A bill aimed at encouraging school prayer is drawing praise from an unlikely pairing of free speech advocates and social conservatives even as some warn it could make it tougher for school administrators to discipline students.
The legislation (HB 31) grew out of a longstanding dispute in the Panhandles Santa Rosa County, where the ACLU got the school district to sign a consent decree restricting prayer and religious activities by students at school events. The measure also bars school officials from preaching or promoting prayers during school functions and organizing school-sponsored religious services.
But several Panhandle lawmakers, angered by the consent decree restrictions, fought back this spring successfully getting the Legislature to approve the measure prohibiting school officials from infringing on the free speech rights of students or teachers, unless they agree to the limits in writing.
This bill says that just because youre a student or work for a school district, it doesnt mean you check your rights at the door, Rep. Brad Drake, R-Eucheeanna, told the News Service of Florida on Thursday.
The Santa Rosa consent decree remains under attack in court. The Liberty Counsel, a conservative advocacy organization based in Orlando, filed suit this month saying the consent decree makes a mockery of the First Amendment.
First Amendment advocates say the legislation -- expected to be sent soon to Gov. Charlie Crist -- clearly enhances free speech. But they point out that it could also include consequences supporters failed to envision.
Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Association in Washington, D.C., said the legislation may unshackle student newspapers from the usual oversight of school administrators, effectively putting Florida among seven states none in the Southeast which have passed laws endorsing free expression for students.
Student papers running frank discussions of sex on campus, drug-use, and other provocative topics usually face few restrictions in the states that have approved such laws, LoMonte said.
This bill certainly leaves an open question about what the standard in Florida is going to be for student newspapers, said LoMonte, a former Tallahassee reporter with the Florida Times-Union.
Similarly, because the legislation also safeguards teachers and other school personnel, it may blunt sanctions by school administrators against personnel for speech and dress code, experts said.
The focus of the bill may have been about freedom of religion, said Barbara Petersen, executive director of the First Amendment Foundation, an advocacy organization funded by news organizations, including the News Service of Florida. But its very broad and seems to open the door for free speech, whether it be a T-shirt that says `George Bush Sucks, a Confederate flag, or students wearing head scarves to school.
But Rep. Greg Evers, R-Baker, a sponsor of the legislation, disagreed, saying the measure would have no impact on school discipline or long-standing rules.
What cannot happen under this law is a teacher cannot stop a student from bowing his or her head in quiet, silent prayer before the FCAT (test) begins, as long as it does not obstruct the health, safety and welfare of the other members of the class, Evers said.
He added, Similarly, no child can stand up and start saying the pledge loudly during the FCAT because, again, the health, safety and the welfare restrictions established by years of First Amendment case law still apply.
