The Freedom From Religion Foundation is supporting the Arrowhead Union High School District for upholding the First Amendment by declining to include religious or political messages in its official graduation slideshow.

“Public schools exist to serve students and families from every religious background and none at all,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Maintaining religious neutrality ensures that every graduate is equally respected and that no student feels like an outsider during one of the most important milestones of their education.”

FFRF’s letter comes after the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) threatened legal action against the district on behalf of a graduate whose request to include a bible verse, and later a message thanking God, in the slideshow was denied. WILL argues that the district engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination by permitting secular messages while excluding religious ones.

FFRF asserts that WILL’s argument misunderstands both the facts and the law.

“Arrowhead’s decision reflects exactly what the First Amendment requires of public schools,” says FFRF Legal Counsel Chris Line, who authored the letter. “Official school programs are not public forums for religious advocacy. Public schools have both the authority and the obligation to ensure that school-sponsored events remain religiously neutral and welcoming to students of every faith and none.”

FFRF notes that the district claims to have established neutral guidelines for the graduation slideshow before the ceremony, limiting submissions to family acknowledgments and students’ post-graduation educational or career plans. Those restrictions applied equally to religious and political messages and were directly related to the presentation’s educational purpose.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that public schools may exercise editorial control over school-sponsored student expression. In Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, the Court held that educators may regulate school-sponsored speech when reasonably related to legitimate educational concerns. Likewise, in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, the Court reaffirmed that speech in school-controlled settings may properly be treated as school-sponsored rather than private student expression.

“Contrary to claims being advanced by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, the First Amendment does not require public schools to include religious messages in school-sponsored programs simply because students would like to express them,” Line writes. “Had the district opened the slideshow to unrestricted personal viewpoints, different constitutional considerations might arise.”

FFRF also notes that accepting WILL’s position would create significant constitutional problems for public schools.

“Public schools may not selectively permit Christian messages while excluding other religious, anti-religious or political viewpoints,” the letter points out. “If the slideshow became a forum for personal advocacy, the district could be compelled to accommodate messages representing virtually any religious or ideological perspective.”

FFRF emphasizes that students remain entirely free to express their religious beliefs in their personal capacities before, during and after graduation. The Constitution protects students’ right to express their religious beliefs in their personal capacities. It does not require public schools to transform official graduation programs into forums for religious advocacy.

FFRF thanks the Arrowhead Union High School District for its commitment to upholding the constitutional rights of all students and offers its assistance should the district need additional support in defending its constitutionally sound policy.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with more than 41,000 members across the country, including more than 1,800 members and its national headquarters in Wisconsin. FFRF’s purposes are to defend the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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