On Tuesday, the Florida Department of Education issued a letter to parents of public school students with updated guidance on religious expression in school, including a new email address for complaints and a pledge to investigate each one.

Lee and Collier County Public School parents received the letter this week. The purpose, the letter said, is to replace prior guidance from the Biden administration, and to affirm that students, teachers and other employees retain constitutional rights to religious expression, including individual prayer.

Florida’s new guidance stems from the U.S. Department of Education’s nine-page clarification on the same subject last month. In part, it outlines scenarios that public schools may encounter regarding religious speech and are allowed, as long as they don’t violate ordinary class rules or interrupt class instruction.

Students may pray quietly or in a speaking voice as any other student might engage in non-religious speech, whether off- or on-campus at a school-sponsored event. A student may dress in accordance with his religious faith, wearing for example a cross necklace, a yarmulke or a headscarf. Students or employees can pray and join in prayer at school events, but such prayers cannot be delivered on behalf of the school nor can participation be mandatory.

The guidelines further state that no school employee may suppress nor coerce any religious expression.

The U.S. education department’s guidelines include a statement that “This is not the familiar but legally unsound metaphor of a ‘wall of separation’ between religious faith and public schools. It is rather a stance of neutrality among and accommodation toward all faiths.”