A bill passed by Texas lawmakers would allow teachers and school employees to pray or engage in religious speech while on duty in public schools.
Senate Bill 965, which passed with a 22-9 party-line vote in the Republican-led chamber, states “the right of an employee of a school district or open-enrollment charter school to engage in religious speech or prayer while on duty may not be infringed on by the district or school or another state governmental entity” with narrow exceptions.
Currently, Texas law affirms the right of public school students to pray in public schools as long as participation in that prayer is voluntary, stating that “a person may not require, encourage, or coerce a student to engage in or refrain from such prayer or meditation during any school activity.” The Texas Education Code (TEC) also establishes a school district’s ability to institute a “period of silence” at the start of the first class of each school day, during which a student may have the opportunity to “reflect or meditate” as they see fit.
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The legislation, authored by Republican state Sen. Tan Parker of Flower Mound, comes in the wake of a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which affirmed a Washington high school football coach’s right to pray on the field during and after games, citing protections under the First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Free Speech clauses.
If passed, SB 965 would enable any school employee to join students in prayer or meditation.
Democratic opponents of the bill, like state Sen. Nathan Johnson of Dallas, argue that the Kennedy v. Bremerton ruling makes the passage of SB 965 unnecessary.
“I submit that Senate Bill 965 is not merely trying to codify a Supreme Court ruling,” Johnson said during the debate Tuesday. “If we were just codifying a ruling, we wouldn’t need a bill, because it’s already the law of the land.”
The bill now heads to the Texas House of Representatives for further consideration.
Parker says that SB 965 simply codifies this ruling into Texas law and “aligns with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision supporting public school employees’ religious freedoms.” SB 965 is part of a broader push by Republican lawmakers in Texas to expand the role of religion in public schools. Other bills awaiting action in the Texas House include measures to require the display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom and to permit prayer or Bible readings during the school day.
In February, Republican state Sen. Phil King introduced a bill that would require public schools to display the Ten Commandments and mandate time during the school day specifically for students to read the Bible.
Oklahoma recently joined Texas with legislation to introduce prayer into classrooms, a move met by the Wisconsin-based atheist legal group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which sent a cease-and-desist demand letter to Achille Public Schools last December over a policy that allows students to say prayers during morning announcements.
