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It’s not just a change, it’s a repeal

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Illinois

* There’s something important missing from this story…

[A]n Illinois House committee mustered just enough votes Thursday to advance a measure that would make the state’s moment of silence law optional for schools.

House Bill 4180 would largely rewrite a law passed last year that requires schools to start the day with a moment of silence. The law is the subject of a lawsuit filed in October by talk show host and atheist Rob Sherman and his teen-age daughter, who say it is an effort to inject religion into public schools. […]

If moments of silence were made optional, “we would certainly get the superintendent’s and the community’s input” before deciding how to proceed, Conley said.

Rep. David Reis, R-Willow Hill, opposed the bill sponsored by Rep. John Fritchey, D-Chicago, saying that 14 states have a mandatory moment of silence in schools.

* The same thing goes for this story…

A bill which would “allow” rather than “mandate” a moment of silence in Illinois public schools passed its first hurdle Thursday in the Illinois House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.

* Here is the law as it stood before it was changed last year [all emphasis added]…

In each public school classroom the teacher in charge may observe a brief period of silence with the participation of all the pupils therein assembled at the opening of every school day.

* And this is what last year’s change looked like…

In each public school classroom the teacher in charge shall observe a brief period of silence with the participation of all the pupils therein assembled at the opening of every school day.

* And, finally, here is what this year’s change would do…

In each public school classroom, the teacher in charge may conduct a brief period of silence with the participation of all the pupils therein assembled at the opening of every school day.

This bill is clearly a flat-out repeal of last year’s law. I’m not sure why that hasn’t been made more clear in most of the coverage. The only other significant change is that the title of the statute has been altered, from…

The Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act

To…

The Silent Reflection Act

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Feb 22, 08 @ 10:49 am

Comments

I wish the legislature would spend its time on something that matters-Like how to fund the state’s operations. They might as well just stay home. At least at home they would not contribute to inane debates over nothing.

Comment by SIU Prof Friday, Feb 22, 08 @ 10:54 am
I’ve always found the school prayer movement somewhat confusing. Without any prompting from others, I spent most of my school years in a state of constant silent prayer that I didn’t get beat up, get caught, make a fool of myself or flunk. The results were a decidedly mixed bag, but the Lord works in mysterious ways.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Feb 22, 08 @ 10:55 am
SIU prof echoes my sentiments-now that all our budget and approps issues have been solved, let’s try to bend the US Constitution…

Comment by Anonymous45 Friday, Feb 22, 08 @ 11:21 am
Rich,

As you know, I opposed the bill last year on several grounds. I consider HB4180 to be a rewrite, rather than a repeal. The bill does 3 things - Returns the bill to its original permissive nature; removes all references to prayer; and clarifies the language to essentially state that a student may think whatever they wish during the moment of silence.

As I stated in committee yesterday, my preference actually would be to repeal the bill, I don’t think that we should mandate a moment of silence, and conversely, I don’t think that there is any reason to have a law that says that a school ‘may’ have one, they can do it on their own. That being said, I don’t believe that the votes are there to pass a repeal.

Accordingly, along with Rep. Eddy, I attempted to rewrite the bill to address the stated concerns of both the proponents and opponents of the existing law. I think that we have put forth a commonsense compromise on an issue that has taken up too much time already.

Comment by Rep. John Fritchey Friday, Feb 22, 08 @ 11:43 am
John, I appreciate your comments, but I still say it’s a repeal. I guess we could argue semantics here, but if this bill passes the law’s language would be almost exactly the same as it was before last year’s bill was passed. That would make this new proposal a repeal in my mind.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Feb 22, 08 @ 2:07 pm
This also points out something that, I think, was missing in many of the descriptions of the “shall” bill last year.

I was in the Senate gallery the day is was debated and passed, and the sponsors acted as if the “may” law did not exist. The premise the bill’s supporters seemed to present was that they were providing teachers with an authority they did not already have (clearly was not the case).

They also said that having the children sit and be quiet for a minute at the start of the day was a good teaching practice. My thought at the time was, if it’s necessary, the teacher will do it, if it’s not they shouldn’t be forced.

A lot of reporting skipped over the silliness of requiring something that was optional and, if necessary for classroom management, completely within the authority of the teacher to do.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Friday, Feb 22, 08 @ 2:53 pm
The whole issue is silly. It shouldn’t be mandatory or optional. When our children are lagging behind so many other countries in their education, why waste precious school time on daydreaming, meditation or even prayer? There are plenty of hours in the evening and on weekends for these things.

Comment by Anon Friday, Feb 22, 08 @ 3:31 pm
I am sure there is very reliable research showing that most fifth graders throughout Illinois quietly contemplated their day during “Quiet Time” compared to figuring out how to make the rank of major in Call of Duty 4.

Comment by zatoichi Friday, Feb 22, 08 @ 4:41 pm
Fritchey’s bill is a repeal along with elimination of the word prayer from the statute. The question is how many legislators will flipflop on a matter they twice voted on last year. The question for any flipfloppers: If the mandate was a good idea last year, why is it now a bad idea needing repeal??

Comment by Fight for Justice Saturday, Feb 23, 08 @ 10:28 am