BOISE, Idaho —- House Bill 41 (HB41), which aims to prohibit partisan politics and the promotion of personal political beliefs inside the classroom, passed the House with a vote of 59-11-0 on Jan. 28 and now heads to the Senate. Sponsored by Rep. Edward Hill (R–Eagle), the bill’s statement of purpose makes it clear that political advocacy creates a hostile educational environment to those with differing mindsets. The bill states, “No flags or banners shall be displayed by a public elementary school or public secondary school that represent a political viewpoint, including but not limited to flags or banners regarding a political party, race, sexual orientation, gender, or a political ideology.”
All nine Democratic house members were joined by two Republicans to cast the 11 nay votes. Rep. Mark Sauter (R–Sandpoint) and Rep. Lori McCann (R–Lewiston) broke with their party in a stand against the common sense legislation which seeks to ensure K-12 classrooms are free from partisan politics.
During debate, McCann expressed concern that HB41 would restrict the instruction of history by prohibiting “a flag from the German side” or “an armband” in reference to Nazi Germany swastika memorabilia.
Rep. Barbara Ehardt (R–Idaho Falls), a former college basketball coach and member of the House Education Committee who led the fight to defend girls and women in sports, debated passionately in favor of HB41. “This bill is simple,” she stated. “It’s a good bill.”
Ehardt reminded her colleagues that a similar bill passed the Senate last year with bipartisan support, but was killed in committee due to false testimony. “If we’ve gotten to the point that we are triggered by the American flag and the only thing that doesn’t trigger us is the Pride flag, we’ve got a problem in our schools.”
House Bill 45 (HB45) was introduced on Jan. 23 by Rep. Heather Scott (R–Blanchard), a member of the Idaho Freedom Caucus. The legislation would establish that only certain flags may be flown by the State of Idaho and any county, city, or political subdivision within the state.
Flags allowed under the proposed legislation are:
- The United States flag;
- The official flag of a governmental entity as defined in this section;
- Official flags of any state in the United States;
- Official flags of any of the military branches and units of the United States;
- The POW/MIA flag as provided for in section 67-2303, Idaho Code; and
- Official flags of Indian tribes.
During her testimony, Scott said the legislation was necessary to “set some policy in what we want to see and what we don’t want to see in our government offices.”
