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Norms Impact

Tennessee bill would require public schools to teach the Bible as literature, allow prayer and create legal ramifications for noncompliance

Tennessee lawmakers are moving to mandate Bible instruction and daily prayer in public schools while using fee-shifting lawsuits to deter families from enforcing church–state limits.

State Politics

Feb 19, 2026

Sources

https://www.wsmv.com/2026/02/19/tennessee-bill-seeks-require-public-schools-teach-bible-allow-prayer-create-legal-ramifications-noncompliance/

Summary

Tennessee House Bill 1491 would require public schools to use the Bible in instruction and provide a daily period for prayer and reading religious texts, with lawsuits authorized to enforce compliance. It would reframe public education policy by pairing a mandated religious-text curriculum with a statutory litigation mechanism that punishes and rewards enforcement choices. In practice, it pressures schools to adopt Bible-centered programming while raising the cost of challenging it in court.

Reality Check

Mandating Bible instruction and a daily prayer-and-religious-reading period in public schools, while rigging litigation costs, sets a precedent where the state can steer classroom content toward sectarian practice and punish families who try to stop it. Based on the bill’s own mechanics—compulsory instruction with opt-outs, daily prayer time, and fee-shifting penalties for Establishment Clause challengers—this is less a “liberty” measure than a structural attempt to chill constitutional enforcement through financial risk. The conduct described is not clearly criminal on its face; the danger is institutional: leveraging state power over compulsory schooling to privilege religious programming and deter judicial review through attorney-fee exposure. When government designs policy so that asserting church–state rights can come with crushing costs, our protections become theoretical rather than real.

Detail

State Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) sponsored HB 1491, titled the “Protecting Religious Liberty and Expression in Public Schools Act.” The bill would require public schools in Tennessee to use the Bible within instruction and to provide a designated period each school day for “prayer and reading of the Bible or religious texts” for students and staff. Schools would be required to teach the Bible to all students unless a parent or guardian, or an eligible student age 18 or older, submits a written request to be excused from Bible-related instruction.

The bill states public schools may not teach the Bible as religious dogma, may not coerce belief that it is divinely inspired, and may not teach it in a manner that violates the Establishment Clause as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court. The curriculum focus described includes Israel’s history, the Old and New Testaments, Jesus, the early Christian church, and the Bible’s influence on western civilization.

HB 1491 creates a legal remedy for those adversely affected by noncompliance, including declaratory and injunctive relief, court costs, and reasonable attorney’s fees. It also provides that parties who sue to enforce separation of church and state or the Establishment Clause may be liable for the prevailing party’s costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.