Board to place student-release-time policy on first reading to align with state pupil-accounting rules

The Livonia Public Schools Board of Education's policy committee reviewed proposed edits to policy JBF (Students Released Time) Monday and directed staff to put the revisions on the agenda for a first reading at the next board meeting.

Mr. Green, the policy presenter, said the edits narrow the policy's language to explicitly reference religious instruction and to align the board policy with the state Pupil Accounting Manual and accompanying rules. He explained the change exists to protect districts’ ability to count full-time equivalent (FTE) pupils in rare instances when a district’s schedule overlaps with family-requested religious instruction. As Mr. Green summarized, the policy text will read: "The board of education grants to the administration the right to release students from school for religious instruction up to 2 hours per week when written notice is provided to the school." The presenter said the wording change is a clarification to match the pupil-accounting rules rather than a substantive change in practice.

A board member asked whether the policy is in accord with state law; Mr. Green replied that it is, and he cited the Pupil Accounting Manual as the relevant reference. Mrs. Acosta suggested a minor grammatical tweak to the policy title wording; Mr. Green agreed to that editorial change. The committee scheduled the policy for first reading next week.

The district noted these requests for release time are rare, but keeping explicit policy language protects the district’s ability to collect FTE funding in the circumstances described.

The policy will be presented for first reading at the next board meeting; no formal vote was recorded in committee.