Editor’s note: Transcript provided by CoverGov.
Grapevine-Colleyville school district trustees at their Feb. 23 meeting will consider a resolution regarding prayer and reading of the Bible or religious texts during the school day for students and staff. The district staff is recommending the board not pass the resolution.
The 89th Texas Legislature in June 2025 passed Senate Bill 11, which requires school district trustees to take a public vote by March 1 on whether to establish the designated prayer period in public schools.
Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Mansfield, Lake Worth, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw and Castleberry school boards voted no, while Keller and Aledo have adopted a prayer period.
“Students have well-established rights to engage in religious expression on school grounds,” the Grapevine-Colleyville administration said in a report to trustees ahead of their vote.
“Students are free to continue exercising these rights, accordingly, the administration recommends that the board decline to adopt a resolution pursuant to Senate Bill 11, and instead will review board policy for potential further modification,” the staff said.
If a school board decides to adopt such a resolution, it must follow provisions including:
To participate in the period of prayer and religious text reading, a student’s parents must submit a signed consent, waiving their right to bring a legal claim on a violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The prayer and religious text reading must not be provided in the physical presence, or within the hearing range, of a person for whom a signed consent was not made.
No use of the public address systems can be used for the activity.
Instructional time must not be disrupted.
The posted Grapevine-Colleyville ISD resolution, if the trustees were to approve it, also includes:
“With the logistical complexities of determining the students that have approval from their parents and monitoring students to ensure the rules involving separation, etc. are not violated, the administration does not recommend that the board adopt such a resolution.”
State law, federal law and GCISD board policy allow students to engage in prayer, reading of religious texts, and religious expression on school property and during the school day. The legal authority states:
“A public school student has an absolute right to individually, voluntarily, and silently pray or meditate in school in a manner that does not disrupt the instructional or other activities of the school.”
The board’s local policy provides that students may organize prayer groups, religious clubs, “see you at the pole” gatherings, and other religious gatherings, before, during and after school to the same extent that students are permitted to organize other noncurricular student groups.
To learn more about how the transcript that informed this report was created, visit covergov.com.
Eric Zarate is a freelance journalist. If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at news@fortworthreport.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
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