A U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed the right of a high school football coach to pray on the field after games could play a key role in the passage of a bill that would offer similar protections to Texas school employees.
The Texas State Senate Committee on State Affairs heard testimony Monday on SB 965, a bill filed by State Sen. Tan Parker, a Republican from Flower Mound, aimed at safeguarding the rights of school district and charter school employees to engage in religious speech or prayer while on duty.
The proposed legislation ensures these protections remain intact unless an infringement is deemed “necessary to further a compelling state interest” and is “narrowly tailored using the least restrictive means to achieve that compelling state interest.”
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In presenting SB 965, Parker pointed to the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, where the court upheld the rights of Washington state high school football coach Joe Kennedy, who was fired for praying on the field after games.
“Grounded in the Kennedy decision, Senate Bill 965 codifies the right of school employees to engage in personal religious speech or prayer while on duty,” Parker said. “As established in Kennedy, any infringement shall be analyzed under strict scrutiny.”
Donald Gardner, executive director of the Texas Faith & Freedom Coalition, offered the panel his testimony in support of the bill and pointed to the historical commitment of Baptists to religious liberty in the U.S.
“They would have never intended freedom from religion,” Gardner said, referencing the founders’ rejection of state-enforced religion. “They were coming out of a system where the state established what religion was proper and fitting. … They would not want that at all…
“If there was something in this bill that was compelling religious observance or expression, then obviously that would be a problem. It would be a violation of the very thing our founders meant to establish,” added Gardener. “This simply protects, in fact, the freedom that our founders meant to establish.”
SB 965 is now pending in committee following Monday’s hearing.
Last month, Republican State Sen. Mayes Middleton of Galveston filed SB 11, which would allow public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to adopt policies requiring every campus to provide a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has identified SB 11 as a legislative priority for the 2025 legislative session.
