Bill Would Protect Church Services in Schools ALBANY - The State Senate passed a bill on Monday that would allow churches to continue holding worship services in public schools, but the future of the legislation remained in question as the Assembly speaker expressed skepticism about it. Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times State Senator Martin J. Golden sponsored the bill to permit churches to hold worship services in public school buildings. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver called the Senate bill "seriously flawed." The bill, sponsored by Senator Martin J. Golden, Republican of Brooklyn, says that congregations may hold services in schools when the property is not being used for school purposes. The bill would effectively undo a court ruling last year that upheld a policy of the New York City Education Department prohibiting religious services from being held in public schools after hours. "This is about equal access," Mr. Golden said from the Senate floor. Churches pay the same rent as other groups to use schools. Despite the city's rule against it, dozens of churches have been holding services in schools on Sundays for years while a case pertaining to the issue made its way through the courts. After a federal appeals court ruled in the city's favor last summer, and the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case late last year, the city said that worship services could not be held in schools after Feb. 12. That has caused dozens of congregations to look for new homes. Their only hope appears to be intervention by the Assembly on Tuesday, but it seemed unlikely that a bill would pass that house quickly enough. "I think the way the Senate is taking it up, it's seriously flawed," said the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, Democrat of Manhattan. It would open up the schools to anybody. It might include the Ku Klux Klan. If you're going to do anything, you're going to have to make the city make a determination as to what's an appropriate use of the schools. In a spirited exchange with Senator John J. Flanagan, a Long Island Republican who is a sponsor of the bill, Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat of Manhattan, questioned whether the bill violated the separation of church and state. Mr. Flanagan said the bill dealt with free-speech issues. Mr. Golden and other supporters said that churches were important parts of the community and that they were not using public schools to try to impose their beliefs on others. "The fact of the matter is that these are real lives that these institutions are helping and saving," said Senator Malcolm A. Smith, a Queens Democrat. "All they are saying is, "Give us the opportunity to help." " Mr. Golden said he was open to compromise with Mr. Silver.