🚨 In case you missed it: The U.S. Department of Education just released new federal guidance on religion in public schools.
Earlier this month, the Department of Education issued updated guidance on constitutionally protected prayer and religious expression in K–12 schools.
This guidance outlines how districts are expected to interpret:
• Student religious expression
• Staff boundaries
• Religious access to school spaces
Why this matters:
Every time federal guidance like this is updated, we see ripple effects at the local level — especially in how schools interpret neutrality vs. endorsement.
And in our work tracking Released Time Religious Instruction nationwide, we’ve seen how confusion around these lines can shape real decisions inside school districts.
You can read the official guidance here:
🔗 https://www.ed.gov/media/document/2026-guidance-constitutionally-protected-prayer-and-religious-expression-public-elementary-and-secondary-schools-113182.pdf
What people are saying:
- Facebook User: The guidance above has me rather concerned… It explicitly calls for the allowance of school personnel to be allowed to pray while on the clock and in front of students. However, it doesn’t acknowledge the inherent power dynamic between a teacher/coach and students. If an entire class is voluntarily praying with a coach at a game, for example, does a non-participating athlete feel some level of compulsion or pressure to join in, even if that behavior is not part of the athlete’s faith tradition (or lack thereof)?
Leave a Reply