Texas senators considered two measures that would champion the religious freedom rights of school district and charter school employees.
During a Monday hearing before the Senate Committee on State Affairs, lawmakers mulled Senate Bill 810 filed by State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola).
The measure aims to safeguard the right of a school district or charter school employee to refer to a student or other employee by terms consistent with their biological sex.
There are “several important reasons for this legislation,” explained Hughes at the hearing. “A teacher or other public school employee may have a moral or religious objection to addressing a student in terms inconsistent with a student’s biological sex.”
“And of course, it wouldn’t have to be religious. … The teacher may feel this only will intensify the dysphoria the student is experiencing,” he continued. “And of course, there are practical considerations. … We do not want a teacher to have to be pressured to address a student by a pronoun that is inconsistent with a student’s biological sex.”
Senators also heard testimony on SB 965, filed by State Sen. Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound), which would protect the right of a school district or charter school employee to engage in religious speech or prayer while on-duty.
SB 965’s protections cannot be infringed, unless the infringement is “necessary to further a compelling state interest” and “narrowly tailored using the least restrictive means to achieve that compelling state interest.”
In legal theory, “compelling state interest” refers to the limitation of individual rights by the government “when it is essential or necessary” to achieve a specific public goal.
Parker, in presenting SB 965, cited the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. The ruling saw the court side with a high school football coach who lost his job because of post-game prayers on the field.
“Grounded in the Kennedy decision, Senate Bill 965 codifies the right of school employees to engage in personal religious speech or prayer while on duty,” said Parker. “As established in Kennedy, any infringement shall be analyzed under strict scrutiny.”
Senators heard testimony on SB 810 first.
Mary Elizabeth Castle, director of government relations for Texas Values, testified before the committee in favor of the measure. Castle noted that the Texas Association of School Boards has already begun advancing policies with broad definitions of “harassment” that include “gender identity.”
“Teachers should not be fired for restating the truth and restating reality. Most importantly, the student should not be running the schoolhouse,” said Castle. “Allowing teachers to be fired because of students’ personal preferences … creates a learning environment of disrespect and chaos.”
Lathan Watts, vice president of public affairs for Alliance Defending Freedom, provided several examples of teachers across the country already having been reprimanded for referring to students in accordance with their biological sex.
“Vivian Garrity, a middle school English teacher in Ohio, was forced to resign after the school district began requiring its teachers to personally participate in the ‘social transition of children’ by using preferred pronouns and names,” said Watts.
“Freedom of speech and freedom of religion includes the freedom not to speak. It includes the freedom not to endorse messages contrary to our core beliefs,” he added. “Teachers shouldn’t be forced to mislead parents or say things that are untrue or harmful to students.”
State Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) asked two witnesses who testified against SB 810 if they believed teachers should be reprimanded for “using terminology such as ‘ladies and gentlemen’ and ‘boys and girls.’”
“I think that more than anything it’s a matter of getting educated,” responded Ash Hall, a policy and advocacy strategist at ACLU Texas. “I feel like if this is something somebody is doing after being taught about it, and it’s being done in a way that’s purposeful and intentionally hurtful, then that’s one thing.”
On SB 965, Donald Gardner, executive director of the Texas Faith and Freedom Coalition, testified in favor of the measure and emphasized Baptists’ historic role in standing for religious freedom in the United States.
“They would have never intended freedom from religion, but they were coming out of a system where the state established what religion was proper and fitting in the state religion. They would not want that at all,” said Gardner.
“If there was something in this bill that was compelling religious observance or expression, then obviously that would be a problem,” he added. “It would be a violation of the very thing our founders meant to establish. This simply protects, in fact, the freedom that our founders meant to establish.”
Both SB 810 and SB 965 were pending in committee after testimony.
A separate measure, Senate Bill 11, was filed early last month by State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) and also seeks to address the issue of prayer in public schools.
Based on its low filing number, Middleton’s proposal appears to have at least initially received the support of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who designated the issue as a top priority this session.
