Gilbert Public School Governing Board Invocation Resloution

Posted: 2014-01-28

GILBERT UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 41 GOVERNING BOARD RESOLUTION 

 Re: Invocations offered before the start of regular meetings of the Governing Board   

WHEREAS, the Governing Board is an elected legislative and deliberative public body, serving the citizens of Gilbert Unified School District No. 41 (hereinafter, the “District”), a political subdivision of the State of Arizona that exercises governance authority granted by the Arizona State Legislature; and  

WHEREAS, legislative bodies in America have long maintained a tradition of solemnizing proceedings by allowing for an opening invocation before each meeting, for their benefit and blessing; and  WHEREAS, such invocations before deliberative public bodies has been upheld as constitutional by American courts, including the United States Supreme Court; and  

WHEREAS, as a deliberative public body, the Governing Board deems an invocation before its meetings to be appropriate and desirable, so long as the practice comports with guidance of the courts; and  

WHEREAS, in Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983), the United States Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the Nebraska Legislature’s practice of opening each day of its sessions with an invocation by a chaplain paid with taxpayer dollars, and specifically concluded, “The opening of sessions of legislative and other deliberative public bodies with prayer is deeply embedded in the history and tradition of this country. From colonial times through the founding of the Republic and ever since, the practice of legislative prayer has coexisted with the principles of disestablishment and religious freedom.” Id., at 786; and  

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court further held, “To invoke divine guidance on a public body ... is not, in these circumstances, an establishment of religion or a step toward establishment; it is simply a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country.” Id., at 792; and  

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court affirmed in Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668 (1984), “Our history is replete with official references to the value and invocation of Divine guidance in deliberations and pronouncements of the Founding Fathers and contemporary leaders.” Id., at 675; and  

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court further stated, “Those government acknowledgments of religion serve, in the only ways reasonably possible in our culture, the legitimate secular purposes of solemnizing public occasions, expressing confidence in the future, and encouraging the recognition of what is worthy of appreciation in society. For that reason, and because of their history and ubiquity, those practices are not understood as 

conveying government approval of particular religious beliefs.” Id., at 693 (O’Connor, J., concurring); and  

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court also observed in Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306, (1952), “We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.” Id., at 313-14; and  

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court acknowledged in Holy Trinity Church v. United States, 143 U.S. 457 (1892), that the American people have long followed a “custom of opening sessions of all deliberative bodies and most conventions with prayer ...,” Id., at 471; and  

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court has determined, “The content of [such] prayer is not of concern to judges where … there is no indication that the prayer opportunity has been exploited to proselytize or advance any one, or to disparage any other, faith or belief.” Marsh, 463 U.S. at 794-795; and  

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court has proclaimed that it should not be the job of the courts or deliberative public bodies “to embark on a sensitive evaluation or to parse the content of a particular prayer” offered before a deliberative public body. Id.; and  

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court has counseled against the efforts of government officials to affirmatively screen, censor, prescribe and/or proscribe the specific content of public prayers offered by private speakers, as such government efforts would violate the First Amendment rights of those speakers. See, e.g., Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577, 588-589 (1992); and  

WHEREAS, the Governing Board intends, and has intended in past practice, to adopt a policy/procedure that upholds an individual’s “free exercise” rights under the First Amendment; and  

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court has repeatedly clarified that “there is a crucial difference between government speech endorsing religion, which the Establishment Clause forbids, and private speech endorsing religion, which the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses protect.” Board of Education of Westside Community School v. Mergens, 496 U.S. 226, 250 (1990); and  

WHEREAS, the Governing Board shall adopt a policy/procedure that is based on neutrality and private choice and that does not proselytize or advance any faith, or show any purposeful preference of one religious view to the exclusion of others, which policy/procedure has been reviewed and approved as constitutional by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Rubin v. City of Lancaster, 710 F.3d 1087 (9th Cir. 2013); and 

WHEREAS, the Governing Board recognizes its constitutional duty to interpret, construe, and amend its policies and regulations to comply with constitutional requirements as they are announced; and  2100122.1 3  

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Governing Board of the District that the Governing Board, in order to solemnize its proceedings, will allow for an invocation to be offered before the start of regular public meetings for the benefit of the Governing Board and the community. 

 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that an administrative regulation consistent with this resolution shall be adopted and incorporated in the District policies and regulations.  PASSED, ADOPTED AND APPROVED, by the Governing Board of Gilbert Unified School District No. 41 of Maricopa County, Arizona, on ________________, 2014.    

___________________________________  _  President, Governing Board 

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