Federal agencies should support display of the Ten Commandments in public schools, issue guidance on parents’ rights to opt their children out of lessons that conflict with their religious beliefs, and promote the rights of students and school employees to express their religious views on campus, a federal religious liberty commission said in new recommendations.
The sprawling 220-page draft report includes recommendations for federal agencies involved in healthcare, K-12 and higher education, the military, and employment law. It broadly calls for an “originalist” interpretation of religious freedom in the Constitution, viewing that freedom as a “bridge” between personal belief and public life rather than promoting a “wall” of separation between church and state—a phrase used by Thomas Jefferson.
“Many schools wrongly perpetuate the falsehood that there is no place for faith in public schools, which often causes students to refrain from expressing religious beliefs, participating in voluntary religious activities, or engaging in respectful dialogue because they assume such activities are prohibited,” say the recommendations, announced by President Donald Trump June 26.
The 12 members of the commission—formed under an executive order Trump signed in May 2025—include public officials, representatives of advocacy organizations, and religious leaders, many of them conservative Christians. Its formation faced a lawsuit from a group of interfaith organizations, including Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which argued the group represents only a “single Judeo-Christian” viewpoint by holding meetings at the privately operated Museum of the Bible in Washington and ending opening prayers “in Jesus’ name.” The commission does not adequately represent the interests of minority religions, said the ongoing lawsuit, which sought to block the report’s release.
The recommendations are “a biased, one-sided, ahistorical document aimed at advancing the Trump administration’s Christian nationalist agenda,” Alessandro Terenzoni, vice president of public policy at Americans United, wrote in an email. “From the outset, the Religious Liberty Commission has dismissed the critical role church-state separation plays in protecting religious freedom for all of us.”
The commission heard from more than 100 witnesses in seven hearings, including a student who said her school prohibited her from wearing a mask that said “Jesus loves me,” and a public school teacher who was asked not to display a crucifix in her classroom. The report did not include any testimony from witnesses who disagreed with the assertion that schools don’t adequately protect students’ religious freedom.
The report includes at least seven recommendations related to K-12 schools, some of which dovetail with other Trump administration policymaking regarding schools.
1. Educate students and educators on their religious freedom rights
The U.S. Department of Justice should create “Know Your Rights” posters for schools to hang in common areas, informing students and teachers of their rights to free religious expression at school, the recommendations say.
The commission argued that many violations of religious freedoms in schools come from a misunderstanding of the law. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who chaired the group, repeatedly called the separation of church and state “a lie” during public hearings.
While the phrase “the separation of church and state” doesn’t appear explicitly in the U.S. Constitution, it’s frequently used to describe the establishment clause in the First Amendment, which prohibits government-sponsored religious activity.
The recommendations cite a recent case that advocates for church-state separation have criticized, contending it prioritizes the free religious expression of individuals over the need for public institutions to avoid promoting or favoring any particular religion. In the 2022 case, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the U.S. Supreme Court said a football coach’s post-game prayers at mid-field with students were a personal observance protected by the First Amendment.
The religion commission also says it’s a violation for schools to require employees to call transgender students by their preferred pronouns, if doing so conflicts with employees’ religious faith.
Under both Democratic and Republican presidents, the U.S. Department of Education has repeatedly stressed that students of all religious backgrounds can pray at school when not engaged in school activities or instruction, and that teachers and administrators can neither sanction nor discourage such prayers. Like students, teachers can pray independently and voluntarily during non-instructional hours, but they may not require students to pray as part of class or school-sponsored extracurricular activities, the agency has said. The Trump administration’s Education Department issued the latest version of the guidance, which was more accommodating than previous iterations, in February.
The recommendations call on the Department of Justice to issue similar guidance.
2. Provide additional guidance on the religious rights of public school parents
The Justice Department should publish guidance on the rights of parents to review curricular materials and opt their children out of activities that conflict with their faith, the recommendations say.
The report frequently cites the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which held that schools must allow parents to opt their children out of curricula, including those with LGBTQ+ themes, that conflict with their religious beliefs; and a March order in Mirabelli v. Bonta, which reinstated a lower court decision that held that parents have federal constitutional rights to be informed when their children socially transition or express gender nonconformity at school.
The Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—which now oversees major K-12 funding as part of the Trump administration’s plan to dismantle the Education Department—should also form a parental rights task force, the recommendations say.
3. Investigate religious liberty violations in schools
The report recommends that the Justice Department set up a hotline to collect complaints about religious liberty violations in schools, and step up investigations of violations of parents’ rights.
The agency is already investigating at least 43 school districts in three states over such concerns. Leaders in those districts have complained that notices of investigation do not detail specific complaints or explain why their school systems are targets when other districts in their states are not, as Education Week has previously reported.
4. Promote school choice
Federal agencies should “ensure the constitutional guarantees of religious liberty and parental rights are enjoyed by families of all socioeconomic means by promoting a robust and universal system of school choice where funding follows the child,” the recommendations say.
School choice has been a signature issue for Trump, who signed into a law a new federal program that allows taxpayers to claim dollar-for-dollar tax credits in exchange for donations to organizations that grant private school scholarships as well asscholarships covering some expenses tied to public schools, such as tutoring and after-school programs. Thirty-one states have opted into the program so far.
Final rules for that program have not been issued. Civil rights advocates have expressed concerns about scholarships going to private schools that exclude students because of their sexuality or religion or don’t adequately address the needs of students with disabilities.
“The report calls for violating taxpayers’ religious freedom by funneling ever more public money into private, predominantly religious schools that can discriminate against students, families, and employees,” Terenzoni of Americans United wrote.
5. Expand the Equal Access Act to elementary schools
The administration should urge Congress to expand the Equal Access Act to cover elementary schools, the report says.
The law, which currently covers only secondary schools, says that schools that allow one student club to use facilities or advertise on school bulletin boards must provide the same access to all student clubs, regardless of viewpoints. That includes clubs like gay-straight alliances and Bible study groups.
6. Support Ten Commandments displays, chaplain programs
The Justice Department should support “strategic litigation” in support of schools’ Ten Commandments displays, the report urges. Lawmakers in several states have passed laws requiring schools to display the religious text, triggering lawsuits and complaints from students of other faiths.
In the 1980 case Stone v. Graham, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a Kentucky school’s display of the Ten Commandments violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment because the display “had no secular legislative purpose” and was “plainly religious in nature.” But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January sided with the state of Texas in case challenging a law mandating school Ten Commandments displays.
The Justice Department should also support school chaplain programs, the report says. More than a dozen state legislatures have weighed or passed bills that require or let public schools allow volunteer chaplains to counsel students.
Proponents say chaplains—generally understood as religious officials from various faith affiliations who work in nonreligious settings—would give schools more resources to support students amid nationwide concerns about youth mental health and a shortage of counselors and social workers. Opponents, including interfaith and religious liberty groups, say the bills would lead to unfair isolation of students from minority faiths and provide a conduit for adults with inadequate training to proselytize in public schools.
7. Create a ‘First Freedom Hero’ award
The Justice Department should create an award to recognize students who “courageously stood up for religious liberty in a public school setting,” the report recommends.
