(NewsWorthy.news) – The governor of Oklahoma signed a bill last week ensuring parental rights to pull students from classes so they can attend religious instruction off school grounds.
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt enacted the legislation into law on Wednesday June 5. HB 1425 permits students to be excused from a maximum of three classes every week, if their parents or guardians provide written consent for them to do so and attend an off-site religious class.
The new law is grounded in a 1952 Supreme Court decision, which protected the right for parents to excuse their children for religious classes through released time programs. The Oklahoma statute is also protected under the First Amendment.
The new law holds students and schools accountable by mandating certain requirements, including the expectation that excused students will complete work for their regular classes and not allowing the released time instruction to interfere with mandated assessments or instruction within the school.
Additionally, schools are prohibited from funding the off-campus religious classes, students engaged in them may be eligible for elective credit, and those who teach the released time classes are not connected to the school nor required to be certified instructors.
Those in support of the new law have emphasized its potential for improving the attendance record within Oklahoma schools as well as providing more opportunities for moral teaching. According to data from legislative studies, only 80 percent of Oklahoma students attend class post-COVID, compared to the 94 percent that were in attendance in 2019.
The Christian-based firm Alliance Defending Freedom applauded the bill’s passage via attorney Greg Chafuen, who said that the released time programs provide an opportunity for parents who “desire” that their kids be taught a religious course which “public schools cannot provide.”
HB 1425 was sent to Stitt’s desk on May 29, following approval from both chambers of the state legislature. The bill was passed in April by the Senate in a 38-7 vote and approved on May 29 by the House, which passed it by a smaller margin of 51-40.
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