House OKs bill limiting flags in schools

BOISE — A bill that would prohibit certain flags in Idaho public schools has passed the House.

As previously reported by the Idaho Press, HB 41 would ban the display of flags and banners on Idaho public K-12 school properties that “represent a political viewpoint,” including political parties, race, sexual orientation, gender or a political ideology.

The bill passed in a 59-11 vote on Tuesday.

Bill sponsor Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle, said the bill is intended to combat what he sees as distractions in public schools.

“I’ve seen it, to the point where the American flag has been taken down and another flag is put up,” Hill said in debate Tuesday. “You’ll see in the background there will be some other flag. It’s a distraction. This does happen and even to the point we saw ISIS flags and Hamas flags in the classroom.”

The Idaho Press could find no reported instances of flags linked to terror groups being displayed in Idaho public schools. Asked about which districts he was referring to, Hill told the Idaho Press that he wasn’t referring to any Idaho schools, but that he had seen it happen elsewhere in the U.S.

House debate rehashed previous points made about the bill, both for and against. Several questions arose about the impact this legislation would have on history curricula, as well as what defines a “classroom” in online learning environments.

Advocates for the bill included Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, who said she believes the bill furthers previous legislation by directly addressing LGBTQ groups.

“In my opinion, what we’ve seen with schools flying sex flags, quite frankly, that is what this bill will take care of,” Scott said. “I think it’s a good bill, and I think we all know what is going on.”

Scott was likely referring to Pride flags. According to interviews by NBC news, experts say the Pride flag is often mischaracterized as inherently sexual, and there has been a resurgence in scrutiny by anti-LGBT groups in recent years.

Hill has specifically cited the Pride flag as a concern, saying in a House Education Committee testimony earlier this month that he was prompted to write HB 41 after seeing a Pride flag in a video conference presentation by a teacher, the Idaho Press previously reported.

Hill and Scott have proposed legislation that would ban certain flags in public schools and government buildings and properties, the Idaho Press reported.

Rep. Monica Church, D-Boise, discussed how the expressed intent of this legislation is already codified into law.

“I understand the message here,” Church said in debate. “However, it is already in law, and what we fail to see in this bill is that there are some critical issues.”

Church referred to the Idaho Dignity and Nondiscrimination in Public Education Act of 2021, or HB 377, which states that schools and administrators should “respect the dignity of others, acknowledge the right of others to express differing opinions, and foster and defend intellectual honesty, freedom of inquiry and instruction, and freedom of speech and association.” Individual school districts across the state have policies adhering to this, with West Ada School District maintaining a policy that the U.S. flag should be displayed in all its school classrooms.

The ACLU of Idaho opposed HB 377, citing that it misconstrues educational concepts and censors discourse about social issues in public schools.

Church, a public school educator, underscored the bureaucratic hurdles that could fall on local school districts tasked with approving what banners could be displayed in classrooms, as well as the lack of nuance on school versus private property under HB 41.

“This bill would require that we police school and private property,” Church said. “As an educator in an online classroom, I have 30 cameras that are on. Imagine 30 different rooms of private individuals that are part of that displayed school classroom. How are we going to police the backgrounds of every student in that online classroom?”

Rep. Lori McCann, R-Lewiston, had similar concerns, citing her late father’s background as a history teacher.

“My heartburn on this bill is not that we want to represent patriotism and bring that back, because I, too, agree with that 100%,” McCann said. “I want to speak to the fact that we have a lot of wonderful teachers that are trying to teach history, teach what has gone on prior to us so that our kids can understand history.”

Hill said HB 41 would also bar the display of historically associated flags, such as flags associated with Nazi Germany, the Confederate flag or the Gadsden flag.

Rep. McCann and Rep. Mark Sauter, R-Sandpoint, were the only Republicans who joined Democrats in opposing the bill.

The bill now heads to the Senate for further debate and a vote.

Schwicht may be contacted at newsroom@idahopress.com.

How they voted

Yes: Kyle Harris-R, Dale Hawkins-R, Brandon Mitchell-R, Heather Scott-R, Charlie Shepherd-R

No: Lori McCann-R