LOVELAND MAGAZINE

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Tag: mandatory religious release time

  • LGBTQ Ohioans and advocates are asking Gov. Mike DeWine to veto ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill

    LGBTQ Ohioans and advocates are asking Gov. Mike DeWine to veto ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill

    Requires school districts to create a mandatory religious release time policy

    By:  – Ohio Capital Journal

    Advocates condemned Ohio lawmakers for passing another anti-LGBTQ bill as the General Assembly wrapped up late Wednesday night, urging Gov. Mike DeWine to veto the legislation, though DeWine has indicated he will sign it.

    The Ohio Senate passed House Bill 8 and the Ohio House concurred with changes made to the bill, sending it to DeWine’s desk. He will have 10 days to either sign the bill into law or veto it, once he receives it. DeWine has indicated he favors the legislation.

    The controversial bill requires educators to out a students’ sexuality to their parents, requires public schools to let parents know about sexuality content materials ahead of time so they can request alternative instructions, and requires school districts to create a mandatory religious release time policy.

    “We are deeply disappointed that the legislature decided once again to attack LGBTQIA+ youth by passing yet another bill that will make schools less safe and inclusive for queer and transgender people,” Kaleidoscope Youth Center, an organization that serves LGBTQIA+ youth, said in a statement.

    TransOhio said passing H.B. 8 is a “harmful step backward” for students.

    “By requiring a religious release program and restricting discussions on gender and sexuality, the law imposes a narrow worldview on public education and limits teachers’ ability to provide inclusive, fact-based instruction,” TransOhio said in a statement. “By mandating the reporting of students’ assumed gender identities and behaviors to parents, the law breaches student privacy, erodes trust, and puts vulnerable children at risk of harm.”

    Those who supported H.B. 8 called it the ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’, but those who opposed it called it the ‘Don’t Say Gay Bill,’ due to its similar language to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law that passed in 2022.

    “While this bill is presented as a “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” its provisions pose significant risks to the well-being of LGBTQ+ youth and raise troubling questions about the separation of church and state in public education,” Stonewall Columbus said in a statement.

    The Ohio Education Association said this bill will take time away from educators being able to teach students and will create more challenges for marginalized students.

    “It unnecessarily entangles state government in regulating communications between parents and educators, sowing distrust rather than fostering the collaboration needed to ensure all students can learn, grow, and thrive,” OEA President Scott DiMauro said in a statement.

    The bill, which underwent several changes since it was first introduced in February 2023, received much opposition.

    “Despite the outcry from hundreds of students, parents, and social workers, conservatives want to broaden curriculum censorship, weaken current civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ individuals, and impose new disclosure and alternative curriculum mandates on teachers and counselors,” Lauren Blauvelt, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, said in a statement.

    “These requirements would create conflicting, burdensome obligations for educators, making it overly difficult for them to comply,” Blauvelt said.

    The Ohio Center for Sex Education said this bill is at odds with studies that show comprehensive sexuality education programs reduce the rates of sexual activity, sexual risk behaviors, sexually transmitted infections, and adolescent pregnancy.

    “This bill’s vague language creates an environment of fear and division, putting LGBTQ+ students at risk and eroding the trust that educators work hard to build with their students and families,” Jenna Wojdacz, the center’s assistant vice president, said in a statement.

    Equality Ohio, along with several other organizations, is asking DeWine to veto the bill.

    “Overnight when most school-age children are asleep, the legislature rushed through another shameful attack on LGBTQ+ youth,” Equality Ohio Executive Director Dwayne Steward said in a statement.

    LifeWise Academy, a Hilliard-based religious instruction program, celebrated the passage of H.B. 8.

    “Families understand the benefits of Bible-based character education during school hours, given the increasing demand for our program in communities throughout Ohio and the country,” LifeWise CEO Joel Penton said in a statement.

    LifeWise enrolls 50,000 students across 29 states, including about 160 Ohio school districts.

    Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on Bluesky.

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    ___________
    Megan Henry
    Megan Henry

    Megan Henry is a reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal and has spent the past five years reporting in Ohio on various topics including education, healthcare, business and crime. She previously worked at The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA Today Network.

    Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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  • Religious release time bill added to parents’ bill of rights during Ohio Senate Education Committee

    Religious release time bill added to parents’ bill of rights during Ohio Senate Education Committee

    LifeWise Academy is a Hilliard-based religious instruction program that started in 2019 and now enrolls 50,000 students across 29 states. (Photo by Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal.)

    House Bill 8 passed the Ohio House last summer

    By:  – Ohio Capital Journal

    Ohio Senators have added a public school mandatory religious release time policy bill to a piece of legislation that would force educators to out a students’ sexuality to their parents.

    The amendment to require Ohio public school districts to put a policy in place to release students for religious instruction was added to House Bill 8 during last Tuesday’s Senate Education Committee Meeting. The two Democrats on the committee, Catherine Ingram and Vernon Sykes, voted against the amendment.

    “A school district shall, rather than may, have a policy governing religious release time instruction,” said state Sen. Sandra O’Brien, R-Ashtabula.

    Ohio law currently permits school district boards of education to make a policy to let students go to a course in religious instruction, but this would change the wording in the Ohio Revised Code from “may” to “shall” — meaning this would be a mandate for Ohio school districts.

    State Reps. D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, and Sara Carruthers, R-Hamilton, introduced H.B. 8, which passed in the Ohio House last year. The bill would require public schools to let parents know about sexuality content materials ahead of time and give them the option to request alternative instructions.

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    It would also ban any sexuality content from being taught to students in kindergarten through third grade. The bill defines sexuality content as “oral or written instruction, presentation, image, or description of sexual concepts or gender ideology.”

    Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, said H.B. 8 is not what Ohio needs.

    “It’s certainly not what the children and the teachers and the parents of Ohio need,” she said. “I think we need to maintain the ability of children to be able to talk to teachers, social workers, counselors, with some confidentiality, and parents need to be able to be involved with their children, but also know that sometimes children need somebody to talk to.”

    There were 62 parental-rights bills in 24 states last year, according to FutureEd, an independent think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.

    More amendments were added to H.B. 8 during Wednesday’s Senate Education Committee meeting.

    “This amendment creates exceptions for disclosure requirements where they would conflict with federal law,” O’Brien said. “It also clarifies that nothing in House Bill 8 prohibits mandatory reporting under state law. Lastly, the amendment clarifies that nothing in House Bill 8 prohibits or limits career and academic mentoring between a teacher and student.”

    Religious release time

    The amendment language was taken from two companion bills regarding religious release time — Senate Bill 293 and House Bill 445. Hundreds of people have submitted opponent testimony against both bills, which are in committee.

    Two central Ohio school districts, Westerville and Worthington, recently rescinded their religious release time policy. Both districts formerly allowed LifeWise Academy to take public school students off-campus for Bible classes during school hours.

    LifeWise Academy is a Hilliard-based religious instruction program that enrolls 50,000 students across 29 states — including  about 160 Ohio school districts.

    The United States Supreme Court upheld released time laws during the 1952 Zorach v. Clauson case, which allowed a school district to have students leave school for part of the day to receive religious instruction.

    Release time in the middle of the school day is problematic, Antonio said.

    “It disrupts the flow of (students) dealing with their studies,” she said. “I think it needs to be on an individual school district basis to make those kinds of decisions.”

    About 170 people submitted opponent testimony against the newly amended H.B. 8 at Tuesday’s Senate Education Committee. H.B. 8 was up for a possible committee vote, but no vote was taken. The bill has had six hearings in the Senate Education Committee.

    The two-year General Assembly wraps up at the end of the month, so any bill that doesn’t pass will die and would have to be reintroduced in the next General Assembly. The final House and Senate sessions of the year are currently scheduled for next week.

    Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on X.

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