Huntington Beach City School District Revises Religious Expression Policy

As an effort to resolve alleged student constitutional rights violations, the Huntington Beach City School District agreed to revise its religious expression policy addressing the dissemination of religious materials on campus. The decision came on July 30th when the school board unanimously voted to require specific religious activities be mentioned in the school’s policy addressing freedom of expression. The revision also results in religious readings now being allowed to be distributed during lunch and recess.

How the Case Originated

In early 2019, a law firm that focuses on representing Christians initiated a federal lawsuit against the school district on behalf of two elementary school students. These two boys alleged that they were unlawfully prohibited from distributing religious leaflets. The two boys had gone to school with flyers promoting a national Bring Your Bible to School event, which the Focus on the Family organization had begun in 2014. After learning that the boys were prohibited from distributing flyers outside of their classroom, the boy’s mother emailed the school’s principal. Noting that the school is public, the principal wrote to the boy’s mother and stated that boys could hand out flyers before and after school but not during recess, lunch, or class time. The subsequent lawsuit noted that other groups like the Boys & Girls Club were permitted to circulate promotions during the day. As a result of the lawsuit, the school’s religious expression policy now states that private religious speech is as fully protected as private non-religious (secular) speech.

Laws that Apply to Flyers

Handing out flyers is a type of speech protected by the First Amendment, and the government generally cannot prohibit what a person says based on the content of the speech. Instead, when handing out flyers is involved, the government is often limited to restricting flyers based on time, manner, and place. Manner is the most complex of these regulations. This can range from the size or number of flyers to more complex legal issues like swearing and offensive language. 

Response to the Religious Expression Policy

Despite what people of faith may widely consider a victory, not everyone is thrilled with the outcome. Bill Becker, president of Freedom X, admitted that he is not fully comfortable with the fact that the school’s religious expression policy protects freedom of speech for individuals of all faiths. Becker also expressed the perspective that the settlement does not reveal favoritism of one religion over another and instead benefits all religions.

The Future of the Regulation

It remains uncertain what impact the regulation will have on other school districts in the surrounding area. The school’s principal has stated that there are very few situations where a school voluntarily agrees without a court order to include religious protections. 

The Goal of the Universal Life Church’s Blog

The United States Constitution requires a separation between church and state, but each year there are a number of cases that test the exact boundary of these areas of law. The Universal Life Church’s blog focuses on describing the most noteworthy cases concerning religious practice in schools.