Myth- The President dictates school prayer policy?

Myth- The President dictates school prayer policy?

Matthew Jones (Political Science Instructor) gives expert video advice on: Myth- The President controls the US budget?; Myth- The President can abolish the IRS?; Myth- The President is responsible for the economy? and more...

The reason why the President doesn't have much power over school prayer is because most education policy is decided in the states, not at the national level. As a matter of fact, the overwhelming majority of education funding and education leadership happens at the state level. The federal government gives a lot of money, multiple billions of dollars, however the states give vastly more money than that. Upwards of 50% of the state's budget is education, so the state governments have a lot more power over education and over determining prayer in public schools than the President does. Also, prayer in public schools is a separation of Church and State issue, which is a first amendment constitutional issue, so the federal court system and the state court system have a lot more power over whether there's prayer in public schools than the President does. He has very minimal power over determining whether there's prayer in public schools.