HB231 Alabama 2025 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Reed IngramRepresentative

Republican

Session

2025 Regular Session

Title

Public K-12 education; Pledge of Allegiance and prayer required each day, constitutional amendment

Summary

This bill would amend Alabama's constitution to require daily Pledge of Allegiance and Judeo-Christian prayer in public K-12 schools, with funding penalties for noncompliant local boards.

What This Bill Does

It would require local boards of education to adopt policies that, at the start of each school day, conduct the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer reflecting Judeo-Christian values, with voluntary student participation in the pledge. Violations can be reported to the State Superintendent and investigated by the State Department of Education. If there is a continued pattern of noncompliance, the State Superintendent would withhold 25% of state funding for the offending local board for the next fiscal year, and the Legislature could further reduce funding for ongoing violations. The amendment would be presented to voters and, if ratified, becomes part of the Alabama Constitution.

Who It Affects

• Local boards of education and public K-12 schools under them would be required to adopt and enforce policies for daily Pledge and Judeo-Christian prayer; noncompliance could lead to funding penalties.
• State and local education authorities (State Superintendent of Education, State Department of Education) and the Alabama Legislature would handle investigation of violations and determine funding reductions for continued noncompliance.

Key Provisions

• Requires local boards to adopt policies mandating that each public K-12 school conduct the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag and provide voluntary opportunities for students to recite it, and conduct a prayer reflecting Judeo-Christian values at the start of the first class each day.
• Suspected violations may be reported to the State Superintendent of Education, and the State Department of Education shall investigate the alleged violation.
• If there is a continued pattern of intentional noncompliance, the State Superintendent shall withhold 25% of the state funding allocated to the offending local board for the following fiscal year.
• If noncompliance continues, the Legislature may provide for further reduction of funding to the offending local board in the annual education funding appropriation.
• The amendment is to the Constitution of Alabama (2022) and would become valid if approved by a majority of qualified electors voting on the measure.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 22, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Constitutional Amendments Statewide