Guidance on Encouraging Prayer in Public Schools

Date announced: September 8, 2025

Executive Order: Forthcoming  

Key Provisions:

• The President announced during the September 8 Religious Liberty Commission meeting that the Department of Education would soon issue new guidance to protect students' religious expression in public schools, including protections for prayer.
• The administration cited "grave threats to religious liberty in American schools" as justification for the new guidance. The guidance will likely build on guidance he issued in 2020 that students can organize prayer groups, use religious expression in assignments, and read religious texts during non-instructional time.
• The guidance undermines past Supreme Court rulings that established that public schools cannot sponsor or compel prayer, but that students are not prohibited from voluntary religious expression.
• This guidance helps erode the Establishment Clause, blurring the lines between private and school-sponsored prayer, and create a less inclusive environment for students of diverse faiths or no faith. Coupled with other Trump Administration actions which appear to be Christian-focused may appear to endorse one religion over others.
• Students from minority faiths or non-religious backgrounds may feel coerced into participating in religious activities they—and their parents—do not share. 

Threats to Religious Freedom:

• The guidance undermines past Supreme Court rulings that established that public schools cannot sponsor or compel prayer, but that students are not prohibited from voluntary religious expression.
• This guidance helps erode the Establishment Clause, blurring the lines between private and school-sponsored prayer, and create a less inclusive environment for students of diverse faiths or no faith. Coupled with other Trump Administration actions which appear to be Christian-focused may appear to endorse one religion over others.
• Students from minority faiths or non-religious backgrounds may feel coerced into participating in religious activities they—and their parents—do not share.