Ohio Senate passes parental rights bill, school release time for students' religious instruction
The Ohio Senate has passed a bill that advances parental rights issues, including allowing public school students to be taken off campus during school hours to have religious instruction.
The state's upper chamber passed House Bill 8 on Wednesday in a vote of 24-7, with the Ohio House voting 57-31 to concur with any changes made to the legislation.
HB 8 now goes to Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who, upon receiving the bill, has 10 days to decide whether to sign the bill into law or veto it, according to CBS' Columbus affiliate WBNS.
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Primarily sponsored by Reps. D.J. Swearingen and Sara Carruthers, HB 8 declares that “a parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent's child.”
“A school district board of education shall collaborate with a sponsoring entity of a released time course in religious instruction to identify a time to offer the course during the school day,” continued the legislation.
“While in attendance in a released time course in religious instruction, a student shall not be considered absent from school. No student may be released from a core curriculum subject course to attend a religious instruction course.”
The bill also requires school districts to make sure that “any sexuality content is age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate for the age of the student receiving the instruction” and prohibits schools from “directly or indirectly encouraging a student to withhold from a parent information concerning the student's mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being, or a change in related services or monitoring.”
Aaron Baer, president of the Center for Christian Virtue, released a statement Wednesday celebrating the legislation's passage, declaring, “I praise God today for the leadership in the General Assembly that moved to protect parents and kids today.”
“The days of the ACLU and the most fringe voices on the left driving the political debate in America are over. The age of powerful parent voices is here,” Baer said.
“And for the Planned Parenthood employees in Ohio public schools disappointed today because they can no longer talk to 8-year-olds about their sexual orientation and gender identity, I have one message: it’s probably time to find a new line of work.”
The Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union was among the critics of HB 8, with the advocacy group claiming in a protest letter that the bill “puts the privacy and safety of Ohio students at risk.”
“It is imperative that trust between young people and a teacher or other school staff member remains intact. For students who do not feel safe at home, sometimes they have nowhere else to turn but to a teacher or guidance counselor,” read the letter.
“Additionally, HB 8’s provisions about ‘sexuality content’ will create a culture of censorship in our schools. Current law already allows for parental notice, review, and opting out of instruction.”
The ACLU chapter also objected to the released time for religious instruction provision, arguing that such programs “disrupt the school day for students who do not attend and their teachers.”
