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Guns, religion sidetrack code rewrite

By Dara Kam
Gannett News Service

TALLAHASSEE -- The rewrite of Florida's school code blew up Friday over arguments about religious freedom and guns in school parking lots, despite last-ditch lobbying by Gov. Jeb Bush to save the bill.

The House passed the bill -- complete with provisions to allow students to preach their religion and keep guns locked in their cars, if they're 18.

But the Senate balked, refusing to vote on the 1,800-page tome that governs everything from pre-school readiness to Bright Futures scholarships.

"I think this bill could probably be characterized as allowing kids to go to high school with their shotguns going out shooting squirrels so that they could sacrifice them to Satan," said Sen. Walter "Skip" Campbell, D-Fort Lauderdale.

Bush, whose education record is a critical issue in his upcoming re-election campaign, immediately announced lawmakers must return to Tallahassee early next week for a second special session, though he set no date.

A new school code is needed to formalize Bush's broad changes to Florida's schools into a "seamless" K-post graduate system.

Lawmakers will have the weekend to stew over the two clauses in the massive bill that have created storms of controversy at home: religious freedom and gun rights.

Frustrated Bush calls religious fight a 'non-issue'

The "Basic Religious Freedoms" section of the proposed code would give students the rights to pray, to read Bibles, to express religious beliefs in artwork and homework. Students would also be able to "persuade their peers about religious topics."

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Here is the proposed language on religious freedom in schools:

1002.20 (11) Basic Religious Freedoms
In accordance with the joint statement of current case law by the American Jewish Congress, the ACLU, the Anti-Defamation League, and others:

(a) Right to pray - Students have the right to pray individually or in groups or to discuss their religious views with their peers so long as they are not disruptive.

(b) Right to express - Students may express their religious beliefs in the form of reports, homework, and artwork, and such expressions are constitutionally protected. Teachers may not reject or correct such submissions simply because they include a religious symbol or address religious themes.

(c) Right to distribute - Students have the right to distribute religious literature to their schoolmates, subject to those reasonable time, place and manner or other constitutionally acceptable restrictions imposed on the distribution of all non-school literature.

(d) Right to participate - Student participation in before-school or after-school events, such as "See you at the pole," is permissible.

(e) Right to speak - Students have the right to speak to, and attempt to persuade, their peers about religious topics just as they do with regard to political topics.

(f) Right to meet - Student religious clubs in secondary schools must be permitted to meet and to have equal access to campus media to announce their meetings if a school receives federal funds and permits any student non-curricular club to meet during non-instructional time.

The anonymous authors of the section -- on a House committee chaired by Rep. Jerry Melvin, R-Fort Walton Beach -- lifted the proposed law out of a religion-in-schools pamphlet endorsed by the American Jewish Congress.

But Jewish and Christian senators alike were outraged. They warned the passage opens the door for proselytizing, including by witches, and would result in "millions of dollars in lawsuits."

"This sets a new floor on the types of religious activities that can go on in schools," said Sen. Ron Klein, D-Delray Beach. It creates "aggravation and consternation for children and parents."

Students would also be allowed to distribute religious literature.

Bush, who lobbied lawmakers directly Friday, called the change a "non-issue."

"It's one page out of an 1,800-page document," he said. "I'm very frustrated."

Gun debate angers both sides

The equally controversial weapons provision would allow school boards to permit guns on campus as long as they are kept in locked cars.

"The terrorists have definitely contaminated the water system of the state House and Senate," Attorney General Bob Butterworth said from his Fort Lauderdale office Friday before senators rejected the proposal. "It's idiotic."

"It's completely contrary to the message that we're attempting to put out that when your child goes to school: 'Your child is going to be safe,' " he said.

Florida law already allows adults over 18 to keep guns in locked cars, and allows school boards to set that law aside. The proposed school code goes a step further by including the exemption in the state school code -- saying the zero-tolerance law does not force school boards to ban guns.

Democrats want to go the other direction, using the rewrite to tighten the state's zero-tolerance ban on weapons at school, already part of local rules in Florida's 69 school districts.

Parents and teachers throughout the state also decried the proposal.

Lee County School Board Chairman Jane Kuckel this week said the district has no plans to change its zero tolerance policy against guns on school grounds.

Bush and Melvin say it should be up to school boards to set such policies.

"I trust my local school board to set the correct policy," the House bill's architect, Melvin, told fellow lawmakers. "What we have done is give the authority to the local school boards to make those decisions they feel necessary for the safety of their own children."

"I'm quite sure that the parents at Columbine felt their children were safe," said Rep. Terry Fields, D-Jacksonville. "As a representative who represents many schools in troubled areas where children have bought firearms and where teachers have been gunned down, that's unacceptable to me."

"To even imply to anyone in Florida that our schools are unsafe is unfair," said Rep. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach. "You may choose to make this a campaign platform for yourselves, but I tell you I choose to talk about the positives.

"I have seen steady improvement. Minorities, people in lower socio-economic groups ... are all doing better than before." She chastised House Democrats for voting against the bill because it lacked "your favorite little things."

"My little favorite thing is saving the lives of children," retorted Rep. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa.

This is the second fruitless session in the past six months in which lawmakers failed to reach agreement. Bush was visibly angry as he left Senate President John McKay's office after senators refused to vote on the House-approved bill.

But that bill arrived in the Senate only after a morning of screaming debate, almost entirely over the gun measure.

The House voted 74-37 down party lines to accept the school bill, and then House Speaker Tom Feeney called it quits for the week without waiting for a Senate response -- a rebuke to the Senate negotiators who earlier told Feeney they would send over an amended version with at least the religious freedoms section removed.

Rossin: Horrendous session

"School's Out for Summer" and "We are the Champions" blared on the loudspeaker of the House as animosity between the House and Senate was reinforced in the faces of frustrated lawmakers.

"It is time to put aside the petty politics and serve the citizens of Florida," Bush said in his formal post-session statement.

"The session is just horrendous," said Democratic Sen. Tom Rossin, D-West Palm Beach, whose district includes Fort Myers. "In my entire legislative career, i've never seen such blatant disregard for the democratic process or such a monumental waste of time and taxpayer money."

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