As the school year begins, many parents, students, teachers, and coaches have questions about what they’re legally allowed to do in relation to their Christian faith. Below is information related to grades K–12, taken from various resources that provide a broad overview of what is and isn’t allowed in public schools.
Expression of Religious Belief
Students can express their religious beliefs in classroom discussions, homework, projects, artwork, and all other school assignments so long as it’s relevant and meets the requirements of the assignment.
Schools cannot prohibit, punish, or give a lower grade to a student who includes religious viewpoints in a class assignment.
Teachers aren’t allowed to issue assignment instructions that prohibit the discussion of religious beliefs, religious figures, or Bible passages, nor are school officials allowed to tell students they cannot reference religion in an assignment or include religious images in pictures or artwork.
First Amendment Rights
Federal law clearly states a student, teacher, school administrator, or other school employee of an elementary school or secondary school retains the individual’s rights under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States during the school day or while on the grounds of an elementary school or secondary school.
Literature Distribution and Posting
The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized that the First Amendment protects not only the spoken word but also the distribution of literature, pamphlets, and other written materials. These materials provide an effective and nonintrusive way for Christian students to share their faith or pro-life beliefs with their classmates.
Students can distribute religious literature before and after school, between classes, and during lunch and recess unless the distribution substantially interferes with the activity of the school. They have the right to post religious flyers on walls or in other designated locations if students have the right to post other nonreligious content in the same locations.
Schools can impose reasonable limits on literature distribution, such as the time, place, and manner of distribution, but those limits cannot be so restrictive that they’d effectively ban literature distribution by students.
Schools cannot completely ban literature distribution by students, prohibit written materials because they’re religious or proselytizing, or enact policies that give school officials the ability to prohibit materials they subjectively find to be “offensive” or “inconsistent with the school’s educational mission.”
Opting Out
Opting out is the act of exercising your parental right to prevent your child from participating in certain types of instruction. Opting out is a formal process that typically requires written notification or completion of an opt-out form distributed by your school. In general, the range of areas where a parent has the right to opt out is narrow, including the areas of sex education and corporal punishment.
The courts have generally ruled that while parents have the broad right to determine their child’s education, that right doesn’t extend to choosing the curriculum within the public school. The issue varies by state, though, so you should check to see what opt-out options are allowed in your area. Parents are generally allowed to opt out of instruction or activities that would require them to violate the family’s religious beliefs.
Currently, all 50 states require vaccination for chicken pox, diphtheria, measles, mumps, pertussis, polio, rubella, and tetanus. Although exemptions vary from state to state, all school immunization laws grant exemptions to children for medical reasons. There are 45 states and Washington D.C. that grant religious exemptions for people who have religious objections to immunizations. Currently, 15 states allow philosophical exemptions for children whose parents object to immunizations because of personal, moral or other beliefs.
The exceptions at the federal level are for standardized tests and surveys. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) allows parents to refuse testing, while the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) requires public schools to notify parents and obtain consent or allow you to opt your child out of participating in certain school activities. These activities include a student survey, analysis, or evaluation that concerns one or more of the following eight areas:
1. Political affiliations or beliefs of the student or student’s parent
2. Mental or psychological problems of the student or student’s family
3. Sex behavior or attitudes
4. Illegal, antisocial, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior
5. Critical appraisals of others with whom respondents have close family relationships
6. Legally recognized privileged relationships, such as with lawyers, doctors, or ministers
7. Religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent
8. Income, other than as required by law to determine program eligibility
Prayer
Many schools have told students they cannot pray around the flagpole before school or say a blessing over their food in the cafeteria. But the First Amendment protects all forms of religious expression, including prayer at school. Children have the right to pray on their own or in groups during noninstructional time at school as long as it doesn’t significantly disrupt school activity.
Students can engage in student-initiated, student-led prayer before or after practices, sporting events, or other school functions as long as such prayers are voluntary and not required by coaches or other school officials.
Schools cannot stop students from praying individually or in groups without evidence the prayers would significantly disrupt the school environment (for example, making a student late for class). They cannot require students to participate in prayer or any other religious activity.
Watch out for policies that prohibit prayer, proselytizing, or other religious activity during school or at school-sponsored events and for teachers or coaches who stop students from praying over meals or before or after games, practices, or other school events.
Religious Clothing
Students have the right to express their faith through what they wear, such as a pro-life T-shirt or a cross. Schools can place some restrictions on what students can wear, but they can’t single out religious clothing. Students can wear shirts, pants, necklaces, bracelets, and other articles of clothing that display a religious symbol (i.e., cross) or religious message (including a Bible verse) as long as they meet the school’s dress code.
Schools can ban any clothing with a message that (1) materially and substantially interferes with the operation of the school; (2) is lewd, vulgar, or objectively obscene (i.e., contains profanity or sexual content); or (3) promotes violence or drug use.
Schools cannot ban clothing or accessories because their messages are religious or contain a religious symbol or picture or because others may find their religious message, symbol, or picture offensive.
The law is less clear, however, on clothing that’s (1) “religious” or “proselytizing”; (2) “offensive,” “disrespectful,” or restricted by some other subjective criteria; or (3) “promoting the superiority” of one set of beliefs over any other.
Rights of Information and Participation
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are “eligible students.”
- Parents or eligible students have the right to inspect and review the student’s education records maintained by the school. (Schools aren’t required to provide copies of records unless, for reasons such as great distance, it’s impossible for parents or eligible students to review the records. Schools may charge a fee for copies.)
- Parents or eligible students have the right to request that a school correct records they believe to be inaccurate or misleading. If the school decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student then has the right to a formal hearing. After the hearing, if the school still decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student has the right to place a statement with the record setting forth his or her view about the contested information.
- Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student to release any information from a student’s education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):
- School officials with legitimate educational interest
- Other schools to which a student is transferring
- Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes
- Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student
- Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school
- Accrediting organizations
- To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena
- Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies
- State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific state law
- Schools may disclose, without consent, “directory” information such as a student’s name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them.
- Parents have the right to request information about the professional qualifications of the student’s classroom teachers.
- Parents have the right to parent-teacher conferences, reasonable access to staff, and opportunities to volunteer and participate and observe the child’s classroom.
- Parents have the right to information about the level of achievement and academic growth of the student, if applicable and available, on each of the state academic assessments.
Religious Clubs and Community
The First Amendment and the Equal Access Act protect the right of students to form religious clubs at school and to receive the same benefits given to other noncurriculum clubs. Students have the right to form religious clubs and meet on campus if the school allows other noncurriculum clubs (such as a Key Club or Students Against Destructive Decisions). They have equal access to all school facilities, resources, and equipment available to other noncurriculum clubs and are allowed to promote their events and activities in the same manner other noncurriculum clubs are permitted.
Students can invite outside speakers to attend and present at their meetings to the same extent other noncurriculum clubs are allowed, and they can condition membership and leadership positions on the basis of shared values to the same extent other groups can.
Schools cannot deny recognition to a club because it’s religious or deny a club any of the benefits or privileges given to other noncurriculum clubs. They cannot force a religious club to include those who don’t share the group’s values unless they require all groups to be open under an “all comers” policy.
As a service to the community, many schools allow community organizations to distribute informational materials to students and parents regarding the services and activities they provide and to use school facilities for their meetings and activities. Religious groups and churches have a First Amendment right to use these same methods to communicate their message to the public. If a school permits community groups to distribute flyers and literature to students, then religious community groups can distribute written materials on the same terms (e.g., through a take-home flyer program, school website, or literature rack).
Religious community groups can use the facilities for meetings, worship services, student clubs, and other activities if a school permits community groups to use school facilities before or after school for meetings or events.
Schools cannot ban churches from distributing flyers promoting church-sponsored events while permitting nonreligious community groups to promote their activities to students, nor can they ban religious community groups from using school facilities for their activities if they’ve opened their facilities for use to nonreligious groups.
Speech at Graduation and Sporting Events
Students honored to speak at their graduations are encouraged to reflect on their time in school and acknowledge those who have affected their lives. Many Christian students rightly want to acknowledge God’s work in these speeches or even offer a short prayer. When a school follows the guidelines below, courts have found the First Amendment protects the right of religious students to express their faith at such events.
Schools can designate a time at graduation, sporting events, or other school events for students to speak on a matter of their own choosing as long as (1) neutral criteria are used to select the student speaker (i.e., valedictorian, class president, or randomly selected from a list of eligible students) and (2) no school staff are involved with or review the speech.
Schools cannot designate a time specifically for prayer, nor instruct a student to offer a prayer at graduation or any other school-sponsored event.
Students can express a religious viewpoint (such as reciting a Bible verse, describing how their Christian faith influenced them, or offering a prayer of blessing) when chosen to speak at a graduation ceremony or any other school event or activity on a topic of their choosing.
Teacher and Coach Rights
Teachers, coaches, and other public school officials, acting in their official capacities, may not lead their classes in prayer, devotional readings from the Bible, or other religious activities, nor may school officials use their authority to attempt to persuade or compel students to participate in prayer or other religious activities. School officials aren’t allowed to select public speakers on a basis that favors religious speech.
However, teachers and coaches do have the right to do the following:
1. Engage in religious activities outside of noninstructional time. For example, teachers can form after-school Bible study groups, participate in prayer groups with other adults, and distribute literature to other adults for noncurricular activities on the same terms as all other events and activities.
2. Provide instruction related to religion as part of the curriculum. For example, teachers can use religious information in an objective manner and teach the Bible for its historical, cultural, or literary value.
3. Have some involvement in religious clubs. For example, teachers can allow students and athletes to lead prayer but can’t lead it themselves; exchange religious ideas or even have prayer meetings with one another, provided students aren’t present; and act as a faculty sponsor if all activities are led by students and the teacher or coach is only there to supervise.
Note: If you believe your public school district has violated your parental rights, you can request legal help from Alliance Defending Freedom.