School-prayer bill moves forward in Florida House

By The Associated Press

04.18.01

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — High school students could lead prayers at school graduations and other assemblies that they aren't required to attend under a bill ready for a vote by the state House.

Republicans and the bill's Democratic sponsor rebuffed efforts on April 16 to change the bill to simply reassert students' rights to pray on their own.

A vote on the measure, CS-HB 1199, could come next week. Then it would have to go to the Senate, which doesn't have a similar measure of its own.

Bill opponents say it is unconstitutional. They note that last June the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe that public schools can't let students lead stadium crowds in prayer before games, saying it amounted to government backing of religion.

The bill would let district school boards, if they choose, adopt rules allowing prayers at secondary school graduation or "school-related noncompulsory student assemblies."

A prayer would have to be given by a student volunteer chosen randomly — not by majority vote — and would have to be "nonsectarian and nonproselytizing."

It also specifies that school staff can't participate in the prayer or pick a student to do it.

"This act is not intended to advance or endorse any religious belief," said its sponsor, Democratic Rep. Wilbert "Tee" Holloway of Miami.

The measure is partly in response to the Duval County school board's effort to allow such prayers. Duval County is in court fighting for a law allowing students to choose a class member to give messages at school graduations.

Opponents said the bill would make students who practice other religions captive audiences for Christian prayers.

"It is about protecting the minority," said Rep. Dan Gelber. "This country was built on that notion."

Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat who is Jewish, remembered his public school education, during which he had to explain his religious beliefs during classroom discussions of Easter and ended up being harassed by students after school.

But supporters said the bill would allow students to exercise their right to express their religious beliefs, and argued that it was needed to restore a lost order in schools.

Rep. Mike Hogan said the bill simply was trying to reclaim a lost right that students had when he was in school.

"My 12 years in public school started every morning with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance," said Hogan, R-Jacksonville. "I don't recall mass murder in school."

The amendment that would have simply made it clear that students have a right to pray on their own was defeated 82-34.

Other amendments seeking to require that students from different religions lead prayers were also defeated.

Five years ago, the Legislature passed a school-prayer bill, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Lawton Chiles. Gov. Jeb Bush has not said whether he supports the measure.