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4431S.03C
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SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 909
AN ACT
To repeal section 160.2500, RSMo, and to enact in
lieu thereof one new section relating to personal
expression at public schools.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 160.2500, RSMo, is repealed and one
new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section
160.2500, to read as follows:
160.2500. 1. This section shall be known and may be
cited as the "Missouri [Student Religious Liberties]
Safeguarding Personal Expression at K-12 Schools (SPEAKS)
Act".
2. A public school district shall not discriminate
against any person on the basis of a religious, political,
or ideological viewpoint or religious, political, or
ideological expression. A school district shall treat a
student's voluntary expression of a religious, political, or
ideological viewpoint, if any, on an otherwise permissible
subject in the same manner the district treats a student's
voluntary expression of a secular or other viewpoint on an
otherwise permissible subject and shall not discriminate
against the student based on a religious, political, or
ideological viewpoint expressed by the student on an
otherwise permissible subject.
3. Students in public schools may express their
religious, political, or ideological beliefs [about
religion] in homework, artwork, and other written and oral
assignments free from discrimination based on the religious,
political, or ideological content of their submissions.
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Homework and classroom assignments shall be judged by
ordinary academic standards of substance and relevance and
against other legitimate pedagogical concerns identified by
the school district. Students shall not be penalized or
rewarded on account of the religious, political, or
ideological content of their work. If an assignment
requires a student's viewpoints to be expressed in course
work, artwork or other written or oral assignments, a public
school district shall not penalize or reward a student on
the basis of religious, political, or ideological content or
a religious, political, or ideological viewpoint. In such
an assignment, a student's academic work that expresses a
religious, political, or ideological viewpoint shall be
evaluated based on ordinary academic standards of substance
and relevance to the course curriculum or requirements of
the course work or assignment.
4. Students in public schools may pray or engage in
religious, political, or ideological activities or
religious, political, or ideological expression before,
during and after the school day in the same manner and to
the same extent that students may engage in [nonreligious]
other activities or expression, provided that such
religious, political, or ideological expression or
religious, political, or ideological activities are not
disruptive of scheduled instructional time or other
educational activities and do not impede access to school
facilities or mobility on school premises. Students may
organize prayer groups[,]; religious, political, or
ideological clubs[,]; or other religious, political, or
ideological gatherings before, during and after school to
the same extent that students are permitted to organize
other noncurricular student activities and groups.
Religious, political, or ideological groups shall be given
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the same access to school facilities for assembling as is
given to other noncurricular groups without discrimination
based on the religious, political, or ideological content of
the student's expression. If student groups that meet for
nonreligious activities are permitted to advertise or
announce meetings of the groups, the school district shall
not discriminate against groups that meet for prayer or
other religious, political, or ideological speech. A school
district may disclaim school sponsorship of noncurricular
groups and events in a manner that neither favors nor
disfavors groups that meet to engage in prayer or religious,
political, or ideological speech.
5. A public school shall not discriminate against a
student club because of:
(1) The religious, political, or ideological
viewpoints expressed by the students or the organization; or
(2) Any requirement that the leaders or members of the
club affirm and adhere to the organization's sincerely held
beliefs, comply with the organization's standards of
conduct, or further the organization's mission or purpose,
as defined by the student organization.
6. Students in public schools may wear clothing,
accessories and jewelry that display religious, political,
or ideological messages or religious, political, or
ideological symbols in the same manner and to the same
extent that other types of clothing, accessories and jewelry
that display messages or symbols are permitted, as specified
in subsection 7 of section 167.166.
[6.] 7. (1) To ensure that the school district does
not discriminate against a student's publicly stated
voluntary expression of a religious, political, or
ideological viewpoint, if any, and to eliminate any actual
or perceived affirmative school sponsorship or attribution
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to the district of a student's expression of a religious,
political, or ideological viewpoint, if any, a school
district shall adopt a policy, which shall include the
establishment of a limited public forum for student speakers
at all school events at which a student is to publicly
speak. The policy regarding the limited public forum shall
also require the school district to:
(a) Provide the forum in a manner that does not
discriminate against a student's voluntary expression of a
religious, political, or ideological viewpoint, if any, on
an otherwise permissible subject;
(b) Provide a method, based on neutral criteria, for
the selection of student speakers at school events and
graduation ceremonies;
(c) Ensure that a student speaker does not engage in
obscene, vulgar, offensively lewd or indecent speech; and
(d) State, in writing, orally, or both, that the
student's speech does not reflect the endorsement,
sponsorship, position or expression of the district.
(2) The school district disclaimer required by
paragraph (d) of subdivision (1) of this subsection shall be
provided at all graduation ceremonies. The school district
shall also continue to provide the disclaimer at any other
event in which a student speaks publicly for as long as a
need exists to dispel confusion over the district's
nonsponsorship of the student's speech.
(3) Student expression on an otherwise permissible
subject shall not be excluded from the limited public forum
because the subject is expressed from a religious,
political, or ideological viewpoint.
(4) All public school districts shall adopt and
implement a local policy regarding a limited public forum
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and voluntary student expression of religious, political, or
ideological viewpoints.
[7.] 8. The provisions of this section shall not be
construed to authorize this state or any of its political
subdivisions to either:
(1) Require any person to participate in prayer or in
any other religious, political, or ideological activity; or
(2) Violate the constitutional rights of any person.
[8.] 9. The provisions of this section shall not be
construed to limit the authority of any public school to do
any of the following:
(1) Maintain order and discipline on the campus of the
public school in a content and viewpoint neutral manner;
(2) Protect the safety of students, employees and
visitors of the public school;
(3) Adopt and enforce policies and procedures
regarding student speech at school, provided that the
policies and procedures do not violate the rights of
students as guaranteed by law.
10. The provisions of this section shall not be
construed to limit the authority of any public school to
prohibit, limit, or restrict any of the following:
(1) Expression that the First Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States does not protect, such as
true threats, obscenity, or expression directed to provoke
imminent lawless actions and likely to produce such actions;
(2) Expression that is unwelcome and so severe,
pervasive, and subjectively and objectively offensive that a
student is effectively denied equal access to educational
opportunities or benefits provided by the school; or
(3) Conduct that intentionally, materially, and
substantially disrupts:
(a) The operations of the school; or
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(b) The expressive activity of another individual if
that activity is occurring in a campus space reserved for
that activity under the exclusive use or control of a
particular student, group of students, or club.
11. Any person or student organization who is harmed
by a violation of this section or whose rights under this
section are violated shall have a private cause of action
against the public school for declaratory and injunctive
relief, monetary damages, reasonable attorney's fees and
costs, and any other appropriate relief. A person or
student organization shall be required to bring suit for
violation of this section not later than two years after the
day the cause of action accrues. For purposes of
calculating the two-year limitation period, each day that
the violation persists and each day that a policy in
violation of this section remains in effect shall constitute
a new day that the cause of action has accrued. If a court
should find a violation of this section, it shall issue an
award to the prevailing party of at least five thousand
dollars.
12. Any person or student organization aggrieved by a
violation of this section may assert such violation as a
defense or counterclaim in any disciplinary action or in any
civil or administrative proceeding brought against such
person or student organization.
13. Nothing in this section shall be construed to
limit any other remedies available to any student or student
organization.
14. The state waives immunity and consents to be sued
in federal court for claims arising under this section. A
public school that violates this section is not immune from
suit or liability for the violation.
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[9.] 15. The provisions of section 1.140 are
applicable to this section.