Know Your Rights: Trump Administration Issues New Guidelines To Protect Student Prayer and Religious Expression

The Trump Administration just issued new guidelines to protect prayer and religious expression in public schools. The Administration’s new guidance marks a significant reversal of Biden-era guidance that minimized the constitutional rights of public school students, parents, and employees.

This time, the Trump Administration left no stone unturned. First and foremost, the guidance reminds all public-school stakeholders of the “larger legal framework governing the relationship between public schools and matters of religious faith.” Three years ago, the Biden Administration would have preferred that the robust case law on this issue be forgotten.

Several notable changes include clarification that “a public school cannot require a student to adopt a particular viewpoint in order to be recognized by the school if the viewpoint violates the student members’ religious beliefs. School officials also cannot express hostility toward religious student groups by demeaning their beliefs.” (Emphasis added.) In other words, the school cannot require a student religious club to affirm or accept cultural trends that directly violate religious tenets and beliefs.

Another welcome change is the affirmation of parental rights. The new guidance emphasizes the rights of parents to participate in public schooling in ways that are consistent with their religious beliefs. This is another refreshing change from Biden-era policies. As the guidance explains:

The Court has, over eighty years, steadily upheld the constitutional rights of parents and their children to participate in public schooling (or not) in ways consistent with those parents’ and students’ sincere understanding of what their religious faith requires. This includes instances when the accommodation conflicts with ordinary school policy or curriculum and thus requires significant effort on the part of the school.

The guidance affirms that “the Court has protected children’s and parents’ religious interests not only from direct coercion but also from indirect burdens, both curricular and cultural, on children’s development and the religiously inflected values of their faith.” It instructs that a public school “may never force or pressure a child to declare or affirm something contrary to his or his family’s religious beliefs.”

In the current climate we find ourselves in, where schools are pushing political and cultural agendas and even incorporating them into the curriculum for students, this guidance is even more important. 

The guidance also specifies that under Section 8524(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, in order for a public school to receive federal funding, it must certify that it does not have policies that infringe on constitutionally protected prayer.

America and its people thrive when government is accepting of the role that religion plays in society. The Trump Administration’s new guidance is a step in the right direction – a return to the rule of law and a win for religious liberty, a concept deeply rooted in our nation’s history and tradition.

Despite the Trump Administration’s guidance, some states and local public schools are adamant about ignoring your rights to religious freedom and speech.

The ACLJ stands ready and will continue to fight to vigilantly protect these rights through education and, where necessary, legal intervention. If you have questions regarding your rights as a student, parent, teacher, or school administrator, you can find helpful information on our website or read our updated white paper: Overview of Student Constitutional Rights. If you believe your religious liberties may have been violated, reach out to us for legal assistance.