The U.S. Department of Education has strengthened protections for prayer and religious expression in public elementary and secondary schools in an updated guidance.
The Guidance On Constitutionally Protected Prayer And Religious Expression In Public Elementary And Secondary Schools, released Feb. 5, states that under recent Supreme Court rulings that interpreted First Amendment rights in schools, “all members of a public school community have a constitutional right to religious expression in public schools, including a right to engage in prayer.”
The guidance clarifies that such speech and expressions within schools is protected, as long as the expression “does not compel others to participate in or otherwise affirm that religious expression, and so long as the individuals in question do not engage in such religious expression as part of the official activity of the school itself. It follows that public schools, school officials, and teachers may not suppress such religious expression, but also may not coerce it.”
Neither secular views or religious views are to be favored over each other, the guidance states, and religious dialogue should be addressed the same as secular speech.
“For example, an essay with religious content should be graded by the same academic standards as a secular essay of similar quality,” the guidance says.
The guidance also protects Christian clubs and other religious clubs from discrimination, clarifying that “if a school offers support or recognition to secular student clubs, it must provide the same support to religious student clubs.”
The new guidance replaced the Biden administration’s 2023 Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer and Religious Expression in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools.
The guidance relies heavily on recent Supreme Court rulings Kennedy v. Bremerton (2022) and Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025).
In Kennedy v. Bremerton, the court favored a Washington football coach at a public high school who prayed at the 50-yard line immediately following games. The court ruled that the school district’s effort to stop his prayers and refusal to renew his contract violated his First Amendment rights. In Mahmoud v. Taylor, the court ruled that the First Amendment protects parental rights in opting their children out of public school curricula that violates their religious beliefs, including LGBTQ content.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the Trump administration is “proud to stand with” those desiring to express First Amendment rights in schools.
“The Trump Administration is proud to stand with students, parents, and faculty who wish to exercise their First Amendment rights in schools across our great nation,” said McMahon in a press release. “Our Constitution safeguards the free exercise of religion as one of the guiding principles of our republic, and we will vigorously protect that right in America’s public schools.”
The guidance was announced by President Donald Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast event hosted at the White House on Feb. 5. During the event, Trump also announced that he intended “to rededicate America as one nation under God” at “Rededicate 250,” an event Trump is holding at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on May 17. The event centers on the upcoming 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, which will be July 4, 2026.
