Voters in several states to decide school prayer, girls’ sports protections, and education fights this November

Voters across 10 states will consider several education-related ballot measures Nov. 3, including proposals to authorize voluntary student-led prayer, keep male athletes out of girls’ sports, and restore parental rights in public schools, according to an Oct. 13 Washington Post report.

Several proposals would amend state constitutions, preventing lawmakers from reversing the policies through ordinary legislation. Others would change state laws governing athletic eligibility, school spending, and education funding. 

School prayer and patriotism: Alabama

In Alabama, Statewide Amendment 3 would require local school boards to adopt policies authorizing student-initiated and student-led prayer in public K-12 schools and requiring schools to conduct the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of each school day. Students could decline to participate in either based on their beliefs, according to the state’s official ballot explanation.

A separate proposal, Amendment 4, would require local school boards to adopt policies requiring public K-12 schools to broadcast or arrange an approved performance of the first stanza of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at least once a week during school hours. 

Republican state Rep. Reed Ingram, who sponsored the prayer amendment, told the Post that he hopes prayer could offer students an alternative to harmful influences.

“A lot of times, these kids go into school and find something to gravitate towards, whether it’s cigarettes, marijuana, drugs, or just running with the wrong crowd,” Ingram said, according to the outlet. “I just thought that maybe we could try to go back to [prayer] to see if we could give these kids an opportunity to find something different.”

He also argued that there’s broad support for in-school prayer in the state. According to June 2025 Pew Research Center findings cited by the Post, 75% of Alabama adults support allowing public school teachers to lead their classes in prayers that refer to Jesus. 

Protecting girls’ sports: Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Washington

Arizona voters will decide on Proposition 318, which would extend rules requiring schools to label sports teams as male, female, or coed and prevent males from playing on female teams to all public and private schools and athletic associations. Current law applies to public schools and schools competing against them. 

Arizona’s measure would also prohibit schools and associations from authorizing people to use private spaces, such as restrooms, designated for the opposite sex, and allow athletes to sue schools and associations that knowingly violate the law.

Colorado’s Proposition 134 would require K-12 and collegiate athletic teams to designate teams as male, female, or coed based on sex, preventing males from competing on girls’ and women’s teams. Female athletes could join a male team if no equivalent female team exists.

Nebraska voters will decide on Initiative 442, which would embed protections from an existing law barring males from girls’ and women’s sports into the state constitution. The initiative would also require school teams to be designated male, female, or coed.

Washington voters will consider Initiative IL26-638, which would prohibit male students from competing on interschool athletic teams or in events designated exclusively for females at public and private K-12 schools. It would also require verification of students’ biological sex by health care providers.

Parental rights: Washington

Washington voters will also consider Initiative IL26-001, which would restore the state’s parental-rights provisions to their original 2024 form, reversing changes lawmakers enacted in 2025. The proposal would require schools to provide access to student records within 10 business days rather than 45 days and restore advance notification when schools offer medical services to a child, except in emergencies.

It would also broaden parents’ ability to opt children out of assignments and activities that ask about their sexual experiences or attractions, family beliefs, or mental health problems affecting the child or a family member.

Other education measures

Beyond the social debates, voters will weigh education funding measures in New Mexico, Minnesota, and California, along with a North Dakota constitutional initiative guaranteeing enrolled public-school students one free breakfast and one free lunch each school day. Rhode Island voters will also consider $275 million in bonds for higher education facilities.

The Post, citing the National Conference of State Legislatures, reported that this year has brought a total of 19 education-related measures to state ballots — the most since the 2018 midterms. Two of those measures already failed in Louisiana’s May elections. The outlet reported 11 school-related measures in 2020, 12 in 2022, and 17 in 2024.

According to the outlet, Helen Brewer, a senior policy specialist at the National Conference of State Legislatures, said it’s been “notable to see the education measures increase so sharply.”