Across the country, Christian Nationalist groups are promoting a concept called “release time,” which threatens to disrupt school schedules and ostracize some students. Spearheading this push is Ohio-based LifeWise Academy, which offers a fundamentalist Christian release-time curriculum and is behind a deceptively named new documentary that will be released later this month called “Off School Property: Solving the Separation of Church and State.”
If you’ve never heard of release time, you’re not alone. In a nutshell, it’s a system whereby public school students leave the building during the school day for religious instruction offsite that is sponsored by private organizations.
Decades ago, Christian groups used to offer religious instruction inside public schools, allegedly on a voluntary basis. The U.S. Supreme Court put a stop to that in 1948’s McCollum v. Board of Education. But just four years later, the high court upheld release time as long as it took place off school grounds. Recently, LifeWise and allied groups have urged states to pass new laws that not only allow but require public schools to offer release-time programs. Indiana, Montana, Ohio, and Oklahoma are among the states signing these mandates into law.
LifeWise and allies are likely finding these mandates necessary because the idea of release time never really caught on in a big way. School officials found it logistically challenging to allow students to leave during the day, and the time away meant there was less time for academic instruction. Schools also faced the problem of what to do with the students who chose not to attend release time programs.
The programs can also spawn coercion, subtle and otherwise. In districts where the majority of students are attending release time, those who don’t want to go can feel singled out and ostracized. This can be especially problematic for non-Christian students.
Although the Supreme Court has upheld release time, Americans United believes several safeguards should be put in place to protect the rights of all students. AU recommends a number of guardrails, including ensuring that no public funds should be spent to support these programs, school officials don’t promote the programs or coerce students to attend them and students who choose not to attend should not be punished in any way, such as being given extra assignments. (You can read more about AU’s concerns over release time here.)
Release time is an administrative headache for many schools, and it threatens to ostracize non-Christian students. Public schools, which must stay focused on education in secular subjects, should be permitted to opt out of it entirely.
There is no shortage of religious communities in America. If young people or their parents desire religious instruction, there are plenty of opportunities to provide it after the school day or on weekends.
