To be specific, the bill, LA SB112, involves what's known as school release time, something that's been allowed since a 1950s U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Otherwise known as the School Released Time Education Act, the bill allows public school students from K-12 to go off campus after parental permission is granted
LA SB112 was passed last week on May 21.
LifeWise Academy is one of the groups that offers biblical instruction for students whose parents sign them up for instruction.
Ian Lake, chief of staff at LifeWise Academy, commented on the program on “Washington Watch.”
“This has been available to communities for over 70 years, and a lot of times, we have states that their policies don't match or haven't met the ruling from the Supreme Court in 1952,” says Lake. “We've seen a movement across the country, really, in various states, nearly 11 states, anywhere from my own state in Ohio to Texas and Florida, different states that have enacted these laws to provide guidance to school districts for enabling communities to have release time programs.”
This is the equivalent, he says, to what Louisiana is doing.
School districts must have it brought to them by community members, and according to Lake, there is interest in Louisiana.
“We at LifeWise are seeing interest in this program from Shreveport down to New Orleans, and so, a lot of interest in the state itself,” Lake says.
AFN reported previously on a lawsuit brought by the Sweet Onion Christian Learning Center against the Vidalia City School District in Toombs County, Georgia, for violating their constitutional right of free speech.
The institutions were affiliated with each other as the learning center was a part of a “release-time” program, providing ministry for the district’s high school students. Their relationship, which lasted many years, was terminated by the district after the executive director of the learning center criticized a proposed tax increase on social media.
