Ohio lawmakers push to require public schools excuse students for religion classes

Ohio public schools would not be able to prevent students from leaving school to attend religious instruction if a bill becomes law .

Former Rep. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, and Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, cosponsored House Bill 445 which would require public school districts to excuse students for off-campus religious instruction. Cutrona is now a state senator.

Current law allows students to be excused for religious instruction but does not require districts to have a policy that allows it.

"Parents have the natural right to direct their child’s education including their religious education," Click said during the bill's first hearing.

More: An Ohio parent joined LifeWise Academy to post its curriculum online. Now it's suing him

What does released time religious instruction look like?

Released time programs must meet these conditions under Ohio law:

• The student must have written permission from their parent or guardian.
• The organization must take attendance.
• The organization, parent, guardian or student is responsible for transportation to and from the classes.
• The organization is liable for the student.
• No public money is spent and no public school staff are involved in the religion classes.
• The student is responsible for any missed schoolwork.

Students cannot miss a core curriculum class, such as math or language arts, for religious instruction. Schools cannot count a student as absent if they are attending religious instruction.

What is LifeWise Academy?

Joel Penton, founder of LifeWise Academy , testified in favor of the bill. LifeWise Academy is a Christian nonprofit organization based in Hilliard that offers a religious instruction program during the school day.

Penton said during a hearing on the bill that the organization works with 200 schools across Ohio and 23 school districts have turned down LifeWise Academy in Ohio.

"As we all know, some parents remove their children from public school to send them to private Christian school or home school, often for the purpose of providing religious instruction," Penton said. "This is simply not feasible for all families. But that does not mean that parents don’t want religious instruction for their children."

When asked why LifeWise Acedemy does not operate before or after school, Penton said he wants the program to be accessible to students who rely on public school transportation before and after school. Penton said the program typically lasts for 40-50 minutes and LifeWise looks to operate from buildings as close to the school buildings as possible to minimize transportation time.

LifeWise filed a lawsuit against a former volunteer on July 2. LifeWise said in court filings that the former volunteer published curriculum documents on the website Parents Against LifeWise . LifeWise argues this is a copyright violation.

What do other groups say?

Not all released time programs offer Christian education, but most of the supporters who testified in favor of the bill specifically mentioned the opportunity to learn about God.

No opposition testimony has been heard yet.

House Bill 445 had its last hearing in the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee on June 4.

Erin Glynn is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio lawmakers push to require public schools excuse students for religion classes