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Alabama committee debates making religious release program mandatory for school districts
Summary
Representative Terri DeBose, sponsor of House Bill 342, told the House Education Policy Committee that the bill would require school districts to adopt local policies to allow off‑campus religious instruction during the school day, a practice she said the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in a 1952 ruling.
Representative Terri DeBose, sponsor of House Bill 342, told the House Education Policy Committee that the bill would require school districts to adopt local policies to allow off‑campus religious instruction during the school day, a practice she said the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in a 1952 ruling. “Credits are optional. That will be decided by the school district,” Representative DeBose said, adding that parents must sign authorizations, nonprofit providers must accept liability and provide transportation, instruction must take place off public property and no public funds may be used.
The bill’s sponsor said 12 Alabama districts currently offer a religious release program and that about 4,000 parents across the state have signed petitions asking for the program in districts that do not. “We don’t feel like parents should have to go and fight the school board for a program that’s constitutionally allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court,” DeBose said.
Supporters framed the bill as preserving parental choice…
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