day for prayer and religious study for students and staff. The bill requires every school board to vote on the measure before March.
The bill allows students to maintain their constitutional right to pray, meditate or study religious texts at school, and it also bans any prayer or religious reading over a loudspeaker. But should a district pass a policy designating prayer and religious study time on campus, students can’t pray or study religious texts in the presence of any student who does not have a consent form signed.
The board voted after Denton ISD lawyer Deron Robinson said adopting such a policy could cause problems for religious students and recommended against approving the policy.
“The policy is very explicit on how it has to look, and it would actually put very limiting factors around the times a student could pray, could read scripture,” Robinson said.
Robinson said the policy guidelines in the law includes limitations and constraints. For example, students couldn’t pray or study around others who haven’t consented to be near such activity.
Students have a constitutional right to engage in prayer, religious study and voluntary religious activities as long as they don’t disrupt classes or school activities.
“It would essentially deprive students of a lot of the rights they currently have, to the point where, if I’m being real honest, when you put rules on something, there’s an assumption that you’re going to enforce those rules,” Robinson said. “I think if you had a student who were to pray outside of the designated time to pray, and you were to take issue with it and try to stop them, I don’t think that would hold up to a constitutional challenge.”
The legislation was one of a number of bills designed to bring more religious content into classrooms. In 2021, Texas lawmakers passed a bill requiring schools to post “In God We Trust” signs if they were donated by a private foundation.
Texas’ 89th Legislature passed Senate Bill 10, requiring every public elementary and secondary school in the state to hang posters in each classroom bearing a specific reading of the Ten Commandments if they are donated. The bill also allows schools to purchase posters for their classrooms.
