As SB 11 sponsor and state Senator Mayes Middleton (R-District 11) recently told American Family Radio, "Our schools are not God-free zones."
He said everyone knows that "we are worse off" since prayer was taken out of schools in the 1960s.
He wants to amend the Texas Education Code to allow school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to implement a period of prayer and reading of religious texts during the school day. His bill permits schools to adopt this policy through a board resolution and requires signed consent forms from employees and students (or their guardians). The consent forms include an express waiver of legal claims under state or federal law, including First Amendment Establishment Clause claims.
Prayer and reading time would be voluntary. Students do not have to participate. The same goes for faculty members. Still, critics bring up "separation of church and state" when bills such as this appear in legislatures.
"There's no such thing as separation of church and state," said Middleton. "That is a false doctrine. It was a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists; it's nowhere in the Constitution. At the end of the day, this is about exercise of our First Amendment rights."
The bill has already passed the Texas Senate, and it is scheduled for a floor vote in the House sometime within the next week.
Given the chance, Middleton thinks Governor Greg Abbot (R-Texas) would sign it into law.
