Public School Released Time Laws

A significant number of states have laws which require or allow school districts to provide released time for students to leave school in order to attend private religious education during the school day. In order to meet constitutional requirements, this religious instruction must take place outside school grounds; the school may not encourage participation; and school resources may not be spent to provide transportation or otherwise facilitate this religious education. Because released time programming detracts from classroom instruction time, these laws can compromise the education of both participating and nonparticipating students.

In addition, several states have laws that allow public school districts to offer academic credit for religious education classes taught off of school grounds and without school oversight. Although these provisions are often connected to released time, there is sometimes no requirement that this religious instruction take place during released time. These laws may be unconstitutional because they provide a special advantage to religious students; they are difficult to administer in a religiously neutral way; and they may be religiously coercive.