OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has issued a formal opinion that a recently enacted policy prohibiting public prayer at playoff events is overly broad.
An opinion released Tuesday by Pruitt addressed a policy approved this summer by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association. The group that governs high school athletics in Oklahoma prohibits schools or individuals from publicly reciting a prayer at OSSAA events.
Slaughterville Republican Rep. Bobby Cleveland, an outspoken critic of the OSSAA, requested the opinion on that new policy.
Pruitt's opinion says school districts may not prohibit remarks by a student speaker if those students are selected through "neutral criteria."
OSSAA spokesman Van Shea Iven says he hadn't seen the opinion and couldn't immediately comment.