BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — Texas school boards will be required to vote on allowing designated prayer time. The prayer time would be voluntary with parents having the choice of opting their child in.
- Come this Fall, Texas school boards will have the chance to vote on adding planned prayer in public schools, which is generating strong reactions from parents in our community.
- Local schools could add planned prayer time this upcoming school year, but only with school board approval.
- In a statement on behalf of the Bryan ISD Board of Trustees, School Board President David Stasny shared the following with 15 ABC: "We will be discussing the new bill, along with our staff to develop a plan to be in compliance with the law. We will share with our school community and stakeholders when details are finalized."
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"I don't know how they're gonna explore that and I think it's a lot for the teachers to have to impose on children if they opt in and opt out," Miriam Mora, a mother, said.
There's plenty of uncertainty around Texas Senate Bill 11, which will require school boards to vote on allowing designated prayer time. That prayer time is voluntary and parents would have to opt their children in.
"There was always a separation between church and state, but, when it's put in the proper parameters and not forced on anybody, it doesn't make anyone turn away from it," Ken Wiltz, a father, said. "They should just be open, that's the American way."
"We'd opt out," said Mora. "It'd be a big deal for us again cause it's out of our control. I can't be at school day to day to really know what's going on, and I think that it's probably gonna be [very] confusing in the beginning of the year for administrators to even figure out what to do."
It's still unknown exactly how this bill might be implemented.
"If students and teachers already have the right to pray, already have the right to, you know, practice their religion individually in schools, why create this logistical nightmare, and why put more on the plates of already overburdened and under-resourced schools?" Caro Achar, Engagement Coordinator for free speech at American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said.
15 ABC asked Achar if there is always the possibility that if it becomes a planned practice something could go wrong or that some tensions could rise.
"This [is a] real challenge to the first amendment by making it so that this period of prayer is school sanctioned and frequently or potentially risky for students who don't practice a religion or practice a religion that isn't as favored," said Achar.
