A North Texas school board has unanimously voted to opt out of adopting a new policy that would set aside dedicated time during the school day for prayer and religious study, citing concerns that it could impose unnecessary restrictions on students’ existing constitutional rights.
The decision, made during a Denton Independent School District (ISD) board of trustees meeting on Dec. 9, comes in response to Senate Bill 11 (SB 11), a bipartisan measure passed by the Texas Legislature requiring all school districts to vote on whether to implement such a policy by March 2026. Districts that decline, like Denton ISD, located about 40 miles north of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, face no further obligations under the law.
In a vote on the adoption of a resolution based on SB 11, the Denton ISD board determined that “existing state and federal law … already protects students’ rights to voluntarily pray, read religious texts, express religious viewpoints, and organize religious groups.”
The board also determined such a move was “unnecessary and would impose additional procedural requirements on rights that students already fully possess.”
Denton ISD’s legal counsel, Deron Robinson, advised the board against adoption, warning that the policy’s strict guidelines could limit rather than expand religious expression.
“The policy is very explicit on how it has to look, and it would actually put very limiting factors around the times a student could pray, could read scripture,” Robinson said during the meeting.
He highlighted additional constraints, such as prohibiting prayer or religious study in the presence of students without signed parental consent forms. “It would essentially deprive students of a lot of the rights they currently have, to the point where, if I’m being real honest, when you put rules on something, there’s an assumption that you’re going to enforce those rules,” Robinson said. “I think if you had a student who were to pray outside of the designated time to pray, and you were to take issue with it and try to stop them, I don’t think that would hold up to a constitutional challenge.”
The vote makes Denton ISD the second school district in Texas to decide against implementing SB 11, which allows districts to designate time, such as before the school day or in specific spaces, for prayer or reading religious texts, including the Bible and other texts.
In October, Lytle ISD, located about 10 miles southwest of San Antonio, chose not to adopt SB 11 based on the school board’s stated “desire to preserve students’ maximum flexibility to pray, read scripture, or discuss faith naturally and voluntarily throughout the day — just as the law already allows.”
“Declining SB 11 doesn’t mean we’re against prayer,” the district said in a statement. “It means we’re for individual freedom and every student’s right to live out their beliefs without restriction or separation.”
Under SB 11, participating students and staff are required to sign consent forms acknowledging no objection to the activity and waiving certain legal rights, including claims under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
The law explicitly bans broadcasting prayers over loudspeakers and prohibits using the period as a substitute for instructional time.
Students retain their constitutional rights to pray, meditate, study religious texts, or engage in voluntary religious activities outside any designated period, provided they do not disrupt classes or school operations.
The legislation is part of broader efforts by Texas lawmakers to incorporate more religious elements in public schools. Senate Bill 10 (SB 10), signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in June, required every public school classroom in Texas to prominently display a 16-by-20-inch poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments in a specific English translation.
Last month, a federal judge ordered the removal of Ten Commandments posters in seven school districts, marking the second such injunction against SB 10 since it took effect in September.
