North East ISD and the New Braunfels ISD unanimously rejected state a policy that would enable school campuses to provide a daily period of prayer, Texas Public Radio and the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung report.
Trustees at both districts shot down the policy at Monday night school board meetings, citing parental authority and the constitutional right of freedom of religion.
In accordance with Senate Bill 11, passed during last year’s legislative session, Texas public school boards have until March 1 to vote whether to adopt a similar resolution. The Republican-backed law would set up a designated period for prayer and religious reading during each school day for students and employees.
Students who participate would need to show written consent from their parents. SB 11 also requires strict physical and auditory separation from non-participating students.
NEISD attorney Rick Lopez and several district trustees argued the bill is redundant with current student code, which already allows pupils and faculty to pray in schools on their own time throughout the day, TPR reports.
“What the bill is asking you to consider is whether you want to dedicate a specific period of time during your school day to accomplish this. That’s it,” he said.
New Braunfels trustee Kim Goodwin added that it’s up to parents — not schools — to dictate the religious upbringing of their child.
“I strongly believe parents and not school boards should decide how and when their children receive religious instruction,” Goodwin said ahead of her vote at Monday’s school board meeting, the New Braunfels Herald Zeitung reports. “For these reasons and out of respect for parental rights and local control, I will be voting nay.”
More than 160 faith leaders across the state urged school boards not to adopt the policy, arguing that it violates First Amendment protections against the merging of church and state.
“I’m wary any time the government gets involved,” Rabbi Gideon Estes, head rabbi of Congregation Or Ami in Houston, told the Houston Chronicle. “There isn’t a problem of students not being able to pray while they’re at school.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas also argues the bill tries to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, creating more problems — and a legal quagmire — in the process.
“School districts should reject SB 11 because inviting state-organized prayer into public schools will only cause division, pressure students to conform and distract schools from their core educational mission,” Caro Achar, engagement coordinator for free speech at the ACLU of Texas, said in an emailed statement.
“This law risks violating students’ and families’ constitutional rights and blurring the critical separation between church and state,” Achar continued. “Texas students already have robust rights to pray or read religious texts during their own time during the school day. Texas public schools should be places where all students — regardless of faith or background — can learn, grow, and thrive.”
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