Schools may lose funds if religious liberties aren't protected

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(The Center Square) - Arizona public schools could lose federal funds if they fail to protect religious liberties, according to a state official.

The U.S. Department of Education issued new guidance earlier this month to protect prayer in public schools.

“No public school, teacher, or school official should ever coerce or pressure a student to engage in speech or affirm a viewpoint that would violate the student’s sincere religious beliefs,” the federal government’s guidance said.

“A public school cannot require a student group to adopt a particular viewpoint in order to be recognized by the school if the viewpoint violates the student members’ religious beliefs,” the guidance added. “School officials also cannot express hostility toward religious student groups by demeaning their beliefs.”

Arizona public schools that don’t take these rule changes seriously are “risking” the “withdrawal of federal funds,” Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne told The Center Square.

He added that if a school district loses federal funds, it would be "devastating” for that district.

Horne said he recently spoke by phone with federal officials. He noted they will send written materials discussing these rule changes, which he will pass along to Arizona school districts and charter schools.

According to Horne, many diversity, equity and inclusion elements “violate widespread religious beliefs, such as urging students to change genders, age-inappropriate sexual lessons, and other elements that may demean a student’s religious beliefs.”

DEI is an issue because rather than dealing with people as individuals, it deals “with what race people were born into that they have no control over," Horne said.

“Instead of judging by individual merit, they judge by racial entitlements,” which does not encourage “hard work, conscientiousness or creativity,” he added.

Arizona public schools still have DEI initiatives, Horne told The Center Square.

To help public schools comply with the guidelines, Horne noted that the Arizona Department of Education will add a question about continually protected prayer to its public school reporting, which parents can use to help determine the best school for their child.

State departments of education are required by the U.S. Department of Education to submit annual reports to see how well school districts are following these updated guidelines.