1     
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REGARDING THE PLEDGE OF

2     
ALLEGIANCE IN SCHOOLS

3     
2023 GENERAL SESSION

4     
STATE OF UTAH

5     
Chief Sponsor: Melissa G. Ballard

6     
Senate Sponsor: David P. Hinkins

7     

8     LONG TITLE
9     General Description:
10          This resolution emphasizes the inspired ideas, principles, and values espoused in the
11     Pledge of Allegiance.
12     Highlighted Provisions:
13          This resolution:
14          ▸     emphasizes the inspired values the United States was founded upon;
15          ▸     highlights how the inspired values that founded the United States are embedded in
16     the Pledge of Allegiance; and
17          ▸     directs compliance with the statute and administrative rule requirements to recite the
18     Pledge of Allegiance daily in school.
19     Special Clauses:
20          None
21     

22     Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
23          WHEREAS, the United States was founded upon a set of inspired ideals, principles,
24     values, and symbols shared by the Founding Fathers, which serve as the foundation for the
25     greatest nation the world has ever known;
26          WHEREAS, generations of Americans have given their lives to preserve the founding
27     ideals of morality, individual liberty, representative government, and equality before the law;
28          WHEREAS, the political, social, and ideological divisions in contemporary society
29     threaten to weaken, obscure, and even nullify the commitment shared to these foundational

30     ideals, principles, and values;
31          WHEREAS, the Pledge of Allegiance embodies and represents the inspired ideals,
32     principles, and values that bind us together as a nation;
33          WHEREAS, the Pledge of Allegiance is a solemn promise to support and defend these
34     ideals, principles, and values;
35          WHEREAS, the repeated expression of the Pledge of Allegiance in a classroom instills
36     in a child an appreciation for the inspired ideals, principles, and values that the United States of
37     America represents and reminds all citizens that the nation is a nation under God, not without
38     God;
39          WHEREAS, Section 53G-10-304 requires the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag to be
40     recited once at the beginning of each day in each public school classroom in the state, led by a
41     student in the classroom, as assigned by the classroom teacher on a rotating basis; and
42          WHEREAS, the State Board of Education, in Rule R277-475, requires each local
43     education agency (LEA) to teach patriotic values associated with the flag of the United States
44     as a central part of efforts to provide instruction on patriotic, civic, and character education in
45     grades K-12:
46          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of Utah, the
47     Governor concurring therein, directs that the State Board of Education remind all LEAs of the
48     obligation under statute and to take sufficient measures in ensuring that the Pledge of
49     Allegiance is recited in every Utah classroom at the beginning of every school day.