Religious Expression Toolkit for Students

By: National Education Association

Published: July 31, 2024

Religious and ethnic bigotry should have no place in our public schools. The reality, however, is that students of minority faiths and students who do not practice a religion can face significant obstacles at school. Discriminatory treatment, harassment, insensitivity, and exclusion occur all too frequently. We have seen a particularly concerning increase of anti-Muslim and Islamophobic bias, as well as antisemitism and Holocaust denial. And in many places, students who choose not to follow a religion face pressure at school to join in expressions of faith.

A variety of legal protections are available to help address these issues. When they know their rights and how to assert them, students of all faiths (and no faith) can be their authentic selves, adhere to their beliefs, and be free from religious coercion at school. This toolkit provides students and parents with information on these legal protections.

SOURCES OF LEGAL PROTECTIONS FOR RELIGIOUS BELIEF & EXPRESSION

The U.S. Constitution

The First Amendment: Free Speech & Free Exercise of Religion

The Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment protect students’ rights, within certain limits, to engage in private religious practice at school without undue interference from school officials. Students may take part in private religious expression before, during, and after class, as long as they do so at appropriate times and in an appropriate manner. But schools may limit students’ religious expression when it disrupts class, creates disorder, or invades others’ right to be free of religious coercion, as long as the school applies the same rules to religious and nonreligious speech and expression.

The First Amendment: Establishment of Religion

The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause prohibits governmental promotion or favoring of religion in public schools. As a result, public schools and their employees may not coerce students into adopting any religious belief or practice.

Examples of Improper Establishments of Religion at School

Requiring religious practice or education like prayer or Bible readings
Displaying religious texts like the Ten Commandments
Pressuring students into engaging (or declining to engage) in religious practice or any other religious activity

The Fourteenth Amendment: Equal Protection of the Laws

The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the government from treating one religious group differently from another, including in public schools. This constitutional protection underscores that public schools cannot treat religious expression differently from any other expression and cannot favor expression of a particular faith over expressions of other faiths.

State Constitutions

State constitutional provisions may create further protections for student prayer and religious expression in public schools by providing broader safeguards for free speech, explicitly prohibiting discrimination based on religion, or protecting individuals from religion-based harassment. Washington State, for example, guarantees “[a]bsolute freedom of conscience” and promises that “no one shall be molested or disturbed in person or property on account of religion.”

While states may offer individuals more protection in the free exercise of their religion, states may not allow religious coercion, including public school prayer or favoritism of a majority faith, that the First Amendment bans, and must permit student religious expression protected by the First Amendment. In other words, your state can only enhance your rights of religious expression, nondiscrimination, and noncoercion—it cannot take away your rights for your public school to act neutrally towards your or any other faith or your right to privately practice your religion at school.

Federal Statutes

Federal laws also protect students’ rights to be free from religious discrimination and to be able to express themselves in accordance with their faith.

Federal Civil Rights Laws

Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in schools on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Under Title IV, public schools cannot discriminate against students in their educational opportunities based on their religion.

In addition, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits schools that receive federal finance assistance—essentially all public schools—from discriminating against students based on race, color, or national origin. The law bans discrimination against students based on their actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics or their actual or perceived citizenship or residency in a country whose residents share a dominant religion or religious identity. For instance, Title VI applies to discrimination based on a student’s Israeli heritage (where Judaism is the predominant religion), Indian heritage (where Hinduism is the predominant religion), or Pakistani heritage (where Islam is the predominant religion). Title VI concerns also arise when, for example, Jewish students are subjected to anti-Semitic threats, slurs, or assaults; Muslim students are targeted for wearing a hijab; or Middle Eastern and Sikh students are taunted or called terrorists.

Federal Education Laws

Federal education laws also safeguard students’ rights to practice their faiths at school. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—the primary source of federal financial aid for public schools—conditions federal funding on a school district’s written certification that it does not prevent or otherwise interfere with constitutionally protected prayer. This process affirms students’ rights to practice and express their religions at school, subject to rules and policies that apply to all student speech.

Similarly, under the federal Equal Access Act, public schools must permit students to form clubs based on religion if students are otherwise permitted to form extracurricular clubs and must allow clubs based on religion equivalent access to school facilities, platforms, and media. This law means that schools are required to allow religious clubs to host meetings, including voluntary prayer services, readings of sacred texts, or other forms of worship, on school premises outside of class time if secular student groups have that opportunity. Schools likewise must let student religious groups announce their meetings and events through school media—for example, the school’s newspaper, website, or bulletin boards—on the same terms as any other extracurricular student group.

State Statutes

State Religious Freedom Restoration Acts

Two types of state laws may also expand students’ rights of religious expression. First, twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have laws known as Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, or RFRAs. State RFRAs typically require state and local government entities—including public schools—to recognize exemptions from generally applicable laws and rules if they substantially burden an individual’s free exercise of religion. These laws often provide extremely robust protections for religion practice and expression above the floor created by the First Amendment. For example, a Native American student whose sincere religious belief called for him to wear his hair long, uncut, and in plain view was exempt under Texas’s RFRA from a school district rule requiring him to wear his hair differently. Similarly, prohibiting Sikh students from wearing a kirpan, or ceremonial knife, based on a no-weapons policy would likely violate state RFRAs.

State Student Religious Liberties Laws

In addition to state RFRAs, an increasing number of states have passed or are considering student religious liberties acts, sometimes called religious viewpoint antidiscrimination acts. These laws generally prohibit schools from discriminating against students’ voluntary religious expression through class work, homework, and assessments; prayer before, during, and after school; organizing and advertising prayer groups, religious groups, and other religious gatherings before, during, and after school; wearing religious garb or other attire with religious messages or symbols; and speech at school events like graduations, pep rallies, or assemblies where students are allowed to publicly speak. All this expression, however, remains subject to the same restrictions and regulations as nonreligious student expression. Other state laws provide guidance to school districts about how students’ rights of religious expression under the First Amendment and state constitution apply at school, emphasizing that students may express and incorporate their religious beliefs in class work, evaluations, and extracurricular activities without being penalized. These types of statutes clarify the scope of students’ religious rights for schools and educators and give students specific language to cite when they want to express their faith in a protected manner.

School Policies

Finally, many school districts have policies in place that address discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of religion, and student speech and expression at school. School policies often contain guidance on how to deal with claims of discrimination, the general rules about student speech and extracurricular activities that may apply to religious expression and practice, and dress and grooming codes. These policies are often made available to the public on a school district’s website.

HOW THESE PROTECTIONS WORK

Generally, students may exercise their rights to engage in religious speech and practice at school—as long as the religious speech or practice does not materially disrupt the classroom environment. Accordingly, students may engage in prayer, wear religious garb, read religious texts, and organize religious activities at school, among other forms of expression, subject to the same rules designed to prevent disruption that apply to other speech and expression. Students also have the right to attend a public school without being subjected to religious coercion or harassment by school officials and employees, any other government entity, or their peers.

Protection from Disparate or Different Treatment

Federal antidiscrimination laws prohibit schools and school employees from treating students differently because of their actual or perceived religious background or beliefs. Impermissible different treatment occurs when a school limits or denies educational services, benefits, or opportunities to a student or group of students of a particular religious background or particular religious beliefs.

Examples of Different Treatment Based on Religion

A school disciplines Somali Muslim students more harshly than their white and non-Muslim classmates based on fears that such students present a greater safety concern.
A teacher gives Jewish students lower grades than non-Jewish students based on the teacher’s disdain for perceived stereotypical claims about Jewish students.
A school investigates allegations of harassment against Greek Orthodox, Chaldean, or Coptic Christians while ignoring similar allegations by Sikh students.

Protection from Religious Harassment

All students have the right to an education free from bullying and harassment on the basis of their religious background or beliefs, including harassment for refusing to participate in religious expression, for adhering to a different faith than the majority of students and teachers at their school, or for holding a belief that a peer or school employee disagrees with. Such harassment is a form of discrimination prohibited by federal civil rights laws. Schools are legally obligated to protect students from harassment (whether by their peers or school employees) and to stop and prevent it.

Religion-based harassment violates federal law when:

It is “sufficiently serious” as to limit or deny a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from the educational program (that is, the harassing or bullying conduct creates a hostile environment);
A responsible employee of the school knew or should have known about the harassment; and
The school did not take prompt and effective steps reasonably calculated to end the harassment, eliminate the hostile environment, prevent the harassment from recurring, and remedy its effects.

What Kinds of Conduct are “Sufficiently Serious” to Qualify as Harassment?

Harassing conduct creates an impermissible hostile environment, and is sufficiently serious, when it is so severe and pervasive that it interferes with or limits the targeted student’s ability to participate in the educational opportunities and activities provided by a school. To determine whether harassment is sufficiently serious, it is evaluated from the perspective of the student being harassed as well as a “reasonable person”—that is, an ordinary objective person—in the student’s position, considering all the circumstances. The relevant circumstances include the age, number, and relationship of the targeted student or students and the alleged harassers, how often and where the alleged harassment took place, and the context of the harassment. The nature of the harassing conduct is also very important. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has explained that harassing conduct in violation of federal law can take various forms, including:

Ethnic or religious slurs
Attacking or making negative comments based on a person’s religion or alleged traits associated with that religion
Attacking or making negative comments about how a person looks or dresses, if linked to religion or ethnicity associated with a particular religion
Relying on stereotypes about members of a certain religion. (For example, if a teacher discussing world history or international politics refers to Jewish people, Muslim people, or Hindu people using offensive stereotypes, the conduct may rise to the level of harassment. )

When Does or Should a School Know About Harassment?

If a school knows or should have known about harassment, it has a duty to remedy the harassment and to prevent future harassment. Generally, school administrators cannot claim that they were ignorant of the harassing conduct if the surrounding circumstances indicate that someone at the school knew or should have known about the harassment.

What is a “Prompt and Effective” Remedy?

If a school was or should have been aware of harassment, it must take prompt and effective steps to end the harassment, make sure it does not recur, and remedy any effects. The first step is an investigation to determine what occurred. The specific steps of an investigation will vary based on the nature of the alleged harassment, the source of the complaint, the age of the students, and the size of the school, among other factors, but in all cases, the investigation should be prompt, thorough, and impartial.

If the investigation shows that illegal discriminatory harassment has taken place, the school must act. Appropriate steps to address the harassment and keep it from happening again may include separating the alleged harasser from the targeted student, providing counseling or other supports to the targeted student, the harasser, or both, or taking disciplinary action against the harasser. The steps the school takes should never penalize the student who was harassed, and should not burden the targeted student’s education, for example, by requiring the student to change class schedules to avoid harassment.

In cases of widespread harassment, a school may need to provide training or other education for both the alleged harasser and the school community on what discriminatory harassment is and what to do if it occurs. An effective response may also include the development and implementation of new policies against harassment and procedures for students, staff, and families to report harassment.

Retaliation for Reporting Harassment is Prohibited

Schools may not retaliate against anyone—staff or student—who reports or is targeted by harassment. At a minimum, the school must inform students targeted by harassment and their families of how to report any subsequent problems, follow up to see if there have been any new instances of harassment or retaliation, and respond promptly and appropriately to continuing or new problems.

How to Report Harassment

Harassment or bullying by a student or school employee should be reported to a teacher, a school administrator, or the school principal. If possible, it is important to document what happened with photos, video, audio, or written statements about the bullying or harassment. If the bullying or harassment is not resolved at the school site and the district has an anti-bullying or anti-harassment policy, parents and students can follow the policy’s procedure to ensure that the harassment or bullying is remedied and prevented.

When a school fails to act in response to reports of bullying and harassment, outside help may be needed. Students and their families should consider seeking legal counsel to remedy the harassment and prevent future harassment at school or filing a complaint with federal and state agencies charged with protecting your civil rights at school, like the U.S. Department of Education. The names of some agencies and nonprofit advocacy groups that may be able to help are below.

Examples of Unlawful Religious Harassment

Students report concerns about comments made by classmates during history and cultural lessons related to Sikhism, Islam, and other traditions prevalent in South Asia. Muslim students describe, for example, being told by peers in class that “you started 9/11” and being called “terrorist.” The school is alleged to have not taken effective action to address these reports.
A Jewish middle school student reports to a teacher that the student feels unsafe at school because classmates routinely place notes with swastikas on the student’s backpack, perform Nazi salutes, and make jokes about the Holocaust. The teacher advises the student to “just ignore it” and takes no steps to address the harassment.
Sikh students who wear a turban are repeatedly called “turban” and other names at school, and a student tries to physically remove a turban that a Sikh student is wearing. Students report the district does not take effective actions to document and address these incidents.

Protection from Religious Coercion

While students are permitted to engage in voluntary religious speech and expression at school, educators, school administrators, and other school employees may not encourage or discourage students from participating in private prayer or other religious activities. That means, although an educator or other school employee may themselves engage in private prayer or other religious observances during the workday, they may not compel, coerce, persuade, or encourage students to join in their religious expression. Nor may they give students religious materials at school. Further, schools cannot mandate prayers to be recited by students, lead students in prayer, or celebrate holidays like Christmas or Rosh Hashanah as religious events (though they may close for religious holidays if they use nonreligious criteria, like expected student and teacher attendance, in deciding whether to close).

The right to be free of religious coercion applies equally to students of no religion. For example, in one case, atheist students challenged their school district’s practices of including school-directed Christian prayer in mandatory assemblies, distributing and displaying Bibles and Bible verses during classes and in communications with students, and broadcasting Christian prayers over loudspeakers during athletic events, among other things. All of this conduct was found to be unlawful, and the school eventually agreed to stop prescribing prayers and proselytizing the Christian faith.

Accommodation for Religious Practices

Public schools must provide reasonable accommodations for students’ religious practice. A religious accommodation is an agreement with a school that allows a student to practice their faith in a manner that does not severely interfere with the student’s education.

Examples of Common Religious Accommodations

Prayer Time: Students may request time to pray during the school day. For example, Muslim students, whose faith encourages them to pray five times a day at prescribed times and to engage in congregational prayer midday on Fridays, may ask for time and space, or a foot-washing station, to carry out this obligation.
Religious Garb: Students may wear religious garb, like yarmulkes, hijabs, kufis, turbans, or headscarves, and dress in a manner required by their sincere religious belief, and cannot be forced to wear gym clothes that they view as immodest on religious grounds. Schools may adopt student dress or grooming codes, but courts have recognized students’ rights to religious exceptions for head coverings, long hair, rosaries as necklaces, and nose rings.
Release Time for Religious Instruction: Students may be excused from class to attend off-premises religious instruction. Whether to grant this “release time” is in a public school’s discretion, but schools may not encourage or discourage participation in off-site religious instruction or penalize students for attending or not attending.
Fasting and Religious Holidays: Students may be excused from class for fasting or religious holidays—for example, to fast on Yom Kippur or observe Ramadan, or to observe Eid al-Fitr or Holi.

Requesting Accommodations & the “Interactive Process”

School districts usually have policies on how to request religious accommodations which you should review and follow. A typical process begins with a written request for a religious accommodation by the student or their parent or guardian to the designated school official, often a principal or other administrator.

As long as the request is reasonable and does not substantially interfere with the school’s function, the school should provide the accommodation. If the requested accommodation is not feasible or the school district would like to consider alternatives, the school must engage in what is called an “interactive process” to determine with the student and parents whether alternative accommodations would meet the student’s religious needs. During this process, the school may request additional information that it reasonably needs to talk about the request and assess the options for accommodation. At the close of the interactive process, the school and the student should have settled on a mutually acceptable accommodation plan. If the school denies the accommodation request, you may be able to seek outside help, including from the advocates listed below.

Speech About Religion Inside & Outside School

Students have an unlimited right to engage in speech about religion when they are not at school or school-sponsored events. While at school or school-related functions, students retain their right of religious speech, but may be subjected to reasonable limitations that uphold order in the learning environment or protect the rights of other students. In practice, that means students may pray and worship alone or with classmates, distribute religious literature to their peers, and speak with other students about religion in the same manner they would discuss any other topic of interest, like politics or current events.

Curricular Materials & School Assignments

Religious Content of Assignments

Students have an unequivocal right to be free of religious instruction in public school. But education about the world’s religions can be part of the curriculum. Instruction may cover religion in the context of subjects like philosophy, history, literature, comparative studies, art, music, social students, and the development of the United States. Public schools also may teach students about the significance of religious holidays in various faith traditions, including their religious aspects.

Grading

Students may express their religious beliefs and opinions in class work, homework, evaluations, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious viewpoint of their submissions. This work should be graded by ordinary academic standards of substance, relevance, and other legitimate pedagogical objectives, not by reference to the religious beliefs expressed. For example, if a teacher’s assignment involves drawing a figure, the work of a student who submits a depiction of a deity or other religious figure (like Saint Joan of Arc or the Hindu god Vishnu) should be judged on the basis of academic standards (e.g., use of color or perspective) and be neither penalized nor rewarded for its religious perspective. On the other hand, a student cannot choose to focus on a religious subject if a teacher assigns a specific nonreligious topic—for example, a student could be given a failing grade for submitting a paper about Jesus if asked to write about a U.S. President.

Exemption from Assignments

In some cases, students may ask to be exempted on religious grounds from courses and assignments that require them to take actions that conflict with their sincerely held beliefs. Courts have found that Pentecostal students, whose religion objected to contact with members of the opposite sex wearing immodest attire, could not be required to participate in coeducational physical education classes. But students are not exempt from class instruction or assignments that simply introduce them to ideas and practices to which they object on religious grounds without asking students to participate in the objectionable conduct. For example, a court recently found that reading and discussing storybooks with LBGTQ+ characters in elementary school classrooms did not violate the religious rights of Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Muslim students whose faiths taught that marriage is between a man and a woman and that biological sex is unchanging.

School Clubs and the Use of School Facilities

Under the First Amendment and the Equal Access Act, students may organize prayer groups, religious clubs, and other religious activities to the same extent that they are permitted to organize nonreligious extracurricular groups and activities. For example, it is a violation of the First Amendment for a school district to block a student-run group affiliated with The Satanic Temple from meeting in school facilities, even though it permitted comparable nonreligious clubs to gather on school grounds. A school may, however, require all officially recognized student groups to comply with a nondiscrimination policy that requires membership and leadership positions to be open to all. Such policies must be genuinely neutral and cannot allow for individual exemptions or single out religious student groups for less favorable treatment.

Student Speakers & Graduation Events

Student speakers at school assemblies and extracurricular activities like athletic events may not be selected on a basis that either favors or disfavors religious perspectives. When a student speaker is selected based on neutral, evenhanded criteria to deliver a speech, and the school does not decide or have control over the content of the student’s speech, the student may voluntarily engage in religious expression. For example, if a team captain is selected to give a speech at pep rally because of her position as a leader on the team, she may choose to include a prayer in her speech. In such circumstances, however, the school may make an appropriate, neutral disclaimer clarifying that the religious speech is the student speaker’s, not the school’s. Students also have the right to be free from religious coercion by school-endorsed speakers at school-sponsored events like graduation ceremonies. Schools may not facilitate prayer at graduation ceremonies or choose speakers in a manner that favors religious speech such as prayer (for example, by inviting clergy to deliver an invocation or blessing).

WHERE TO GO FOR HELP

There are many resources available to learn more about your religious rights at school and to provide advice and assistance if you believe that your rights of religious expression or to be free of religious coercion have been violated or you have been discriminated against or harassed because of your religion at school.

School District Civil Rights Compliance Offices

Your school district may have a civil rights compliance officer or department, sometimes called an office of human rights or an equity office. These school administrators are responsible for enforcing the school district’s antidiscrimination policies and ensuring that your civil rights, including with respect to religion, are upheld. The school district may have a policy in place to investigate and remedy alleged religious discrimination, harassment, or interference, whether by a school employee or another student. School staff can provide additional information about how to contact your district’s civil rights officials and learn more about relevant district policies.

Federal & State Government Agencies

If you believe that you were discriminated against because of your religion or were deprived of the right to express or practice your religion at school, you can file a complaint with OCR, which has regional offices across the country, within 180 days of the alleged discrimination. You can find the contact information for the OCR office serving your state, and more information about the process, on OCR’s website or by calling 1-800-421-3481.

You can also report a violation of your religious rights, or religion-based discrimination or harassment, to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division online.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to seek help from your state’s attorney general, department of education, or civil or human rights office.

Non-Profit Advocacy Organizations 

If you would like to learn more about your religious rights at school or seek legal advice, the following nonprofit advocacy groups may be able to provide information and guidance:

Anti-Defamation League 605 Third Avenue New York, NY 10158 (212) 885-7700 www.adl.org/contact	American Civil Liberties Union 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004 (212) 549-2500 https://www.aclu.org/affiliates
Council on American-Islamic Relations Civil Rights Department 453 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20003 (202) 742-6420 [email protected] https://www.cair.com/report/	Hindu American Foundation 910 17th Street NW, Suite 315 Washington, DC 20006 (202) 223-8222 [email protected] https://www.hinduamerican.org/contact-us/
The Lawfare Project 633 Third Avenue, 21st Floor New York, NY 10017 (212) 339-6995 https://www.thelawfareproject.org/ get-legal-help	Muslim Advocates P.O. Box 34440 Washington, DC 20043 (202) 897-2622 [email protected] https://muslimadvocates.org/action/report-discrimination/
Religious Freedom Clinic Harvard Law School 6 Everett Street Cambridge, MA 02138 (617) 496-4383 [email protected] https://www.hlsreligiousfreedom.org/contact	Sikh Coalition 165 Broadway, 23rd Floor New York, NY 10006 (212) 655-3095 https://www.sikhcoalition.org/legal-help/

1 NEA Today, Countering Islamophobia (Jan. 19, 2024); NEA Today, Resources to Counter Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial (Dec. 7, 2023); Southern Poverty Law Center, Understanding and Countering Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Schools (Apr. 8, 2024).
2 ACLU, Students Told They Would Be Better Off ‘If They Had Jesus in Their Life’ (Nov. 19, 2019).
3 See Kennedy v. Bremerton Sch. Dist., 597 U.S. 507, 540 (2022) (First Amendment prevents schools from penalizing teachers (and students) “for praying quietly over their lunch, for wearing a yarmulke to school, or for offering a midday prayer during a break before practice”); Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Doe, 530 U.S. 290, 313 (2000) (“[N]othing in the Constitution . . . prohibits any public school student from voluntarily praying at any time before, during, or after the schoolday.”); U.S. Dep’t of Educ., Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer and Religious Expression in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools (May 15, 2023) (“ED Guidance”).
4 ED Guidance, supra, at Part II.A; see Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Cmty. Sch. Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 513 (1969); Rosenberger v. Rector & Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U.S. 819, 829 (1995) (The state “may not exclude speech where its distinction is not reasonable in light of the purpose served by the forum, nor may it discriminate against speech on the basis of its viewpoint.” (cleaned up)).
5 U.S. Const. amend. I.
6 Town of Greece v. Galloway, 572 U.S. 565, 581 (2014) (citing Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 430 (1962)); Sch. Dist. of Abington Twp. v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 223–25 (1963) (requirement that the school day begin with reading of Bible verses and recitation of the Lord’s Prayer violated the Establishment Clause).
7 Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980) (per curiam) (finding state statute that required posting of Ten Commandments in every public school classroom unconstitutional).
8 See Kennedy, 597 U.S. at 540; Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577, 592–94 (1992) (inviting rabbi to deliver prayer at public school graduation violated Establishment Clause because the invitation and the resulting prayer were “attributable to the State” and applied “subtle coercive pressure” to objecting students).
9 U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1.
10 Wash. Const. art. I, § 11; see also, e.g., Conn. Const. art. I, § 20 (“No person shall be denied equal protection of the law nor be subject to segregation or discrimination in the enjoyment of his or her civil or political rights because of religion.”); Nev. Const. art. I, § 4 (“The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship without discrimination or preference shall forever be allowed in this State.”).
11 See Locke v. Davey, 540 U.S. 712, 719–22 (2004).
12 42 U.S.C. § 2000c-6(a).
13 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq.
14 See Catherine E. Lhamon, Ass’t Sec’y of Civil Rights, U.S. Dep’t of Educ., Dear Colleague Letter: Title VI and Shared Ancestry or Ethnic Characteristics Discrimination 2 (May 7, 2024); Catherine E. Lhamon, Ass’t Sec’y for Civil Rights, U.S. Dep’t of Educ., Dear Colleague Letter: Addressing Discrimination Against Muslim, Arab, Sikh, South Asian, Hindu, and Palestinian Students 1–2 (Mar. 14, 2024); Catherine E. Lhamon, Ass’t Sec’y for Civil Rights, U.S. Dep’t of Educ., Dear Colleague Letter: Addressing Discrimination Against Jewish Students 1–2 (May 25, 2023); Thomas E. Perez, Ass’t Atty. Gen., U.S. Dep’t of Just., Letter to Russlyn Ali, Ass’t Sec’y for Civil Rights, U.S. Dep’t of Educ., Title VI and Coverage of Religiously Identifiable Groups 1–2 (Sept. 8, 2010).
15 Questions and Answers on Executive Order 13899 (Combating Anti-Semitism) and OCR’s Enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 1 (Jan. 19, 2021).
16 20 U.S.C. § 7904(b).
17 20 U.S.C. § 4071(a).
18 ED Guidance, supra, at Part IV.
19 Cole Durham & Robert Smith, 1 Religious Organizations and the Law § 3:27 (2d ed. 2023) (listing states and citing statutes); see S.F. 2095, 90th Gen. Assembly (Iowa 2024) (enacted Apr. 2024); L.B. 43, 108th Leg. (Neb. 2024) (enacted Mar. 2024); S.B. 150, 2024 Leg., Gen. Sess. (Utah 2024) (enacted Mar. 2024); N.D. Code § 14-02.4-08.1; W. Va. Code § 35-1A-1.
20 See, e.g., Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 41-1493.01(A) (“Free exercise of religion is a fundamental right that applies in this state even if laws, rules or other government actions are facially neutral.”); R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-80.1-3(a) (“[A] governmental authority may not restrict a person’s free exercise of religion.”); Tenn. Code Ann. § 4-1-407(b) (“[N]o government entity shall substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.”); Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 110.003 (prohibiting state and local government entities from “substantially” burdening a person’s free exercise of religion unless the burden is “the least restrictive means of furthering” a “compelling governmental interest”).
21 A.A. ex rel. Betenbaugh v. Needville Indep. Sch. Dist., 611 F.3d 248, 272–73 (5th Cir. 2010).
22 See Cheema v. Thompson, 67 F.3d 883, 885–86 (9th Cir. 1995) (holding that school’s ban on weapons as applied to Sikh students violated their rights under federal RFRA), overruled on other grounds by City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507, 535–36 (1997) (holding that federal RFRA did not apply to the states).
23 See Note, Brandon Harvard Riches, Codifying Commonsense: Religious Viewpoint Antidiscrimination Acts and the Free Speech Rights They Protect, 2016 B.Y.U. Educ. & L.J. 161, 165 (2016) (discussing laws in Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Tennessee); Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 15-110 (Student Religious Liberties Act); Mo. Rev. Stat. § 160.2500 (Missouri Student Religious Liberties Act); Ohio Rev. Code §§ 3320.01–03 (Ohio Student Religious Liberties Act of 2019); W. Va. Code §§ 18-33-1 to -8 (West Virginia Student Religious Liberties Act); Fla. Stat. § 1002.206 (Florida Student and School Personnel Religious Liberties Act); N.Y. State Assembly Bill 2023-A6228 (proposed New York Student Religious Liberties Act).
24 See, e.g., Wash. Rev. Stat. § 28A.600.025 (“An employee of the school district may not censure a student’s expression of religious beliefs or opinions, when relevant or appropriate, in any class work, homework, evaluations or tests, extracurricular activities, or other activities under the sponsorship or auspices of the school district.”).
25 Tinker, 393 U.S. at 513; see generally ED Guidance, supra.
26 Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist., 530 U.S. at 313; see generally ED Guidance, supra.
27 See generally ED Guidance, supra; see also Kennedy, 597 U.S. at 540.
28 See Title IV, 42 U.S.C. § 2000c et seq.
29 Dear Colleague Letter: Title VI and Shared Ancestry or Ethnic Characteristics Discrimination, supra, at 2, 16.
30 Know Your Rights: Title VI and Religion (Jan. 2017).
31 See, e.g., Zeno v. Pine Plains Cent. Sch. Dist., 702 F.3d 655, 665–66 (2d Cir. 2012) (harassment is actionable when it is “‘severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive’ and discriminatory in effect” (quoting Davis ex rel. LaShona D. v. Monroe Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 526 U.S. 629, 650–51 (1999))); see also U.S. Dep’t of. Educ., Off. for Civil Rights, Dear Colleague Letter: Addressing Discrimination Against Jewish Students, supra, at 1–2; U.S. Dep’t of Educ., Off. for Civil Rights, Dear Colleague Letter: Harassment and Bullying 2 (Oct. 26, 2010).
32 Dear Colleague Letter; Title VI and Shared Ancestry or Ethnic Characteristics Discrimination, supra, at 5–6.
33 Know Your Rights: Title VI and Religion, supra.
34 Dear Colleague Letter; Title VI and Shared Ancestry or Ethnic Characteristics Discrimination, supra, at 17.
35 Know Your Rights: Title VI and Religion, supra.
36 Dear Colleague Letter: Harassment and Bullying, supra, at 2.
37 Dear Colleague Letter: Harassment and Bullying, supra, at 2.
38 Dear Colleague Letter: Harassment and Bullying, supra, at 2.
39 See 34 C.F.R. § 100.7(e).
40 Dear Colleague Letter: Harassment and Bullying, supra, at 3.
41 Fact Sheet: Protecting Students from Discrimination Based on Shared Ancestry or Ethnic Characteristics 2 (Jan. 2023); U.S. Dep’t of Educ., Off. for Civil Rights, Dear Colleague Letter: Title VI and Shared Ancestry or Ethnic Characteristics Discrimination, supra, at 6–8, 11.
42 ED Guidance, supra, at Part II.C.
43 ED Guidance, supra, at Part II.C; see also Schempp, 374 U.S. at 223–25 (invaliding state laws and policies requiring public schools to begin the school day with Bible readings and prayer); Lee, 505 U.S. at 592–94 (public school officials violated students’ constitutional rights by inviting rabbi to deliver prayers at graduation ceremony); Kennedy, 597 U.S. at 540 (finding lack of student coercion significant in upholding as constitutional football coach’s private prayer at games).
44 Final Consent Decree and Order, Butler v. Smith Cnty. Bd. of Educ., No. 2:19-cv-00091 (M.D. Tenn. Sept. 14, 2020), ECF No. 44; see also, e.g., Consent Decree and Order, Cole v. Webster Parish Sch. Bd., No. 5:17-CV-01629 (W.D. La. May 11, 2018), ECF No. 28 (similar).
45 See, e.g., Littlefield v. Forney Indep. Sch. Dist., 268 F.3d 275, 292 (5th Cir. 2001) (religious exemption to school dress code “protect[ed] the reasonable state interest of fostering the free exercise of religion”).
46 See Isaacs ex rel. Isaacs v. Bd. of Educ., 40 F. Supp. 2d 335, 338 (D. Md. 1999) (head coverings); Ala. & Coushatta Tribes v. Trs. of Big Sandy Indep. Sch. Dist., 817 F. Supp. 1319 (E.D. Tex. 1993) (long hair); Chalifoux v. New Caney Indep. Sch. Dist., 976 F. Supp. 659, 666–67 (S.D. Tex. 1997) (rosaries); Iacono v. Croom, No. 5:10-CV-416-H, 2010 WL 3984601, at *2 (E.D.N.C. Oct. 8, 2010) (nose rings).
47 ED Guidance, supra, at Part III.E.
48 ED Guidance, supra, at Part III.E.
49 ED Guidance, supra, at Part I.C.
50 ED Guidance, supra, at Part III.B.
51 ED Guidance, supra, at Part III.D.
52 Moody v. Cronin, 484 F. Supp. 270, 272, 275–77 (C.D. Ill. 1979).
53 See Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963); Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm’n of Fla., 480 U.S. 136 (1987); Thomas v. Review Bd., 450 U.S. 707 (1981).
54 Mahmoud v. McKnight, No. 23-1890, 2024 WL 2164882 (4th Cir. May 15, 2024).
55 ED Guidance, supra, at Part II.B; see also Lamb’s Chapel v. Ctr. Moriches Sch. Dist., 508 U.S. 384 (1993); Rosenberger, 515 U.S. 819; Good News Club v. Milford Cent. Sch., 553 U.S. 98 (2001).
56 See Settlement Agreement, The Satanic Temple, Inc. v. Saucon Valley Sch. Dist., No. 5:23-cv-01244 (E.D. Pa. Nov. 16, 2023).
57 Christian Legal Soc’y v. Martinez, 561 U.S. 661, 698 (2010).
58 See Fellowship of Christian Athletes v. San Jose Unified Sch. Dist., 82 F.4th 664, 687–93 (9th Cir. 2023) (school district’s antidiscrimination policy was impermissible because it treated religious group that required student leaders to affirm a statement of faith differently than comparable secular student groups that limited membership based on criteria like sex, race, ethnicity, and gender identity).
59 ED Guidance, supra, at Part II.F.
60 ED Guidance, supra, at Part II.G.; see also Lee, 505 U.S. at 592–94.

Learn More

Do More

Jump to updates, opportunities, and resources for NEA state and local affiliates.

We're here to help you succeed in your career, advocate for public school students, and stay up to date on the latest education news. Sign up to stay informed

Suggested Results

Religious Expression Toolkit for Students

SOURCES OF LEGAL PROTECTIONS FOR RELIGIOUS BELIEF & EXPRESSION

The U.S. Constitution

The First Amendment: Free Speech & Free Exercise of Religion

The First Amendment: Establishment of Religion

Examples of Improper Establishments of Religion at School

The Fourteenth Amendment: Equal Protection of the Laws

State Constitutions

Federal Statutes

Federal Civil Rights Laws

Federal Education Laws

State Statutes

State Religious Freedom Restoration Acts

State Student Religious Liberties Laws

School Policies

HOW THESE PROTECTIONS WORK

Protection from Disparate or Different Treatment

Examples of Different Treatment Based on Religion

Protection from Religious Harassment

What Kinds of Conduct are “Sufficiently Serious” to Qualify as Harassment?

When Does or Should a School Know About Harassment?

What is a “Prompt and Effective” Remedy?

Retaliation for Reporting Harassment is Prohibited

How to Report Harassment

Protection from Religious Coercion

Accommodation for Religious Practices

Requesting Accommodations & the “Interactive Process”

Speech About Religion Inside & Outside School

Curricular Materials & School Assignments

Religious Content of Assignments

Grading

Exemption from Assignments

School Clubs and the Use of School Facilities

Student Speakers & Graduation Events

WHERE TO GO FOR HELP

School District Civil Rights Compliance Offices

Federal & State Government Agencies

Non-Profit Advocacy Organizations

References

Learn More

Do More

Are you an affiliate?

Educator Rights to Create an Inclusive Classroom

Stay Informed We'll come to you

Great public schools for every student

Non-Profit Advocacy Organizations 