Editorial: Schools need to have flags

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, September 16, 2003

A situation in Minneapolis and St. Paul schools shows a disconnect between laws required for schools and the amount of funding the schools have to comply with those laws.

In some classrooms in Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts, they recite the Pledge of Allegiance, now required by state law to be said at least once a week in public schools, to a image of the flag on a television.

The school districts say with recent budget problems, they cannot afford to place flags in every classroom. In St. Paul alone, estimates show that 970 of 1,300 classrooms do not have flags.

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The state also doesn’t require that a flag be placed in every classroom at public schools. The statute states that the American flag must be displayed outside the school building and in “principal” rooms in the building, but the meaning of “principal” isn’t made clear.

Funding problems have plagued both these districts for years and with the sheer number of classrooms the district needs to provide with a flag, the price tag for them adds up.

Now the districts are seeking help in getting the flags in each classroom.

The flags probably should have been replaced whenever they were taken out of the classrooms, but we cannot expect a school district to spend money from a crimped budget on an item that’s not required by state law.

Before the legislature makes a law that is required for all schools, it should make sure schools are adequately equipped to meet it.

And so should school administrators. Getting flags should have been done before the school year started. Even if they cannot afford them, local American Legions and other like-minded organizations probably would have been happy to provide them.

When children are saying the Pledge of Allegiance to a television screen, it makes a law with serious intentions look a little ridiculous.