House committee rejects Gov. Noem's school prayer bill

PIERRE | A Republican-dominated South Dakota House committee on Friday rejected Gov. Kristi Noem's proposal to require public schools to have a moment of silence to start the day.

The Republican governor first billed the proposal at a conservative Christian conference last year as “putting prayer back in schools,” but a House committee rejected the idea after education groups argued that voluntary prayer is already allowed in schools and the proposed law would have saddled teachers with an unclear mandate. The Republican-dominated House Education committee rejected the bill on a nine to six vote, but it could still be revived with support from one-third of House members.

“Maybe it’s me, but I view prayer as something that is personal and not performative,” said Republican Rep. Will Mortenson, who criticized the bill as vaguely written.

Organizations representing schools and the teacher's union asserted they had not been consulted by the governor's office on the proposal and it would have added a vague and potentially unwieldy mandate to classrooms. An aide for the governor acknowledged to the committee that Noem's office had not worked with school districts to craft the bill, but argued that 15 other states have enacted similar requirements and the moment of silence gave students an opportunity to focus before they start their day.

Read more: https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/house-committee-rejects-gov-noems-school-prayer-bill/article_a72dcf99-e809-599e-acbb-9d5eb6e816b8.html