Magnolia ISD approves daily prayer period under new Texas law, Senate Bill 11, experts expect more rejections

MAGNOLIA, Texas (KTRK) — A deadline is looming for school districts in the state of Texas to decide if they are going to allow a prayer period at school, under Senate Bill 11.

According to our news partners at the Houston Chronicle, so far over a dozen school districts in the greater Houston area have voted against adopting the policy.

The new law allows districts to decide if they want to adopt the policy for the prayer period.

Magnolia ISD is now the first district in the area to adopt the prayer period. The district voted unanimously at its Feb. 9 board meeting and told ABC13 that the decision reflects its core values and traditions in the community.

The district acknowledged during its board meeting that there’s already a designated minute of meditation each day for students and staff to pray if they want to.

“There’s a lot that students and teachers can do under existing law without this new bill, S.B. 11. You can pray privately, you can pray in a group at lunch, for example,” said University of Houston Law Professor Seth Chandler, adding that the requirements may be difficult for districts to meet.

“It’s going to require the consent of students; a lot of forms being filled out,” Chandler said. “There can’t be anyone in earshot that objects to the prayer, and I’m just wondering, how does that work where you have employees of diverse religious backgrounds, students of diverse religious backgrounds? You may have people who want to learn the Quran.”

He said that, in addition to accommodating different religions and consent forms for everyone, the period cannot fall during instructional time.

“It’s a new bill that’s designed to take advantage of some Supreme Court rulings that are loosening up restrictions on the Establishment Clause. But what I see from the bill is that in the effort to make it constitutional, they may have made it pretty impractical for most schools to actually implement,” Chandler said.

Magnolia ISD said prayer logistics and implementation will happen over the summer, before the next school year.

Districts throughout the state have until March 1 to adopt the policy.

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