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Senate halts consideration of bill to codify students’ religious rights in schools; sponsor to clarify distribution method
Summary
Senate bill (SB 223) to place a statement of students’ and employees’ religious rights into statute — including an elective academic study of the Bible provision — was presented and extensively discussed; the sponsor agreed to withdraw the measure temporarily to clarify whether notice to parents must be paper or may be electronic.
Senator Mark Johnson presented a bill to codify a summary of students’ and school employees’ religious rights and to require school districts to provide a copy of the act to enrolled students and employees at the start of each school year. The bill cites Arkansas Code § 6-16-1-45 (elective academic study of the Bible) in its text.
Attorney Stephanie Nichols of Family Council testified in support, saying the bill simply…
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