Schools across the U.S. are increasingly moving to recognize Ramadan — a month on the Islamic calendar dedicated to fasting, prayer and community — and bolster support for Muslim students.

Driving the news: Muslim students in dozens of cities have in recent years pushed schools to recognize the holy month of Ramadan the same way other religious holidays are recognized. Those calls have increased as the Muslim population in the U.S. continues to grow — Pew Research Center projected in 2018 that Islam could be the U.S.’s second-largest religion by 2040.

{snip}

State of play: In recent years, student-led advocacy in both blue and red states has pushed school districts to recognize Ramadan and observe Eid al-Fitr — the celebration that marks the end of Ramadan — as a holiday.

• In January, the Watchung Borough School District in New Jersey decided to close schools on Eid al-Fitr in the 2023-2024 school year. The Fairfield Board of Education in Connecticut similarly voted in December to give students the day off.
• In Florida, the Miami-Dade County School Board designated it a teacher planning day with no student attendance in the 2023-2024 school year, while the Palm Beach County School Board approved days off in April 2024 and March 2025 to celebrate Eid al-Fitr {snip}
• The Hilliard City Schools Board of Education in Ohio voted in July to add Eid al-Fitr as a holiday for the 2023-2024 academic year. The school board in Mehlville, Missouri also decided to make Eid al-Fitr a holiday last April after studying attendance and absence trends.

{snip}