The House Education Policy committee on Wednesday killed a bill that would require all Alabama school systems to adopt policies on allowing academic credit for off-campus “religious instruction” time.
School boards can already offer academic credit for such religious instruction, but HB342 by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, would have made it mandatory for school boards to draft policies on whether and how to allow it.
“I believe the answer to religious liberty is more religious liberty, not less, not stifling it,” DuBose said. “I would ask those schools to consider, to find a spot for it.”
Rep. Alan Baker, R-Brewton, said he thought the relatively new option has already been performing well in the state with 12 school boards participating. It’s important that local school boards retain local control over whether they adopt policies on participating in religious instruction programs, Baker said.
“I recognize there could be some school systems that have not adopted a policy for whatever reason; I also realized here are some systems that have already been approached about this and have chosen not to adopt a policy,” Baker said. “It seems to go contrary to what you’re suggesting that there’s local control, because this bill would mandate, require them even if they’ve made a conscious decision that they don’t want to adopt a policy.”
A few committee members noted their concerns with school boards being mandated to give up instructional time for these programs.
The committee voted 9-4 against favorable report for the bill, blocking it from going forward other the full House for consideration.
Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, filed an identical bill in the Senate Tuesday.
