Protection of school prayer bill moves forward

A Senate committee approved legislation protecting students' religious freedoms Wednesday, but not without attempts to change the measure.

The Senate Education and Career committee shot down an amendment that would have expanded the bill to voucher schools.

"In fairness, any school that receives public funding should fall under this bill," said Sen. Mark Stoops, D-Bloomington, who voted against the bill. "And again I think that if it's good for public schools and charter schools, it would also be necessary for private schools that received vouchers."

Chairman Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, said when lawmakers passed the original voucher language, they made a commitment to not weigh them down with regulations. In his eyes, this would have been another statute with added weight.

Read more: http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/22/protection-school-prayer-bill-moves-forward/99502234/