SB436 prohibits a school district from discriminating against students and teachers on the basis of religious belief and allows for expression of religious views in schoolwork.
The Florida State Senate passed SB436 on March 23, 2017 by a vote of 23 to 13. We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the separation of church and state is better represented by an allowance for religious viewpoints than by punishing students for their individual expressions of faith. This bill defends the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and advances the determination of the U.S. Supreme Court that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”