South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has written a bill that would require public school districts to provide a daily moment of silence for 'voluntary prayer, reflection, meditation, or other quiet, respectful activity.'
Noem's office released the draft legislation on Monday and plans to introduce it in the Republican-led state legislature when its annual session begins next month.
The bill states that students and teachers are 'best served by a moment of silence at the start of every school day to afford them a reprieve from the frenzy of daily life and to set a tone of decorum that will be conducive to learning.'
It would provide for a moment of silence 'lasting up to one minute' every morning, according to a copy obtained by the Grand Forks Herald.
Noem, 50, told a crowd in Iowa over the summer that she's 'putting prayer back in our schools.'
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is proposing a bill that would require public schools to host 'up to one minute' of silence every day for prayer, meditation or other quiet activity
Children can already pray in schools 'on the same terms and conditions that they may engage in other conversation or speech,' according to the Department of Education
Children are already allowed to pray individually or in groups and to discuss religion freely with their classmates while they're in school 'on the same terms and conditions that they may engage in other conversation or speech,' according to the US Department of Education.
In 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that mandated school praying was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from making any law 'respecting an establishment of religion.'
The court struck down a 22-word non-denominational prayer recommended to school districts by the New York Board of Regents.
The prayer read: 'Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country,' according to Middle Tennessee State University's First Amendment Encyclopedia.
Noem's proposed law steers clear of any particular religion and emphasizes that a student may engage in any 'quiet, respectful activity' with their time.
'No school employee may dictate the action to be taken by students or teachers during the moment of silence. No student may interfere with another student’s engagement in the moment of silence,' the bill reads.
In 1985, the Supreme Court overturned another 'moment of silence' law in Alabama, after justices found the measure to have a religious purpose.
'The Court held that Alabama's passage of the prayer and meditation statute was not only a deviation from the state's duty to maintain absolute neutrality toward religion, but was an affirmative endorsement of religion.
Speaking to a conservative crowd in Iowa over the summer, Noem, 50, said she is 'putting prayer back in our schools.' Above, Noem on November 5 in Las Vegas
'As such, the statute clearly lacked any secular purpose as it sought to establish religion in public schools, thereby violating the First Amendment's Establishment Clause,' according to Oyez, a project of the Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Janna Farley, a spokesperson for the ACLU of South Dakota, told Forum News Service that students 'already have the right' to religious exercise at public schools and that the bill 'doesn't immediately raise red flags,' though the ACLU has yet to review it.
Noem, a strong social conservative, was elected in 2018 as an ally of then-President Donald Trump.
Earlier this year, she faced criticism from conservatives after she promised to sign a bill banning trans athletes from competing in school or college sports, but substantially altered the legislation at the last minute, taking 'the legal teeth out of [the] bill,' according to Kristen Waggoner of the Alliance Defending Freedom.
In July, Noem told a conservative crowd at an event in Iowa that she doesn't recognize the United States anymore.
'When I grew up, people were proud to have a job,' the governor said. 'They weren't confused on the difference between boys and girls. We prayed in schools – which by the way, in South Dakota, I'm putting prayer back in our schools.'
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