Committee adopts amendments and advances bill to protect religious institutions and home‑study cooperatives

Representative Omidy introduced House Bill 371 as an amendment to the state's Preservation of Religious Freedom Act and related Education Code provisions. Omidy said HB371 "amends the, our state's religious freedom statute in an effort to provide protection for churches by making it clear that the government cannot require restrictions on churches that are more onerous than restrictions imposed on secular businesses." He described the bill as the result of work with pastors, churches, parents, the administration, the Department of Education and organizations including the Louisiana Family Forum and the Home School Legal Defense Association.

The sponsor and committee adopted two amendment packages on the record (amendment set 2686 and amendment set 2878). The amendments add a Home Study Cooperatives Protection Act definition, clarify use of church facilities by home-study cooperatives and include language related to partnerships for public virtual charter school students who may use church facilities for supervised work. Senator Hodges' amendment package included a provision allowing local school boards to adopt policies making after-school religious instruction available; Hodges said that policy has long existed and cited court backing for such release-time arrangements.

Members and witnesses debated safety provisions for children in cooperative settings. Senator Jackson Andrews urged adding a background-check requirement for any non-parent instructor who would work with students in co-ops: "If we're going to create these co ops or continue with the co ops, once the children are put in a group setting, there should be a background check ... anyone who wants to enter the room with our children and educate them in any way besides the parents should have that background check." Ashley Townsend of the Louisiana Department of Education told the committee that LDOE approves home-study programs but "we don't regulate where that learning occurs" and said the department does not oversee the sites where home-study activities take place.

Senator Andrews said he would work with the sponsor and staff "from now to the floor" to craft language requiring that, at a minimum, non-parent instructors provide a background check to parents or authorization allowing a coop to obtain one. After discussion and adoption of the amendments, Senator Andrews moved that HB371 be reported favorably as amended; the motion carried with no objections and HB371 was reported favorably. Several groups and individuals filed cards in support and provided information to the committee, including Ridge Avenue Baptist Church and the Louisiana Baptist Office of Public Policy.