Ohio Bill Would Require Public Schools to Adopt Policies Allowing Religious Classes
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/
A bill that would require Ohio public schools to adopt a policy permitting students to attend religious classes during the school day has been introduced at the Statehouse.
House Bill 445, sponsored by Reps. Gary Click (R-Vickery) and Al Cutrona (R-Canfield), would slightly tweak Ohio’s current law to “require” rather than “permit” school districts to adopt a policy authorizing students to attend released time courses in religious instruction.
An estimated 75% of schools in Ohio have a policy regarding religious release time courses and 23 districts have specifically declined a policy, according to Click. If this bill were passed, he said most schools in the state would “see no change.”
Ryan Jayne, senior policy counsel with the nonprofit Freedom From Religion Foundation Action Fund, said if the bill were to be signed into law, districts that have decided not to allow students to attend religious instruction would be forced to do so.
HB 445 received its first hearing in the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee on April 23, where it will receive future hearings open for public testimony.
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