Florida governor signs new bill requiring K-12 public schools to hold moment of silence each day

By Chandelis Duster and Jamiel Lynch, CNN

(CNN)All K-12 public schools in Florida will hold a moment of silence at the start of the day starting next school year, according to a bill signed into law Monday by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

According to the law, which was HB 529 in the Florida legislature, principals of each public school shall require teachers in first-period classrooms in all grades to set aside at least one minute but not more than two minutes daily for the moment of silence. Teachers may not make suggestions as to the nature of any reflection that a student may engage in during the moment of silence, the law states. A  period of “silent prayer or meditation” was optional for school districts in the state prior to the new law.

“It’s important to be able to provide each student the ability every day to reflect and be able to pray as they see fit,” the Republican governor said before signing the bill at the Shul of Bal Harbour in Surfside, Florida. “The idea that you can just push God out of every institution and be successful, I’m sorry, our founding fathers did not believe that.”

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