PITTSBURGH — Two state lawmakers are proposing to change a section of Pennsylvania law that bars public school teachers from wearing religious symbols in the classroom.

State Reps. Eugene DePasquale, D-York, and Will Tallman, R-Adams County, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that only Pennsylvania and Nebraska still have such bans.

The lawmakers say the 1895 law was adopted at a time of great prejudice against Catholics and Jews.

Under the law, a public school teacher who wears a cross, yarmulke or other religious symbol in the classroom could be suspended from teaching for one year, and multiple offenses could lead to permanent disqualification. School board members could be held criminally liable for failing to enforce the prohibition.

In 2003, teacher’s aide Brenda Nichol was told by Armstrong-Indiana Intermediate Unit 28 that she could not wear a cross necklace.

After she was suspended, she filed suit in federal court in Pittsburgh, and the two sides settled after a judge said the policy showed “hostility toward religion” and probably violated Nichol’s free-speech rights. Nichol, 52, who holds the same job and wears the cross, said the statute should be repealed.

“I think it’s important to be able to have freedom of expression,” she said. “In our country, that’s one of the fundamental rights.”

Attorney Geoffrey Surtees of the American Center for Law and Justice, a constitutional law and religious liberties group that represented Nichol, echoed that view.

“These laws were needless when they were enacted, and they’re needless now. In fact, they’re worse than needless: They’re unconstitutional,” Surtees said.

Representatives of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and the Pennsylvania School Employees Association, a union representing more than 190,000 teachers and support personnel, say the organizations have not taken a position on the proposed legislation.