Released Time for Religious Instruction Expanding in Other States

Education, , , ,

Recent news reports highlight how more and more, public school students in other states are able to leave campus during the day for religious instruction — something commonly known as “released time.”

Released time makes it possible for students to be excused from school so they can attend Bible studies or other religious classes during normal school hours. Thanks to federal court rulings, released time programs have been in operation for decades — and in some states it’s growing.

Earlier this year, our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) reported that Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill into law that formally recognizes released time programs. The law outlines how parents may have their children briefly excused from school during the day to receive free religious instruction off-campus. Last month, the Alabama Daily News highlighted how released time in the state has expanded since the law’s passage.

In August, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that released time growing in Arkansas’ public schools as well.

Arkansas does not have a state law outlining how released time works, but released programs operate in the state under federal court rulings. Generally speaking, released time in Arkansas requires three components:

  1. A church or other organization that wants to fund and conduct a released time program off-campus.
  2. School board approval for a policy authorizing students to leave campus for released time during school hours.
  3. Parental consent for the student to participate in the program.

Once a church or other group properly plans and prepares to operate a released time program, they can go to the local school board to seek approval and then collaborate with the school district to set the best time in the day for a released time program.

As long as the program meets off-campus, obtains parental consent, and is privately funded, then the school board may authorize the program.

The private entity that oversees the released time program is encouraged to work with the local school district and school board to set up a mutually agreeable schedule that benefits students. If planned correctly, released time programs generally do not conflict with a student’s core courses like math or English.

In June, the organization LifeWise Academy shared ways it is expanding released time opportunities for students in Arkansas.

LifeWise serves more than 1,200 students at approximately a dozen locations across the state. The program is expected to continue to grow in the coming year.

Family Council hopes to work with state and local policymakers in the future to promote released time programs and help pass a law formally recognizing released time in Arkansas.

If you are interested in starting a released time program in your community, you are welcome to contact our office at 501-375-7000 for more information.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Oregon Homeschool Mom Sues for Religious Discrimination

Home School, ,
Tessa Bulzan, a Christian mother of five who homeschools her two oldest children in Oregon, is suing the Hillsboro School District for discriminating against her choice to use religious educational materials for her children.

Tessa Bulzan, a Christian homeschool mom in Oregon, recently filed a lawsuit after public school officials denied her reimbursement for religious curriculum.

Homeschoolers in Oregon are eligible for reimbursements for educational expenses. Similar programs operate in other states around the country — including Arkansas, where homeschoolers may receive funding via Educational Freedom Accounts.

But in Oregon, public school officials have apparently provided reimbursements for secular curricula while refusing to reimburse for religious curricula. Attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) write:

“Tessa Bulzan homeschools her children because she believes that God calls her to do so, instilling her faith in her children through her chosen homeschooling materials and curricula.

“Hillsboro School District offers a Homeschooling Partnership that reimburses parents for educational materials the parents choose and offers in-person learning opportunities to supplement home instruction. The program’s representative told Bulzan that she could use any curriculum, including a religious one, so she chose a combination of Abeka and Classical Conversations for her homeschooled instruction and enrolled her children in classes through the Firmly Planted Hillsboro co-op. All three provide God-centered academic instruction.

“After enrollment, the school district had very little interaction with Bulzan, providing virtually no oversight for her instruction. When the homeschooled mother went to submit her expenses for reimbursement at the end of the first semester, however, district employees denied reimbursing any of the Abeka or Classical Conversation costs and any of the Firmly Planted Hillsboro co-op fees ‘due to the Christian and biblical worldview that is taught’ and the ‘Christian beliefs and themes [that] are integrated throughout core subject areas.'”

ADF says Bulzan appealed the denial, but the school district still refused. Finally, she filed a lawsuit against the district with help from ADF.

To put it plainly, public officials cannot exclude religious people or religious groups from government programs.

In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to withhold public benefits to a person or group because they are religious.

The lawsuit against Oregon’s Hillsboro School District makes this point very clearly.

Arkansas has enacted good laws over the years like the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that stop the government from discriminating against people because of their religious convictions. Laws like it should help prevent cases like the one in Oregon from happening here.

We appreciate our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom standing up for religious liberty and defending homeschoolers in court.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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8th Circuit Hears Oral Arguments in Ten Commandments Case

Ten Commandments Monument, ,

On September 22, a three-judge panel for the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case against an Arkansas law allowing posters of the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools and public buildings.

Last year, lawmakers passed Act 573 of 2025 by Sen. Jim Dotson (R — Bentonville) and Rep. Alyssa Brown (R — Heber Springs) requiring privately-funded copies of the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools and other public buildings in Arkansas. The measure received strong support from the state legislature.

But lawyers from the ACLU and a group of atheist organizations sued to block Act 573 in court.

The federal judge presiding over the case issued decisions claiming the Ten Commandments posters would pressure children “to observe, meditate on, venerate, and follow the State’s favored religious text, and to suppress expression of their own religious beliefs and backgrounds at school.”

However, Arkansas has appealed to the 8th Circuit. Last week, the Arkansas Attorney General’s office asked the appeals court to reverse the district court’s decision and let Arkansans place posters of the Ten Commandments in public schools and buildings as Act 573 allows.

The Attorney General’s office said the 8th Circuit should uphold Act 573, because “the district court’s analysis is flawed across the board.”

The Attorney General’s office noted that the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether displays like the Ten Commandments posters are constitutional based on their longstanding history and tradition.

Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states are free to honor and recognize documents or symbols that are important to our nation’s history — like the Ten Commandments or the national motto. Courts have also ruled that public school students are free to study religious texts like the Bible academically.

This year the 5th Circuit has been favorable to laws placing the Ten Commandments in school classrooms in Texas and Louisiana. The judges from the 5th Circuit pointed out that “no child is required to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin.”

With all of this in mind, we believe our federal courts ultimately will uphold Act 573 as constitutional.

You can listen to oral arguments over Act 573 below.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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