A pre-filed constitutional amendment in Alabama would require school boards to set time for the Pledge of Allegiance or lose school funding, and require votes on allowing employees and students to pray and read religious texts in school.
Failure to comply would lead to a loss of school funding.
House Bill 43, sponsored by Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Pike Road, would have to be approved by voters in a statewide election if it passes the Legislature during the 2026 session, which begins in January.
Ingram said in a phone interview that the amendment aimed to allow students to practice their religion.
“This is just to give (students) the option to be able to fellowship with other students who are Christians,” he said.
The ACLU of Alabama said in a statement the proposed amendment violates the First Amendment.
“The U.S. Constitution allows for students and school employees to engage in private prayer during the school day, but students and school employees cannot be compelled, coerced, persuaded or encouraged to join in prayer or other religious activity,” A’Niya Robinson, director of policy and organizing at the ACLU of Alabama said. “HB 43 is not only unconstitutional but also creates a hostile educational environment for students who do not adhere to state-sanctioned religious practices.”
Nik Nartowicz, lead policy counsel for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works to defend the right to freedom of religion, said legislators cannot enforce religion in schools.
“Our Constitution’s promise of church-state separation means that students and their families — not politicians — get to decide if, when and how children engage with religion,” Nartowicz said in a statement. “This bill would advance Christian nationalists’ agenda to impose their religion on public schoolchildren.”
The amendment, if passed, would require students to have a signed consent form in order to participate in prayer and the reading of religious texts. If students have not consented to prayer and reading, it cannot be done in class.
Ingram said students who have given consent will be sent to a different classroom to not interfere with teachers’ instructional time.
Schools that have shown a “continued pattern of intentional refusal” will be investigated by the Alabama Department of Education and could have up to 25% of their state funding withheld.
“Some schools may not want to do it or put it to a vote for the students in their school system, so this is just where the school systems have to act on it and the board members have to vote on it,” Ingram said. “Even if it’s voted up or down, a position has to be taken. So if it’s voted down, no money is going to be withheld.”
The proposed amendment to the state constitution would also mandate that each public school vote on whether to say the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the day.
“Right now, it’s in the school policy to where you have to have the pledge, but a lot of schools are not doing the pledge. They’re not complying with the law, and that was a bill that Speaker Ledbetter passed years ago,” Ingram said in a phone interview.
Any school that does not vote on whether they will say the pledge at the start of the school day, or does not say the Pledge of Allegiance after voting to say it, could have up to 25% of their state funding withheld. However, funding can be restored upon complying with the law.
“We don’t want to cut any school funding, but we want to make sure that they comply with the law and that they put it up to a vote of the school board within 60 days,” Ingram said. “If they vote yes, they have to comply and keep doing it every day, and if they vote no, they don’t have to do it.”
Robinson said forcing students to recite the pledge is harmful to their rights.
“Students should have the freedom to recite (or not recite) the pledge, and withholding school funds as enforcement further threatens that freedom that our country defends,” she said in a statement.
According to Ingram, students have a choice on if they want to say the Pledge of Allegiance or not.
“It’s not mandatory for every student to stand up and hold their hand over their heart, especially if they’re not a U.S. citizen. We’re not making them do that, but the teacher has to have it as an option to do,” he said in a phone interview.
Reed filed a similar bill for the 2025 legislative session, but the bill was postponed indefinitely.
Alabama legislators will begin meeting Jan. 13.
Read more at AlabamaReflector.com.