| In 2007, the Texas Legislature passed the Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act (RVAA), which Governor Rick Perry signed into law. The text of the Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act states that the purpose of the law is to prevent any form of religious discrimination in public schools, and to ensure that public schools do not demonstrate support for a particular religion. RVAA addressed the following four areas: (1) freedom of religious expression, (2) student speakers, (3) religious expression in class assignments, and (4) freedom of association. Unlike most of the laws passed in Texas pertaining to education, RVAA included a model policy to aid administrators in the implementation process. The law required administrators to adopt a policy, concerning RVAA, by the beginning of the 2007/2008 school year. This study uses a grounded theory methodology to examine how public school administrators in Texas implemented RVAA. The data used included interviews, newspaper articles, Texas Legislature hearings, and documents provided by outside experts. The results indicated that the most influential factor for administrators, in determining how to implement RVAA, was their attorneys' advice. |
