News Articles
House panel OKs school-prayer bill
Pensacola News Journal, April 12, 2010
By Jim Ash
TALLAHASSEE — At the urging of a recent Pace High School student-body president, and over the warnings of civil libertarians, a House panel on Friday unanimously approved a watered-down school-prayer measure that sponsors hope will protect religious freedom.
"This bill, now, is a protection of school free speech," said co-sponsor Rep. Greg Evers, R-Baker.
The bill is a response to a 2008 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union against Santa Rosa schools. The ACLU challenged teacher-led Bible study and administration-promoted prayer.
A federal court-approved consent decree last year prohibits school officials from instigating religious activities in conjunction with school events. Evers and other critics complain the agreement violates the rights of teachers and students.
Banned speech
Mary Allen, an 18-year-old Florida State University student, told members of the House Policy Council that Santa Rosa school administrators banned her from addressing a pre-graduation banquet, a tradition that had been honored in Santa Rosa schools for student-body presidents for 30 years.
Administrators told her that because teachers had a say in naming her class president, any reference she made to her faith could be interpreted as being endorsed by the administration, Allen said.
"My graduation was to thank the people who helped get me there," Allen told the House panel. "I couldn't have given a speech without thanking God."
The bill would have no effect on the Santa Rosa settlement. But it would prohibit school districts in the future from entering into an agreement, "that infringes or waives the rights or freedoms afforded to instructional personnel, school staff, or students by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution."
Ed Holmes, the father of two Milton High School band members, also urged the committee to reject the bill. Holmes said he is a "proud Episcopalian," and that his wife and daughters are Catholic.
"While my immediate family is Christian, our religious traditions are not the same as those of evangelical Christians which comprise the majority of residents in Santa Rosa County," Holmes said. "If you pass this bill and students begin delivering inspirational messages at these events, my children and I may not feel welcome."
Opposes bill
Holmes, a retired researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that when he moved his family from Atlanta to Milton in 2005, he was often approached by strangers who would ask him if he was "saved."
"You don't hear that a lot from Catholics and Episcopalians," he said.
A companion measure, by Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, has yet to get a hearing.
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