The Texas Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act and the Establishment Clause
Melissa Rogers, 42 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 939 (2009)
In 2007, the state of Texas enacted the “Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act” (“RVAA”), a statute that addresses religious expression in public elementary and secondary schools. The statute includes a provision requiring Texas schools to establish “a limited public forum for student speakers at all school events at which a student is to publicly speak,” and prohibiting schools from discriminating against religious viewpoints in this context. Thus, the RVAA requires public elementary and secondary schools to create a multitude of opportunities for prayers or proselytizing from the state’s podium during school events that students are required or encouraged to attend. As a result, the RVAA raises Establishment Clause issues and creates large litigation risks for Texas public schools. Texas legislators should address these problems, and policymakers from other states should reject overtures to adopt legislation similar to the RVAA. At the same time, state policymakers should mandate and fund training on religion-clause issues for teachers and other school officials in order to advance a better understanding of these issues. Further, given the important role religion has played and continues to play in shaping ideas and institutions in our nation and world, schools must do more to find constitutional ways to ensure that the topic of religion is discussed, not dodged, in public education.
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