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An Ohio Senate committee adds a religious education bill to the “Parents’ Bill of Rights”

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — The so-called “Parents’ Bill of Rights” could move forward with a big and unexpected change.

Two smaller LifeWise buses outside the Westerville Board of Education meeting.
Two smaller LifeWise buses outside the Westerville Board of Education meeting on Sept. 30, 2024. The board voted to rescind its policy that LifeWise used to offer its Bible study program during school hours. [Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau]
House Bill 8, which opponents say is Ohio’s equivalent of a “don’t say gay bill”, would require parents to be notified of any content or discussion about “sexuality” in public K-12 schools, so they can remove their child. And Tuesday, a Senate committee added another controversial bill to it.

Republican lawmakers on the committee added a measure to require K-12 schools to adopt a policy to allow release time for religious instruction. It’s known as the “LifeWise” bill, named after the Ohio-based Christian program in which students can leave school during the day with a parent’s permission to attend religious classes off school grounds. The LifeWise website said it’s operating in 29 states. In Ohio, some districts have not allowed LifeWise or other programs, and some districts have rescinded their policies allowing it, including two central Ohio districts that did so recently.

The leader of the Ohio House has been a proponent of HB 8. But, Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) is not a fan of adding the release for religious instruction bill to it.

“By being specific and adding on a lot of other things, it can be maybe unintended consequences and there may have been things in a bill like that that may not have been thoroughly vetted,” Stephens said.

While the committee merged the two bills together into one, it did not take a vote on the bill, which is necessary for the bill to go to the full Senate. It would have to return to the House for their vote on any changes. Ohio lawmakers are attempting to wrap up the lame duck session this week.