Two school prayer bills introduced by Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Pike Road, were approved in two Alabama House committees Wednesday (March 4), leaving lawmakers with competing proposals that could cost school districts millions of dollars if they refuse to comply.
House Bill 43 passed the House Education Policy Committee, while House Bill 511 cleared the House State Government Committee. Though originally filed with identical language, the bills now take sharply different approaches to prayer in public schools.
Subscribe to The Alabama Baptist today!
SIGN UP for our weekly Highlights emails.
House Bill 43 would allow local school boards to decide whether to permit prayer or devotional time during the school day. House Bill 511 would require all public schools to provide time each day for prayer.
Penalties
Both proposals include conducting the Pledge of Allegiance daily and provide financial penalties for school systems that refuse to comply. House Bill 511 would allow the state to withhold up to 25% of a district’s state funding.
Student participation in both prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance would remain optional.
Both bills call for a constitutional amendment that would appear on the statewide ballot in November if approved by the Legislature.
Student-initiated prayer is already allowed under state law, and schools are required to offer the Pledge of Allegiance daily, but the amendment would explicitly place both in the state constitution and govern how prayer in school could occur.
Ingram said the legislation is intended to restore practices he remembers from his childhood.
“We had prayer in school and we had the Pledge,” he said.
He argued that as prayer has disappeared from schools, student mental health problems have worsened and lawmakers need to try “something new.”
“What we’re doing now is not working,” Ingram said.
Local control or statewide mandate for school prayer
Under HB43, local boards of education would have 90 days after voters ratify the constitutional amendment to decide whether to adopt a policy allowing voluntary prayer or devotion time for students and employees before or during the school day.
The substitute version of HB511 approved by the House State Government Committee takes a different approach.
Instead of allowing local boards to decide, it would require all public schools to provide time each day for prayer.
Either bill could reach the House floor as early as next week.
Full story.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by Alabama Daily News.
Share with others: