The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
More than 150 people submitted opponent testimony against a bill that would require school districts to create a policy to allow students to be excused from school to go to release for time religious instruction.
Opponents argued religious release time programs disrupt the school day, create a divide between students who participate and those that don’t, and interfere with religious freedom.
“My concern with religious release time programs during the school day is the rights of the children who do not participate in those programs,” said Rev. Vicki Zust, rector of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Upper Arlington.
Three opponents were able to give their testimony during last week’s Ohio House Primary and Secondary Education Committee meeting and committee chair Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville, had to remind those in attendance to be quiet during testimony.
“We are not applauding. … We remain silent,” Manning said.
The three opponents specifically spoke about experiences they have seen with LifeWise Academy, a Hilliard-based religious instruction program that enrolls 50,000 students across 29 states. LifeWise, a non-denominational Christian program that teaches the Bible, is in more than 170 Ohio school districts.
“During proponent testimony in June, it became clear this bill is not about religious pluralism,” said Christina Collins, executive director of Honesty for Ohio Education. “It is about one, very well-funded program wanting to push its brand of Christian nationalist beliefs on a captive audience during the school day.”
Nearly 120 people submitted proponent testimony in June.
Ohio law currently permits school district boards of education to make a policy to let students go to a course in religious instruction, so these bills would strengthen the law by requiring a policy. A set of companion bills would require school districts to create a religious release time policy and change the wording of the existing law in the Ohio Revised Code from “may” to “shall.”
House Bill 445was introduced earlier this year by state Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, and Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, who is now a state senator. Sen. Michele Reynolds, R-Canal Winchester, introduced Senate Bill 293 this summer.
“To be honest with you guys, I think this might be the easiest piece of legislation before you this General Assembly,” Cutrona said during a recent Senate Education Committee meeting. “Why? Because there’s only one word change in this bill, and so we’re just moving it from may to shall. … The intent of this bill is to leave the decision to participate in religious release time programs up to the parents, not the school boards.”
“Despite the fact that it’s only one word, it’s a huge word,” said State Sen. Catherine D. Ingram, D-Cincinnati.
The United States Supreme Court upheld released time laws during the 1952 Zorach v. Clauson case, which allowed a school district to have students leave school for part of the day to receive religious instruction.
“While LifeWise claims that the process of leaving and returning to school is smooth, anyone who has ever tried to organize first graders for a field trip knows it is far from seamless,” said Jaclyn Fraley, the mom of a first-grader in Westerville Schools.
Westerville City Schools Board of Education recently voted to end their religious release time policy that allowed LifeWise Academy to take public school students off-campus for Bible classes during school hours.
“One parent in my group (Westerville Parents United) shared that her daughter was told in class that she and her mothers were “going to hell” because they belong to an LGBTQIA family,” Fraley said. “Another parent described how their child was told they didn’t ‘really believe in God’ because they are not Christian.”
Elementary school students who do not attend LifeWise in Defiance Schools in Northwest Ohio are sent to study hall and are called “LifeWise leftovers,” Fraley said.
Zust said parents in her congregation who choose not to allow their children to participate in the program are mocked and threatened.
“This creates a hostile environment for the children of my congregation as well as children of other denominations and faiths,” Zust said. “That is a violation of their First Amendment and educational rights.”
Opponents argued there are other ways students can learn about religion outside of school time.
“We didn’t have these programs,” Fraley said. “Our parents took us to church. Our parents took us to temple. Our parents took us to mosque. Our parents took us to the places where we went to learn those religious beliefs.”
State Rep. Jodi Whitted, D-Madeira, asked how these programs accommodate students with Individualized Education Programs, but Collins explained there can’t be an exchange of information with programs like LifeWise since IEPs remain within the district.
“We’re talking about students with special needs who are being sent off campus to people that are ill-equipped to work with them, with no built-in caveats for necessitating being able to meet those needs,” Collins said.
State Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna, asked how districts accommodate students with fixed prayer times.
“They simply leave, do their prayers and come back,” Collins said. “It’s not a leaving the campus, coming back with stickers and candy kind of event.”
State Rep. Joe Miller, D-Amherst, said his office has received nearly 200 emails against H.B. 445 and less than 20 in support of it.
