RQ-0364-KP

Re

Pursuant to subsection 38.001(f) of the Education Code, the Legislature provided that a student who has not received the immunizations required by law “for reasons of conscience, including because of the person’s religious beliefs, may be excluded from school in times of emergency or epidemic declared by the commissioner of public health.” Read in context, a court likely would conclude that this exception does not permit exclusion of students who lack vaccinations unrelated to an existing "epidemic" contemplated by subsection 38.001(f).

Depending on the particular facts at issue, a court could find exclusion from school for refusal to obtain a vaccine unrelated to the existing epidemic to be arbitrary and unreasonable and overturn the exclusion for this purpose.

Further, to the extent a school was to exclude a student who had declined required immunizations unrelated to an existing epidemic due to a sincere religious belief, a court could find this to be a substantial burden on the student’s religious freedom and potentially a violation of the U.S. and Texas constitutions. Accordingly, subsection 110.003(a) of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code requires that only the least restrictive means of furthering a compelling government interest may be utilized in placing such a substantial burden.  If less restrictive means exist to accomplish that objective, a court could find that a specific student’s exclusion in such circumstances from school under Education Code subsection 38.001(f) violates the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act.