Tag: senate bill 11

Grapevine-Colleyville school board trustees voted unanimously Monday night to reject Senate Bill 11, which requires districts to vote before March 1 on whether to provide a period of time for prayer and reading of religious texts during the school day.

The bill would require parents who want their kids to participate to waive their right to sue the school district for violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which blocks the government from establishing a religion.

The board members said they voted against the prayer period because of the amount of work it would create for the schools when students are already able to pray at their own discretion on campuses.

Trustee Matt Foust, said that he thinks the bill was “well-intentioned” but is “misguided” for many reasons.

“I also think that this unnecessarily invades on the parent’s role in providing that guidance and faith, one that I hold dearly,” Foust said.

Other restrictions include that the prayer and religious text cannot be provided in the physical presence of or within the hearing of students whose guardians have not signed a consent form.

“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,” staff wrote in the agenda item. “State law, federal law, and GCISD Board Policy allow students to engage in prayer, reading of religious text and religious expression on school property and during the school day.”

GCISD joined other Tarrant County districts that rejected the prayer option, including Lake Worth, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Arlington, Mansfield, Northwest, Kennedale and Everman .

Both Keller and Aledo schools have voted in favor of adopting the prayer period, with the Keller trustees vote of 4-3 becoming contentious during debate.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said in a release on Monday that it’s important for schools to be neutral when it comes to religion.

“School districts should reject S.B. 11 because inviting state-organized prayer into public schools will only cause division, pressure students to conform, and distract schools from their core educational mission,” said Caro Achar, engagement coordinator for free speech at the ACLU of Texas in the statement. “This law risks violating students’ and families’ constitutional rights and blurring the critical separation between church and state. Texas students already have robust rights to pray or read religious texts during their own time during the school day. “

Howard Rosenthal, associate director of the Jewish Federation of Fort Worth and the former president of Beth Israel in Colleyville, said the wording of the bill is ambiguous about which religious texts and versions are allowed.

“I feel it is wrong to allow school staff to encourage students to pray or not to pray in any way that may contradict their families beliefs and practices,” Rosenthal said. “ Injecting the school into the mix can and surely will cause difficulties and confusion.”

Rosenthal said students may feel compelled to participate because of peer pressure.

“Decisions about whether, when or how to pray and read scripture should be left to parents, students themselves and faith communities,” he said.

Adrian Higginbotham, a parent against prayer periods, said schools already provide opportunities for prayer.

“Our teachers are already battling for every minute of instruction time to meet state standards,” Higginbotham said. “Carving out a specific block of the school day for this purpose is inherently disruptive to educational flow and creates an unnecessary burden for teachers and staff.”

Sayeda Syed, a resident of GCISD said the district is very diverse and passing the consideration would “open a pandoras box.”

Syed said if it passed the board should not be surprised if her kids bring their religious books to school.

“Now this is the time to give this choice to the parents,” Saeed said. “We have Saturday school, Sunday school to teach our kids.”

Beverly Mavis, a resident, said voting in favor of the prayer period would be another intrusion by GCISD board members

“I would hope that the same board members who ran on parental rights, the need for parent control over student academic choices and teaching morals and values at home as the optimum situation would recognize the imposition of religious activities such as prayer time as part of the daily school structure violates those very principles,” Mavis said.

Fort Worth ISDs administrators also recommended not adopting the period ahead of its board meeting, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

This story was originally published February 23, 2026 at 10:46 PM.