Letter of President Clinton and Secretary
of Education Richard Riley
UNITED
STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
THE
SECRETARY
"...Schools do more than train
children's minds. They also help to nurture their souls by reinforcing the
values they learn at home and in their communities. I believe that one of the
best ways we can help out schools to do this is by supporting students' rights
to voluntarily practice their religious beliefs, including prayer in
schools.... For more than 200 years, the First Amendment has protected our
religious freedom and allowed many faiths to flourish in our homes, in our work
place and in our schools. Clearly understood and sensibly applied, it
works."
President
Clinton
May
30, 1998
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear American Educator,
Almost three years ago, President
Clinton directed me, as U.S. Secretary of Education, in consultation with the
Attorney General, to provide every public school district in America with a
statement of principles addressing the extent to which religious expression and
activity are permitted in our public schools. In accordance with the
President's directive, I sent every school superintendent in the country
guidelines on Religious Expression in Public Schools in August of 1995.
The purpose of promulgating these
presidential guidelines was to end much of the confusion regarding religious
expression in our nation's public schools that had developed over more than
thirty years since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1962 regarding state
sponsored school prayer. I believe that these guidelines have helped school
officials, teachers, students and parents find a new common ground on the
important issue of religious freedom consistent with constitutional requirements.
In July of 1996, for example, the Saint
Louis School Board adopted a district wide policy using these guidelines. While
the school district had previously allowed certain religious activities, it had
never spelled them out before, resulting in a lawsuit over the right of a
student to pray before lunch in the cafeteria. The creation of a clearly
defined policy using the guidelines allowed the school board and the family of
the student to arrive at a mutually satisfactory settlement.
In a case decided last year in a United
States District Court in Alabama, (Chandler v. James) involving student
initiated prayer at school related events, the court instructed the DeKalb
County School District to maintain for circulation in the library of each
school a copy of the presidential guidelines.
The great advantage of the presidential
guidelines, however, is that they allow school districts to avoid contentious
disputes by developing a common understanding among students, teachers, parents
and the broader community that the First Amendment does in fact provide ample
room for religious expression by students while at the same time maintaining
freedom from government sponsored religion.
The development and use of these
presidential guidelines were not and are not isolated activities. Rather, these
guidelines are part of an ongoing and growing effort by educators and America's
religious community to find a new common ground. In April of 1995, for example,
thirty-five religious groups issued "Religion in the Public Schools: A
Joint Statement of Current Law" that the Department drew from in
developing its own guidelines. Following the release of the presidential
guidelines, the National PTA and the Freedom Forum jointly published in 1996
"A Parent's Guide to Religion in the Public Schools" which put the
guidelines into an easily understandable question and answer format.
In the last two years, I have held
three religious-education summits to inform faith communities and educators
about the guidelines and to encourage continued dialogue and cooperation within
constitutional limits. Many religious communities have contacted local schools
and school systems to offer their assistance because of the clarity provided by
the guidelines. The United Methodist Church has provided reading tutors to many
schools, and Hadassah and the Women's League for Conservative Judaism have both
been extremely active in providing local schools with support for summer
reading programs.
The guidelines we are releasing today
are the same as originally issued in 1995, except that changes have been made
in the sections on religious excusals and student garb to reflect the Supreme
Court decision in Boerne v. Flores declaring the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act unconstitutional as applied to actions of state and local
governments.
These guidelines continue to reflect
two basic and equally important obligations imposed on public school officials
by the First Amendment. First, schools may not forbid students acting on their
own from expressing their personal religious views or beliefs solely because
they are of a religious nature. Schools may not discriminate against private
religious expression by students, but must instead give students the same right
to engage in religious activity and discussion as they have to engage in other
comparable activity. Generally, this means that students may pray in a
nondisruptive manner during the school day when they are not engaged in school
activities and instruction, subject to the same rules of order that apply to
other student speech.
At the same time, schools may not
endorse religious activity or doctrine, nor may they coerce participation in
religious activity. Among other things, of course, school administrators and teachers
may not organize or encourage prayer exercises in the classroom. Teachers,
coaches and other school officials who act as advisors to student groups must
remain mindful that they cannot engage in or lead the religious activities of
students.
And the right of religious expression
in school does not include the right to have a "captive audience"
listen, or to compel other students to participate. School officials should not
permit student religious speech to turn into religious harassment aimed at a student
or a small group of students. Students do not have the right to make repeated
invitations to other students to participate in religious activity in the face
of a request to stop.
The statement of principles set forth
below derives from the First Amendment. Implementation of these principles, of
course, will depend on specific factual contexts and will require careful
consideration in particular cases.
In issuing these revised guidelines I
encourage every school district to make sure that principals, teachers,
students and parents are familiar with their content. To that end I offer three
suggestions:
First, school districts should use
these guidelines to revise or develop their own district wide policy regarding
religious expression. In developing such a policy, school officials can engage
parents, teachers, the various faith communities and the broader community in a
positive dialogue to define a common ground that gives all parties the
assurance that when questions do arise regarding religious expression the
community is well prepared to apply these guidelines to specific cases. The
Davis County School District in Farmington, Utah, is an example of a school
district that has taken the affirmative step of developing such a policy.
At a time of increasing religious
diversity in our country such a proactive step can help school districts create
a framework of civility that reaffirms and strengthens the community consensus
regarding religious liberty. School districts that do not make the effort to
develop their own policy may find themselves unprepared for the intensity of
the debate that can engage a community when positions harden around a live
controversy involving religious expression in public schools.
Second, I encourage principals and
administrators to take the additional step of making sure that teachers, so
often on the front line of any dispute regarding religious expression, are
fully informed about the guidelines. The Gwinnett County School system in
Georgia, for example, begins every school year with workshops for teachers that
include the distribution of these presidential guidelines. Our nation's schools
of education can also do their part by ensuring that prospective teachers are
knowledgeable about religious expression in the classroom.
Third, I encourage schools to actively
take steps to inform parents and students about religious expression in school
using these guidelines. The Carter County School District in Elizabethton,
Tennessee, included the subject of religious expression in a character
education program that it developed in the fall of 1997. This effort included
sending home to every parent a copy of the "Parent's Guide to Religion in
the Public Schools."
Help is available for those school
districts that seek to develop policies on religious expression. I have
enclosed a list of associations and groups that can provide information to
school districts and parents who seek to learn more about religious expression
in our nation's public schools.
In addition, citizens can turn to the U.S. Department of Education
web site (http://www.ed.gov) for information about the guidelines and other
activities of the Department that support the growing effort of educators and
religious communities to support the education of our nation's children.
Finally, I encourage teachers and
principals to see the First Amendment as something more than a piece of dry,
old parchment locked away in the national attic gathering dust. It is a vital
living principle, a call to action, and a demand that each generation reaffirm
its connection to the basic idea that is America — that we are a free
people who protect our freedoms by respecting the freedom of others who differ
from us.
Our history as a nation reflects the
history of the Puritan, the Quaker, the Baptist, the Catholic, the Jew and many
others fleeing persecution to find religious freedom in America. The United
States remains the most successful experiment in religious freedom that the
world has ever known because the First Amendment uniquely balances freedom of
private religious belief and expression with freedom from state-imposed
religious expression.
Public schools can neither foster
religion nor preclude it. Our public schools must treat religion with fairness
and respect and vigorously protect religious expression as well as the freedom
of conscience of all other students. In so doing our public schools reaffirm
the First Amendment and enrich the lives of their students.
I encourage you to share this information
widely and in the most appropriate manner with your school community. Please
accept my sincere thanks for your continuing work on behalf of all of America's
children.
Sincerely,
Richard W. Riley
U.S. Secretary of Education
╪