Rep. Bobby Cleveland said today that a recent ruling by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) on student-led prayer could jeopardize federal funding for local school districts.
Cleveland referenced the U.S. Department of Education website, which offers “guidance” to schools on how to deal with “Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools.”
The Department specifically warns schools that where students are selected to speak at student assemblies and extracurricular activities and the speaker is selected “on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary control over the content of their expression, that expression is not attributable to the school and therefore may not be restricted because of its religious (or anti-religious) content.”
“OSSAA’s policy not only violates the Constitution, it puts all of its member school districts at risk of losing federal funding for advancing such an ill-advised policy,” said Cleveland, R-Slaughterville. “Each year, a school district receiving federal funds must certify in writing that it is in compliance with federal guidelines. If they are not, they do not qualify for federal funding. Any school district official that cooperates with this rule is breaking the law. If a student chooses to pray, the government may not censor their speech any more than it could demand that the student pray.”
Cleveland noted that several of his colleagues in the Legislature have joined him in calling for a change in Oklahoma’s laws that would bring the OSSAA under the jurisdiction of the Oklahoma Department of Education.
“It is not the perfect solution, but with a Superintendent who is elected by the people of Oklahoma at its head, the Department of Education will be easier to hold accountable should they attempt to interfere with the rights of student athletes to pray at high school playoff contests,” Cleveland said. “This is not an issue about prayer, this is an issue about following the law. The OSSAA should be teaching young people how to follow rules and cooperate in a diverse society. Instead, OSSAA is setting a dangerous example by telling our children that the laws of this land do not apply to them.”
Let’s face it – as long as a prayer meets the religious guidelines of Cleveland’s definition of a prayer, it’s constitutional and is worth money – otherwise???
I smell political and religious hypocrisy here.