Texas § ED.25.152 - LIMITED PUBLIC FORUM

§ ED.25.152. LIMITED PUBLIC FORUM

LIMITED PUBLIC FORUM; SCHOOL DISTRICT POLICY. (a) To ensure that the school district does not discriminate against a student's publicly stated voluntary expression of a religious viewpoint, if any, and to eliminate any actual or perceived affirmative school sponsorship or attribution to the district of a student's expression of a religious viewpoint, if any, a school district shall adopt a policy, which must include the establishment of a limited public forum for student speakers at all school events at which a student is to publicly speak. The policy regarding the limited public forum must also require the school district to: (1) provide the forum in a manner that does not discriminate against a student's voluntary expression of a religious viewpoint, if any, on an otherwise permissible subject; (2) provide a method, based on neutral criteria, for the selection of student speakers at school events and graduation ceremonies; (3) ensure that a student speaker does not engage in obscene, vulgar, offensively lewd, or indecent speech; and (4) state, in writing, orally, or both, that the student's speech does not reflect the endorsement, sponsorship, position, or expression of the district. (b) The school district disclaimer required by Subsection (a)(4) must be provided at all graduation ceremonies. The school district must also continue to provide the disclaimer at any other event in which a student speaks publicly for as long as a need exists to dispel confusion over the district's nonsponsorship of the student's speech. (c) Student expression on an otherwise permissible subject may not be excluded from the limited public forum because the subject is expressed from a religious viewpoint. Added by Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 261 (H.B. 3678 ), Sec. 2, eff. June 8, 2007.