Teens in the U.S. South more likely than others to express religion in school | Pew Research Center

Adults in the U.S. South tend to be more religious than Americans in other parts of the country on a variety of traditional measures. They’re more likely to say that religion is very important to them, that they believe in God with absolute certainty and that they pray daily. And even though teacher-led religious activity in public schools has been restricted by U.S. courts, students retain the right to freely exercise their religion in school, with teens in the South expressing their religion in school more often than teens in other parts of the country, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. ...
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/10/teens-in-the-south-more-likely-than-other-u-s-teens-to-experience-religion-in-public-school/

The Right Wing in America Has Long Tried to Destroy 'Government Schools' | Alternet

Historian Nancy MacLean, author of the best-selling "Democracy in Chains," argues that privatizing public education is a dream of the radical right dating back to the segregationist South....
http://www.alternet.org/education/crusade-against-government-schools