COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Against warnings from the American Civil Liberties Union, an Ohio House committee has voted to approve a bill designed to ensure that public school students who want to express their religious viewpoints can get the same access to school facilities as secular students.
The bill was voted out of committee Wednesday morning. It now goes to the full House of Representatives.
HB 425 would also remove a provision in law that lets school districts limit the exercise or expression of religion to lunch periods or other non-instructional time periods.
Students could engage in religious expression before, during, and after school hours to the same extent that a student may take part in secular activities at such times.
The bill, called the Ohio Student Religious Liberties Act, also would prohibit schools from disallowing religious expression in class assignments.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bill Hayes says he believes the proposal is a state affirmation of a student’s first amendment right.
“Yes, there are circumstances where, in local school districts and in classrooms teachers make a decision that they’re not going to allow kids to speak up about their faith,” Hayes said. “We believe that…we need to emphasize that it is permitted.”
Licking Valley school superintendent David Hile supports the idea behind the bill.
“I see it as just another step toward freedom of expression,” Hile said. “I’m not sure what we’re afraid of – allowing students to have a conversation within a classroom, within a school about religion and about their beliefs about religion.”
Hile experienced the controversy that can surround the debate. In 2014, the Freedom from Religion Foundation complained to the district after the high school football coach was seen praying with players on the field. Public school employees are not allowed to promote a religion or participate in religious activities with students on school property.
Gary Daniels, chief lobbyist for ACLU of Ohio, says student rights for religious express are already protected under federal law.
Daniels says HB 425 “opens the door much further that what the courts and the US Supreme Court are comfortable with and have ruled on the past.”
“How much can you push the envelope?” Daniels said. “When you’re talking about the school public address system, at a football game, at a graduation, at a school assembly, if under the bill these types of language must be treated the same – it goes far beyond what the Supreme Court has signed off on in the past.”
Under the legislation, religious expression includes prayer, religious gatherings, distribution of written literature and other religious activities.The Associated Press contributed to this report.