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| To enact section 3313.6017 of the Revised Code to | 1 |
| permit public school students to attend and | 2 |
| receive credit for released time courses in | 3 |
| religious instruction conducted off school | 4 |
| property during regular school hours. | 5 |
| Section 1. That section 3313.6017 of the Revised Code be | 6 |
| enacted to read as follows: | 7 |
| Sec. 3313.6017. (A) As used in this section, "released time" | 8 |
| means a period of time during which a student is excused from | 9 |
| school to attend a course in religious instruction conducted by a | 10 |
| private entity off school district property. | 11 |
| (B) A school district board of education may adopt a policy | 12 |
| that authorizes a student to be excused from school to attend a | 13 |
| released time course in religious instruction, provided that each | 14 |
| of the following applies: | 15 |
| (1) The student's parent or guardian gives written consent. | 16 |
| (2) The sponsoring entity maintains attendance records and | 17 |
| makes them available to the school district the student attends. | 18 |
| (3) Transportation to and from the place of instruction, | 19 |
| including transportation for students with disabilities, is the | 20 |
| complete responsibility of the sponsoring entity, parent, | 21 |
| guardian, or student. | 22 |
| (4) The sponsoring entity makes provisions for and assumes | 23 |
| liability for the student. | 24 |
| (5) No public funds are expended and no public school | 25 |
| personnel are involved in providing the religious instruction. | 26 |
| (6) The student assumes responsibility for any missed | 27 |
| schoolwork. | 28 |
| While in attendance in a released time course in religious | 29 |
| instruction, a student shall not be considered absent from school. | 30 |
| No student may be released from a core curriculum subject course | 31 |
| to attend a religious instruction course. | 32 |
| (C) A policy adopted under division (B) of this section may | 33 |
| authorize high school students to earn up to two units of high | 34 |
| school credit for the completion of a released time course in | 35 |
| religious instruction. In determining whether to award credit for | 36 |
| completion of such a course, the board shall evaluate the course | 37 |
| based on purely secular criteria that are substantially similar to | 38 |
| the criteria used to evaluate similar nonpublic high school | 39 |
| courses for purposes of determining whether to award credit for | 40 |
| such courses to a student transferring from a nonpublic high | 41 |
| school to a public high school. The decision to award credit for a | 42 |
| released time course of religious instruction shall be neutral to, | 43 |
| and shall not involve any test for, religious content or | 44 |
| denominational affiliation. | 45 |
| For purposes of this division, secular criteria may include, | 46 |
| but are not limited to, the following: | 47 |
| (1) The number of hours of classroom instruction time; | 48 |
| (2) A review of the course syllabus that reflects course | 49 |
| requirements and materials used; | 50 |
| (3) The methods of assessment used in the course; | 51 |
| (4) The qualifications of the course instructor. | 52 |
| Notwithstanding division (C)(7) of section 3313.603 of the | 53 |
| Revised Code, high school credit awarded to a student for a | 54 |
| released time course in religious instruction may substitute for | 55 |
| the same amount of credit in subjects listed in that division. | 56 |