Senator Middleton Authors and Passes S.B. 11 toProtect the Freedom to Pray in School

AUSTIN– Senator Mayes Middleton has authored and passed Senate Bill 11, which is now headed to Governor Abbott to be signed into law. The bill would allow a public school student, with parental consent, to opt into a period of prayer and the reading of the Bible, or other religious texts.

“Our schools are not God free zones,” said Senator Middleton. “We are a state and nation built on ‘In God We Trust.’ You have to ask: are our schools better or worse off since prayer was taken out in the 1960s? Litigious atheists are no longer going to get to decide for everyone else if students and educators exercise their religious liberties during school hours.”

“Thank you President Trump and Lt. Governor Patrick for making prayer in public schools a top priority. This bill allows a student, with parental consent, to opt into a period of prayer and reading of the Bible, or other religious texts. There is no such thing as ‘separation of church and state’ in our Constitution, and recent Supreme Court decisions by President Trump’s appointees reaffirmed this. The goal of this bill is to promote free exercise of religion for teachers and students in the place where they spend most of their time—school.”