The Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah's public schools could have to pay to distribute the Legislature's statement outlining the rights of religious expression on school grounds.

The Legislature passed a resolution this year requiring schools to inform everyone from students to county officials about legally allowed religious expression.

The notices will be sent each year to about 510,000 public students, parents, the PTA, Utah Education Association, State Board of Education, Utah League of Cities and Towns and Utah Association of Counties.

Sen. Parley Hellewell, R-Utah County, sponsored the nonbinding resolution reinforcing the right to engage in religious expression in public schools.

"Teachers are kind of afraid. They don't know what the law is. They don't know what they can or can't do," Hellewell said. "This is going to be a really big help for them."

As originally written, the resolution only required the resolution to be publicized once. But House Education Committee members amended the legislation to require annual distribution of the statement.

The resolution states: "The Legislature of the state of Utah recognizes the right of public school students to voluntarily participate in prayer, and also in the singing of songs and in expressions related to holidays that are religious in nature, in public schools, within known legal limits of religious expression, tolerance, civility, and dignity as contemplated by this nation's founders."

Rhonda Rose, Utah PTA vice president for legislation, said her organization is willing to copy the resolution in its newsletter. "It would be easy," Rose said.

If the PTA or another entity doesn't pick up the tab, school districts would have to pay for copying costs -- about $10,000 total, at 2 cents a page.

Utah Office of Education Attorney Carol Lear said she hopes the task can be consolidated, and associated costs reduced, by sending the resolution to individual families in student registration materials.

Lear said that while the resolution contains no enforcement mechanism, educators take seriously the mandate to distribute the material.

American Civil Liberties Union of Utah Attorney Margaret Plane said she worries about "misrepresentations" of First Amendment law in the resolution. The resolution also states that prayer is "fundamental to the exercise of both religion and free speech," she said. The resolution also uses terminology that is not supported by court precedent, she said.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D3.