Update on Schools Adopting Religious Free Speech Model Policy

                                 September 9 2007 State Representative Charlie Howard, House District 26


                      School districts throughout Texas have either adopted the model policy described in HB 3678, the Religious Viewpoint Antidiscrimination Act, or have adopted their own policy. Some are waiting to see how other schools will fare.
Though arguments against the Model Policy have been introduced since filing and passage of the bill, schools in and outside of Texas having tried the policy have been satisfied with it prior to its passage as state law in Texas. In addition, other states are watching the further progress of the implemented policy. In this article, I address the arguments against placing this Model Policy in state statute and why it is important that we did.

By adopting the Model Policy provided in the bill, schools are adopting U.S. Supreme Court rulings based on the U.S. Constitution. Schools have charge over the policy they adopt. It has been placed in statute for their protection from the needless lawsuits that have occurred.

The bill does not leave school districts hanging with a responsibility for creating a constitutionally sound policy, which has been a point of confusion for school officials in the past about how to handle religious speech initiated by students. This has been a legal issue for school districts because they have not had a solution suitable for events and activities that would protect them from lawsuits.

The bill supplies them with a policy that assures them, if adopted, of assistance from the Attorney General in the event of a legal challenge against the school. This is why placing the U.S. Supreme Court rulings in a policy and especially into Texas Statute is so important. I have been asked why it was necessary to put this in statute if our nation’s constitution gives us freedom of speech, including religious speech in schools. School districts have struggled with having any policy at all, therefore, resulting in school officials telling students what to say, and not to say anything of a religious nature at all.

This is not freedom. This is government mandated speech. Typically, schools have had either no policy, or a one that, as followed, lead them straight to a lawsuit from a student, that the schools subsequently lose. A policy such as the one drafted and placed in Texas statute gives schools something in law on the state level that is solid and grounded in rulings already firmly established by the U.S. Supreme Court. This is why we have state laws that we can deal with on a state level, especially in context of how our individual state implements its laws. It is a way we can implement establishments made constitutionally on the federal level on a state level in Texas.

Everyone expresses faith. Like it or not, everyone has faith in something, and that includes not believing in God. This is a belief too, a personal faith or conviction. Yes, even those who claim they have no faith stating, “Don’t mix faith and schools, business, or anything else,” do not understand the flaw in that thinking.

We all live out our faith or convictions everyday wherever we happen to be, because we live our beliefs. It takes faith to believe there is no God, just as it takes faith to believe there is, and conviction about views exists in either. Our founding fathers realized this, knowing that individuals consistently act on what they believe. For this reason, I filed a bill mostly consisting of a Model Policy for schools to have a constitutionally sound solution protecting them on a state level.

For more information on this legislation, go to www.capitol.state.tx.us and enter HB 3678 in the bill search option.

Charlie Howard represents House District 26 in Fort Bend County and is Chairman of the House Local and Consent Calendars Committee, and serves on the House Local Government Ways and Means, and Elections Committees