In 1962, the Supreme Court case Engel v. Vitale ruled that state officials cannot require or encourage students to recite an official school prayer in public schools. The court ruled that this practice violates the First Amendment's establishment clause, which protects Americans' freedom to practice their religion. The court's decision was a landmark case that established the current prohibition on state-sponsored prayer in US schools.
This week at a House Public Education Committee hearing, State Rep. James Talarico, an Austin-area Democrat, politely chastised Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath over violating the establishment clause with new lesson plans for the state's public schools that he said require Texas teachers to preach Christianity to their students.
Morath told committee members the state-approved lessons are focused on teaching children to read, and the references to Christianity were included to provide additional vocabulary and context for students—and not intended as religious instruction.
The focus of the exchange is HB 1605 which was passed last year by the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature. The law was designed to provide teachers with state-approved lesson plans and make those materials available to parents via an online portal.
But the new Texas law also provides public school teachers immunity from prosecution for violating the separation of church and state.
I spoke with State Rep. James Talarico about the hearing and his concerns.
State Representative James Talarico is a Democrat and represents Texas House District 52 – including Round Rock and Hutto.
Harder to Vote in Texas
It will be harder for Texans to vote in this presidential election than it four years ago. That’s a finding from the Brennan Center for Justice in their new report “How Voting Laws Have Changed in Battleground States Since 2020.”
Looking at the battleground states overall—it’s a mixed bag. Some key swing states—Florida, Georgia and North Carolina have enacted new restrictive laws that mainly target mail-in voting. Other states —Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin passed laws that expanded opportunities for voters. And in Pennsylvania – nothing has changed.
Texas voted for Donald Trump in 2020, and there was no evidence of voter fraud. Texas passed S.B. 1 that makes it harder to vote, reduces polling places, increases barriers for voters with disabilities and makes it easier for voters to be scrubbed off the voter rolls. Currently 2.1 million Texans have been suspended from voting in the November 8 election. That’s 12 percent of the voting population.
Sara Carter is an attorney with the Brennan Center.
Will Arkansas have abortion on the ballot?
The abortion issue looms large over this presidential election. Democrats are promising to reverse the overturning of Roe v. Wade and many Republicans are in favor of a nationwide abortion ban. In March the Republican Study Committee released a budget that endorses a national abortion ban with zero exceptions for rape or incest.
So many voters will be going to the poll in just a few weeks to express their voice on abortion access.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation there are now eight states with pro-abortion rights ballot initiatives in this election cycle—that after this week the secretaries of state in Arizona and Missouri greenlit their abortion referendums.
The other six states include Florida, New York, Maryland, Colorado, Nevada and South Dakota.
We need to note that Texans will not have the opportunity to vote on an abortion referendum or any other referendum —because Texas doesn’t allow for direct ballot initiatives.
Our neighboring state of Arkansas does, but a citizen effort to put an abortion referendum on their ballot has been stymied.
Tess Vrbin is a reporter covering the issue for the Arkansas Advocate a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization.
