New Dear Colleague letters on Title I and School Prayer
February 06, 2026
Author
AASA is sharing information about two recent pieces of guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Education (ED).
At the end of January, ED sent a “Dear Colleague” Letter to States encouraging districts to use the existing flexibility of funding consolidation for schoolwide schools. This letter is one in a series of guidance documents that have encouraged states, districts, and schools to exercise flexible options under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
A school is eligible to operate a schoolwide program if at least 40 percent of its students, or students in the school’s attendance area, come from low-income families. However, a State may waive this threshold requirement if it finds that operating a schoolwide program would best meet the needs of students. Once approved, the local educational agency (LEA) may consolidate Title I and other federal education program funds with State and local funds to support strategies that improve academic achievement for all students, particularly the lowest-achieving students. After the consolidation, the school no longer needs to manage separate accounting for each program. It also does not need to comply with many program-specific statutory or regulatory requirements, as long as it maintains documentation that the program is addressing the intents and purposes of each of the consolidated programs. ED encourages LEAs to exercise the schoolwide consolidation flexibility to “reduce red-tape and compliance costs” and “to better serve students and improve academic achievement.”
On February 5, ED issued new guidance on constitutionally protected prayer and religious expression in schools. The new guidance is different in tone from the last version, with much more emphasis on the rights of individuals in the school community to express religious faith and less emphasis on how schools can or should avoid Establishment Clause violations.
The new guidance adds a detailed description of certain Supreme Court cases, much as they were described by the recent Mahmoud v. Taylor decision and describes the Department's view of a new "larger legal framework governing the relationship between public schools and matters of religious faith." Past versions have not gone into such detail about the facts and rulings of the SCOTUS cases and have included more summary statements of legal principles followed by more examples.
The Department's new approach is summed up in the new conclusion: schools, it says, should allow individuals "to act and speak in accordance with their faith, provided they do not invade the rights of others, the school does not itself participate in religious action or speech as an institution, and the school does not favor secular over religious views or one religious view over another." One example in the guidance to be aware of is specific to a teacher praying at lunch, with students free to join in. While the guidance indicates such a prayer would not be "coercive," in many schools, a teacher would be on duty at that moment, and his/her prayer could be attributed to the school. Superintendents should consult directly with their legal counsel to ensure they understand the guidance, its implications, and any steps their districts may want to consider taking in response to it.
