The Alabama Senate Education Policy Committee passed House Bill 511 Tuesday, legislation that would propose an amendment to Alabama’s State Constitution requiring public K-12 schools to conduct the Pledge of Allegiance and a student-led prayer period on a daily basis.
Under current Alabama law, public K-12 schools are already required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of each school day. However, HB511 would enshrine that mandate in the state’s constitution while also requiring that public schools hold a voluntary prayer period.
Initially, the bill also threatened to withhold 25 percent of state funding from schools who failed to comply with the pledge/prayer mandate. However, the bill was amended on the House floor last week to remove that provision and to require that any prayer be student-initiated and led.
The version of the bill that came before the Senate Education Policy Committee on Tuesday also explicitly states that students may voluntarily opt out of participating in the pledge and/or the prayer period based on their own beliefs.
HB511’s sponsor, Representative Reed Ingram, R-Pike Road, has argued that prayer belongs in Alabama’s public schools and that children should be taught that America is the “greatest country on planet Earth.” Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers have criticized the bill as infringing upon students’ First Amendment rights to religious freedom.
The five committee members present for Tuesday’s vote quickly and unanimously passed HB511 without discussion. The legislation will now go to the Senate floor, but the constitutional amendment will still require approval by the majority of Alabama voters to go into effect if it passes.
