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Organizations that can answer questions on religious expression in public schools
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This information is taken directly and without alteration from:
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
THE SECRETARY
"...Schools do more than
train children's minds. They also help to nurture their souls by
reinforcing the values they learn at home and in their communities. I
believe that one of the best ways we can help out schools to do this is
by supporting students' rights to voluntarily practice their religious
beliefs, including prayer in schools.... For more than 200 years, the
First Amendment has protected our religious freedom and allowed many
faiths to flourish in our homes, in our work place and in our schools.
Clearly understood and sensibly applied, it works."
President Clinton
May 30, 1998
Dear American Educator,
Almost three years ago, President Clinton directed
me, as U.S. Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Attorney
General, to provide every public school district in America with a
statement of principles addressing the extent to which religious
expression and activity are permitted in our public schools. In
accordance with the President's directive, I sent every school
superintendent in the country guidelines on Religious Expression in Public Schools in August of 1995.
The purpose of promulgating these presidential
guidelines was to end much of the confusion regarding religious
expression in our nation's public schools that had developed over more
than thirty years since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1962
regarding state sponsored school prayer. I believe that these
guidelines have helped school officials, teachers, students and parents
find a new common ground on the important issue of religious freedom
consistent with constitutional requirements.
In July of 1996, for example, the Saint Louis
School Board adopted a district wide policy using these guidelines.
While the school district had previously allowed certain religious
activities, it had never spelled them out before, resulting in a
lawsuit over the right of a student to pray before lunch in the
cafeteria. The creation of a clearly defined policy using the
guidelines allowed the school board and the family of the student to
arrive at a mutually satisfactory settlement.
In a case decided last year in a United States District Court in Alabama, (Chandler v. James)
involving student initiated prayer at school related events, the court
instructed the DeKalb County School District to maintain for
circulation in the library of each school a copy of the presidential
guidelines.
The great advantage of the presidential guidelines,
however, is that they allow school districts to avoid contentious
disputes by developing a common understanding among students, teachers,
parents and the broader community that the First Amendment does in fact
provide ample room for religious expression by students while at the
same time maintaining freedom from government sponsored religion.
The development and use of these presidential
guidelines were not and are not isolated activities. Rather, these
guidelines are part of an ongoing and growing effort by educators and
America's religious community to find a new common ground. In April of
1995, for example, thirty-five religious groups issued "Religion in the
Public Schools: A Joint Statement of Current Law" that the Department
drew from in developing its own guidelines. Following the release of
the presidential guidelines, the National PTA and the Freedom Forum
jointly published in 1996 "A Parent's Guide to Religion in the Public
Schools" which put the guidelines into an easily understandable
question and answer format.
In the last two years, I have held three
religious-education summits to inform faith communities and educators
about the guidelines and to encourage continued dialogue and
cooperation within constitutional limits. Many religious communities
have contacted local schools and school systems to offer their
assistance because of the clarity provided by the guidelines. The
United Methodist Church has provided reading tutors to many schools,
and Hadassah and the Women's League for Conservative Judaism have both
been extremely active in providing local schools with support for
summer reading programs.
The guidelines we are releasing today are the same
as originally issued in 1995, except that changes have been made in the
sections on religious excusals and student garb to reflect the Supreme
Court decision in Boerne v. Flores declaring the Religious Freedom Restoration Act unconstitutional as applied to actions of state and local governments.
These guidelines continue to reflect two basic and
equally important obligations imposed on public school officials by the
First Amendment. First, schools may not forbid students acting on their
own from expressing their personal religious views or beliefs solely
because they are of a religious nature. Schools may not discriminate
against private religious expression by students, but must instead give
students the same right to engage in religious activity and discussion
as they have to engage in other comparable activity. Generally, this
means that students may pray in a nondisruptive manner during the
school day when they are not engaged in school activities and
instruction, subject to the same rules of order that apply to other
student speech.
At the same time, schools may not endorse religious
activity or doctrine, nor may they coerce participation in religious
activity. Among other things, of course, school administrators and
teachers may not organize or encourage prayer exercises in the
classroom. Teachers, coaches and other school officials who act as
advisors to student groups must remain mindful that they cannot engage
in or lead the religious activities of students.
And the right of religious expression in school
does not include the right to have a "captive audience" listen, or to
compel other students to participate. School officials should not
permit student religious speech to turn into religious harassment aimed
at a student or a small group of students. Students do not have the
right to make repeated invitations to other students to participate in
religious activity in the face of a request to stop.
The statement of principles set forth below derives
from the First Amendment. Implementation of these principles, of
course, will depend on specific factual contexts and will require
careful consideration in particular cases.
In issuing these revised guidelines I encourage
every school district to make sure that principals, teachers, students
and parents are familiar with their content. To that end I offer three
suggestions:
First, school districts should use these guidelines
to revise or develop their own district wide policy regarding religious
expression. In developing such a policy, school officials can engage
parents, teachers, the various faith communities and the broader
community in a positive dialogue to define a common ground that gives
all parties the assurance that when questions do arise regarding
religious expression the community is well prepared to apply these
guidelines to specific cases. The Davis County School District in
Farmington, Utah,is an example of a school district that has taken the
affirmative step of developing such a policy.
At a time of increasing religious diversity in our
country such a proactive step can help school districts create a
framework of civility that reaffirms and strengthens the community
consensus regarding religious liberty. School districts that do not
make the effort to develop their own policy may find themselves
unprepared for the intensity of the debate that can engage a community
when positions harden around a live controversy involving religious
expression in public schools.
Second, I encourage principals and administrators
to take the additional step of making sure that teachers, so often on
the front line of any dispute regarding religious expression, are fully
informed about the guidelines. The Gwinnett County School system in
Georgia, for example, begins every school year with workshops for
teachers that include the distribution of these presidential
guidelines. Our nation's schools of education can also do their part by
ensuring that prospective teachers are knowledgeable about religious
expression in the classroom.
Third, I encourage schools to actively take steps
to inform parents and students about religious expression in school
using these guidelines. The Carter County School District in
Elizabethton, Tennessee, included the subject of religious expression
in a character education program that it developed in the fall of 1997.
This effort included sending home to every parent a copy of the
"Parent's Guide to Religion in the Public Schools."
Help is available for those school districts that
seek to develop policies on religious expression. I have enclosed a
list of associations and groups that can provide information to school
districts and parents who seek to learn more about religious expression
in our nation's public schools.
In addition, citizens can turn to the U.S. Department of Education web site (http://www.ed.gov)
for information about the guidelines and other activities of the
Department that support the growing effort of educators and religious
communities to support the education of our nation's children.
Finally, I encourage teachers and principals to see
the First Amendment as something more than a piece of dry, old
parchment locked away in the national attic gathering dust. It is a
vital living principle, a call to action, and a demand that each
generation reaffirm its connection to the basic idea that is America --
that we are a free people who protect our freedoms by respecting the
freedom of others who differ from us.
Our history as a nation reflects the history of the
Puritan, the Quaker, the Baptist, the Catholic, the Jew and many others
fleeing persecution to find religious freedom in America. The United
States remains the most successful experiment in religious freedom that
the world has ever known because the First Amendment uniquely balances
freedom of private religious belief and expression with freedom from
state-imposed religious expression.
Public schools can neither foster religion nor
preclude it. Our public schools must treat religion with fairness and
respect and vigorously protect religious expression as well as the
freedom of conscience of all other students. In so doing our public
schools reaffirm the First Amendment and enrich the lives of their
students.
I encourage you to share this information widely
and in the most appropriate manner with your school community. Please
accept my sincere thanks for your continuing work on behalf of all of
America's children.
Sincerely,
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Richard W. Riley
U.S. Secretary of Education
RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Student prayer and religious discussion: The
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment does not prohibit purely
private religious speech by students. Students therefore have the same
right to engage in individual or group prayer and religious discussion
during the school day as they do to engage in other comparable
activity. For example, students may read their Bibles or other
scriptures, say grace before meals, and pray before tests to the same
extent they may engage in comparable nondisruptive activities. Local
school authorities possess substantial discretion to impose rules of
order and other pedagogical restrictions on student activities, but
they may not structure or administer such rules to discriminate against
religious activity or speech.
Generally, students may pray in a nondisruptive
manner when not engaged in school activities or instruction, and
subject to the rules that normally pertain in the applicable setting.
Specifically, students in informal settings, such as cafeterias and
hallways, may pray and discuss their religious views with each other,
subject to the same rules of order as apply to other student activities
and speech. Students may also speak to, and attempt to persuade, their
peers about religious topics just as they do with regard to political
topics. School officials, however, should intercede to stop student
speech that constitutes harassment aimed at a student or a group of
students.
Students may also participate in before or after
school events with religious content, such as "see you at the flag
pole" gatherings, on the same terms as they may participate in other
noncurriculum activities on school premises. School officials may
neither discourage nor encourage participation in such an event.
The right to engage in voluntary prayer or
religious discussion free from discrimination does not include the
right to have a captive audience listen, or to compel other students to
participate. Teachers and school administrators should ensure that no
student is in any way coerced to participate in religious activity.
Graduation prayer and baccalaureates: Under
current Supreme Court decisions, school officials may not mandate or
organize prayer at graduation, nor organize religious baccalaureate
ceremonies. If a school generally opens its facilities to private
groups, it must make its facilities available on the same terms to
organizers of privately sponsored religious baccalaureate services. A
school may not extend preferential treatment to baccalaureate
ceremonies and may in some instances be obliged to disclaim official
endorsement of such ceremonies.
Official neutrality regarding religious activity:
Teachers and school administrators, when acting in those capacities,
are representatives of the state and are prohibited by the
establishment clause from soliciting or encouraging religious activity,
and from participating in such activity with students. Teachers and
administrators also are prohibited from discouraging activity because
of its religious content, and from soliciting or encouraging
antireligious activity.
Teaching about religion: Public schools may not provide religious instruction, but they may teach about
religion, including the Bible or other scripture: the history of
religion, comparative religion, the Bible (or other
scripture)-as-literature, and the role of religion in the history of
the United States and other countries all are permissible public school
subjects. Similarly, it is permissible to consider religious influences
on art, music, literature, and social studies. Although public schools
may teach about religious holidays, including their religious aspects,
and may celebrate the secular aspects of holidays, schools may not
observe holidays as religious events or promote such observance by
students.
Student assignments: Students may express
their beliefs about religion in the form of homework, artwork, and
other written and oral assignments free of discrimination based on the
religious content of their submissions. Such home and classroom work
should be judged by ordinary academic standards of substance and
relevance, and against other legitimate pedagogical concerns identified
by the school.
Religious literature: Students have a right
to distribute religious literature to their schoolmates on the same
terms as they are permitted to distribute other literature that is
unrelated to school curriculum or activities. Schools may impose the
same reasonable time, place, and manner or other constitutional
restrictions on distribution of religious literature as they do on
nonschool literature generally, but they may not single out religious
literature for special regulation.
Religious excusals: Subject to applicable
State laws, schools enjoy substantial discretion to excuse individual
students from lessons that are objectionable to the student or the
students' parents on religious or other conscientious grounds. However,
students generally do not have a Federal right to be excused from
lessons that may be inconsistent with their religious beliefs or
practices. School officials may neither encourage nor discourage
students from availing themselves of an excusal option.
Released time: Subject to applicable State
laws, schools have the discretion to dismiss students to off-premises
religious instruction, provided that schools do not encourage or
discourage participation or penalize those who do not attend. Schools
may not allow religious instruction by outsiders on school premises
during the school day.
Teaching values: Though schools must be
neutral with respect to religion, they may play an active role with
respect to teaching civic values and virtue, and the moral code that
holds us together as a community. The fact that some of these values
are held also by religions does not make it unlawful to teach them in
school.
Student garb: Schools enjoy substantial
discretion in adopting policies relating to student dress and school
uniforms. Students generally have no Federal right to be exempted from
religiously-neutral and generally applicable school dress rules based
on their religious beliefs or practices; however, schools may not
single out religious attire in general, or attire of a particular
religion, for prohibition or regulation. Students may display religious
messages on items of clothing to the same extent that they are
permitted to display other comparable messages. Religious messages may
not be singled out for suppression, but rather are subject to the same
rules as generally apply to comparable messages.
THE EQUAL ACCESS ACT
The Equal Access Act is designed to ensure that,
consistent with the First Amendment, student religious activities are
accorded the same access to public school facilities as are student
secular activities. Based on decisions of the Federal courts, as well
as its interpretations of the Act, the Department of Justice has
advised that the Act should be interpreted as providing, among other
things, that:
General provisions: Student religious groups
at public secondary schools have the same right of access to school
facilities as is enjoyed by other comparable student groups. Under the
Equal Access Act, a school receiving Federal funds that allows one or
more student noncurriculum-related clubs to meet on its premises during
noninstructional time may not refuse access to student religious groups.
Prayer services and worship exercises covered:
A meeting, as defined and protected by the Equal Access Act, may
include a prayer service, Bible reading, or other worship exercise.
Equal access to means of publicizing meetings:
A school receiving Federal funds must allow student groups meeting
under the Act to use the school media -- including the public address
system, the school newspaper, and the school bulletin board -- to
announce their meetings on the same terms as other
noncurriculum-related student groups are allowed to use the school
media. Any policy concerning the use of school media must be applied to
all noncurriculum-related student groups in a nondiscriminatory matter.
Schools, however, may inform students that certain groups are not
school sponsored.
Lunch-time and recess covered: A school
creates a limited open forum under the Equal Access Act, triggering
equal access rights for religious groups, when it allows students to
meet during their lunch periods or other noninstructional time during
the school day, as well as when it allows students to meet before and
after the school day.
Revised May 1998
List of organizations that can answer questions on religious expression in public schools
- Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
- Name: Rabbi David Saperstein
- Address: 2027 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20036
- Phone: (202) 387-2800
- Fax: (202) 667-9070
- Web site: http://www.rj.org/rac/
- American Association of School Administrators
- Name: Andrew Rotherham
- Address: 1801 N. Moore St., Arlington, VA 22209
- Phone: (703) 528-0700
- Fax: (703) 528-2146
- Web site: http://www.aasa.org
- American Jewish Congress
- Name: Marc Stern
- Address: 15 East 84th Street, New York, NY 10028
- Phone: (212) 360-1545
- Fax: (212) 861-7056
- National PTA
- Name: Maribeth Oakes
- Address: 1090 Vermont Ave., NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20005
- Phone: (202) 289-6790
- Fax: (202) 289-6791
- Web site: http://www.pta.org
- Christian Legal Society
- Name: Steven McFarland
- Address: 4208 Evergreen Lane, #222, Annandale, VA 22003
- Phone: (703) 642-1070
- Fax: (703) 642-1075
- Web site: http://www.clsnet.com
- National Association of Evangelicals
- Name: Forest Montgomery
- Address: 1023 15th Street, NW #500, Washington, DC 20005
- Phone: (202) 789-1011
- Fax: (202) 842-0392
- Web site: http://www.nae.net
- National School Boards Association
- Name: Laurie Westley
- Address: 1680 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
- Phone: (703) 838-6703
- Fax: (703) 548-5613
- Web site: http://www.nsba.org
- Freedom Forum
- Name: Charles Haynes
- Address: 1101 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22209
- Phone: (703) 528-0800
- Fax: (703) 284-2879
- Web site: http://www.freedomforum.org
This information last modified January 26, 2000
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