Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed a bill April 8 allowing public school students to leave campus briefly during the school day for off-campus religious instruction, strengthening parental choice and adding protections for schools and students.
The measure, known as SB 248 or the Alabama Released Time Credit Act, will take effect July 1. It builds on a 2019 state law by requiring the State Board of Education and local school boards to offer parents an opt-in option for released-time religious instruction, while adding new safeguards and exceptions.
Under the bill, the classes — offered by churches or other private charitable organizations — will take place off school property and cannot use public school staff or significant taxpayer funds. Students who participate must complete any missed schoolwork, and they cannot be excused from required core classes if it would cause them to fall short of the minimum instructional time. In eligible grades, students may also earn elective credit for the religious classes.
The bill requires organizations running the programs to get written permission from parents each year, maintain and share attendance records with schools, and run criminal background checks on any instructors who directly work with students.
Alliance Defending Freedom praised the legislation as a measure that protects parents’ right and responsibility to “guide the upbringing and education of their children.”
“The government shouldn’t stop families from raising their children in their family’s faith,” Senior Counsel Greg Chafuen said in an April 9 statement. “S.B. 248 respects parents’ educational decisions, allowing public school children to be briefly excused from school to receive free, off-campus religious instruction taught by private charitable organizations.”
Chafuen also thanked lawmakers who promoted the bill “for their commitment to ensuring that parents remain in the driver’s seat when it comes to their children’s education.”