Education Department issues guidance on prayer
2/18/03 -- Schools must allow students to pray outside the classroom and allow teachers to hold religious meetings among themselves or risk the loss of federal funds, according to guidelines issued by the U.S. Education Department Feb. 7.
The document builds on the department's guidelines issued in 1998 and summarizes the consensus of federal appeals courts on issues that have surfaced since then.
"The difference is that in situations where there is still a split in the circuits, the department appears to have taken the side of the more conservative right," says NSBA General Counsel Julie Underwood. "Our concern is that school boards will continue to be faced with legal challenges from both conservative religious and liberal sectors of their communities."
For example, the guidelines allow students to make a religious statement or pray during graduation ceremonies if they are selected "on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain control over the content of their expression" and "that expression is not attributable to the school."
The various U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals have adopted different rules concerning whether allowing such speech violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, Underwood says. "A school in Tampa, Fla., or Amarillo, Texas, that follows the guidance and permits religious speech at graduation should have no problem, while a school in Phoenix, Ariz., or Anchorage, Alaska, that follows the guidance might be vulnerable to a lawsuit by the ACLU."
The guidelines suggest schools avoid controversy by issuing disclaimers clarifying that these speeches do not represent the school. However, school districts that had issued such disclaimers had been found by the 9th and 3rd Circuits to have violated the Establishment Clause.
The guidelines recognize that teachers may not lead prayers in class, but they allow teachers to "take part in religious activities where the overall context makes clear that they are not participating in their official capacities."
For example, teachers may meet with one another for "prayer or Bible study" before school or after lunch "to the same extent that they may engage in other conversation or nonreligious activities."
Among other key points in the guidelines:
• Students may pray "when not engaged in school activities or instruction." They may read Bibles, say grace before meals, and pray with other students during recess, lunch, or other non-instructional times.
• Students may organize prayer groups or religious clubs to the same extent that students are permitted to organize other non-curricular student groups.
• Teachers may neither encourage nor discourage students from praying during "moments of silence."
• Students may express their religious beliefs in homework or artwork. Such work should be judged on academic standards, and students should be neither penalized nor rewarded on the basis of religious content.
"The guidance provides useful clarification for state departments of education and local school districts in some areas," says NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant. "But it raises questions in many other areas."
"Unfortunately, any time there is a lack of clarity in guidance, there is confusion and a possible increase in complaints from the public and litigation," Bryant says. "For local school districts, that generally means taking dollars away from educational services to cover additional administrative and legal costs."
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| Reproduced with permission from the Feb. 18, 2003, issue of School Board News. Copyright © 2003, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789. |