New Florida Law, Responding To Santa Rosa Case, Limits School Officials

On Friday, Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed H.B. 31 (full text), a reaction to the settlement by the Santa Rosa County (FL) School District of litigation against it challenging religious practices in the schools. Since the settlement, elaborate litigation strategies have been developed to attempt to overturn the settlement. (See prior posting.) The new law provides:

District school boards, administrative personnel, and instructional personnel are prohibited from taking affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the entry into any agreement, that infringes or waives the rights or freedoms afforded to instructional personnel, school staff, or students by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, in the absence of the express written consent of any individual whose constitutional rights would be impacted by such infringement or waiver.

Liberty Counsel issued a press release on the new law that becomes effective July 1.