As schools are letting out for the summer across Ohio, state lawmakers are looking ahead to the next academic year.
Among the proposed changes to the laws governing the state’s public schools, one bill would require that schools make time for the Pledge of Allegiance every day. Although some already do, current law only requires each district’s school board to have a policy on whether its schools regularly stand and recite the pledge. In short, it’s not a mandate.
Reps. Tracy Richardson (R-Marysville) and Sean Brennan (D-Parma) introduced House Bill 117 in February. It’s scheduled for a vote in the House Education committee Tuesday afternoon.
Before Brennan was elected, he taught middle schoolers and high schoolers for more than 30 years. Brennan said in an interview Friday he believes fewer and fewer schools are leading their students in the pledge routinely, which is something he takes issue with.
“It’s not being done everywhere, and I believe in my heart that it should be,” he said. “The state already sets many baseline educational requirements, for instance, teaching civics and history, which I did all those years.”
HB 117 also requires public school districts to post their Pledge of Allegiance policy online.
Scouting America, the Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio, and three districts have testified in favor of the bill.
Brennan heard from some opponents with concerns about bullying if a student chooses not to stand or recite the pledge, which the First Amendment protects and HB 117 reaffirms, he said.
“I’d use that as a teachable moment about inclusivity, and how the reason we stand for the pledge is for your rights and freedoms, and one of them is not to stand for the pledge,” Brennan said.
States have varying laws on whether schools must include the pledge as part of their daily schedules. A small number of states, including Florida and Texas, only allow students to abstain from saying the pledge with permission from their parents, according to the National Youth Rights Association.
