Kentucky schools would be required to set aside time for a moment of silence under a bill that advanced by a House committee today.

House Bill 96 calls for establishing 1 to 2 minutes of quiet reflection at the beginning of each school day.

Teachers would not be allowed to instruct students on what they should reflect on.

Instead, parents would be encouraged to provide guidance to their child.

The sponsor of the bill, Republican Representative Daniel Fister of Rosales, says ultimately students would decide how to use that time.

The child is just allowed a time to focus on whatever is important to them, whether it be the doll gate, my homework speech or whatever they want to work on.

But it just allows them that time to settle and get ready for the day.

Some state representative, however, questioned the need for a moment of silence to be facilitated by the school.

Representative Tina Bosma, now a Democrat and a teacher herself, said the bill seems to set aside time specifically for prayer.

Just didn't can already pray at any time during the school day, which I'm sure you're very well aware.

They can pray at the flagpole, they can pray at breakfast, they can pray at wellness.

They have a right to pray at any time during the day.

But what this bill creates is a time specifically, I believe, intended to be for prayer, which is a little edgy, because we have what's called the establishment clause, which has a very fine line when it comes to teacher directed activities that could be conferred as prayer.

We keep saying we want parents to make decisions for their children and not the schools.

And here we're asking the school to take over something That's the parent's responsibility.

And I think the children have plenty of time to meditate on their 45 minute bus ride.

My son attends Lafayette High School and they do a moment of mindfulness to start over.

Republican Representative Jillian Timony voted in favor of the bill, saying his son's high school already participates in a daily moment of mindfulness.

I think it's amazing giving the kids an opportunity to decompress before the school day begins.

I think there's a lot of research that shows about being mentally prepared for the start of the school day.

The school does a really good job of of helping kids kind of understand what mindfulness is.

And I think that where we are in 2024 with technology and this and real pressure from social media for our kids to be in, they need they need an intentional time just to just to catch their breath.

The bill cleared the House Education Committee this morning and now heads to the full House for consideration there.