New Iowa Bill Would Require Schools To Do Pledge of Allegiance Daily
Should Iowa youngsters have to recite the Pledge of Allegiance each day at school? A new bill in the statehouse in Des Moines says 'yes,' and it got a unanimous agreement during a vote on Tuesday.
Carter Nordman, a Republican from Adel, is the sponsor of House File 415. If approved, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier says it would "require accredited and non-accredited K-12 schools to administer the pledge on a daily basis and to show the U.S. flag while the pledge is recited." Nordman says, "We can be on complete opposite sides of the political spectrum. We can disagree... But at the end of the day, we all know we’re united under one flag.”
The Iowa House voted 93-0 in favor of House File 415.
Even if the bill eventually becomes law, students would not be required to take part, due to a ruling nearly 80 years ago. In 1943, Constitution Center reports that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled “the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment prohibits public schools from forcing students to salute the American flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance."
According to The Hill, Iowa, Vermont, and Wyoming are the only states without any pledge laws. The site goes on to say that a total of 32 states "have laws or guidelines that specifically say students can opt-out of the pledge on their own. Another 15 states have statutes that are unclear, delegate the choice to local schools or parents, or seem to indicate students must take the pledge."