For Immediate Release
|
|
|
June
11, 2007
|
|
|
Gov. Perry signs schoolchildren’s religious liberty bill
Austin-
Governor Rick Perry today signed the Religious Viewpoints
Anti-Discrimination Act, putting religious expression and secular
expression on a level playing field in Texas public schools. The
bill was introduced in the House by Representative Charlie Howard of
Sugar Land and sponsored in the Senate by Senator Tommy Williams of
the Woodlands. The bill received overwhelming bipartisan approval by
votes of 108-28 in the House and 27-3 in the Senate.
"This law is a victory for freedom
and non-discrimination for every young Texan," said Rep. Charlie
Howard who introduced the bill. “It is win-win for students, school
administrators and teachers.”
Houston attorney Joe Reynolds, a
16-year member of the Texas A&M Board of Regents, who has
represented more Texas school districts than any other attorney
said, “This is the best piece of legislation for school districts
that has been introduced in the past 50 years.”
The act provides that “A school
district shall treat a student’s voluntary expression of a religious
viewpoint, if any, on an otherwise permissible subject in the same
manner the district treats a student’s voluntary expression of a
secular or other viewpoint on an otherwise permissible subject and
may not discriminate against the student based on a religious
viewpoint expressed by the student on an otherwise permissible
subject.”
The Act establishes safeguards to
assure that individual religious viewpoints are not censored in
limited public forums for student speakers, that speaker selection
is based on neutral criteria, and that disclaimers be read or
printed clearly establishing the individual nature of the expressed
viewpoint.
The law requires schools to adopt new
policies and includes a suggested model policy covering Student
Expression of Religious Viewpoints, Student Speakers at
Non-Graduation Events, Student Speakers at Graduation Ceremonies,
Religious Expressions in Class Assignments, and Freedom to Organize
Religious Groups and Activities.
“This bill does not require or
suggest that any child express a religious viewpoint, it just
protects them if they do. Religious children do not receive special
rights, preferential treatment or extra protection, just equal
rights, equal treatment and equal protection,” said Houston
constitutional attorney and legal architect of the legislation,
Kelly Coghlan. “The law pulls together Supreme Court rulings and
Department of Education guidelines into one easy to follow law and
clears the air of the unnecessary chaos imposed in recent decades by
anti-faith organizations upon school districts and children.” The
law goes into effect at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year.
