Religious instruction bill fails House committee; Senate version filed
Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, reading legislation in the House Education Policy Committee on April 2, 2025, in the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama. HB 342, sponsored by DuBose, which would require local school boards to adopt a policy for religious instruction, failed the committee on a 4-9 vote. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
A bill that would require local school boards to adopt policies on extending academic credit for 'religious instruction' outside the classroom failed an Alabama House committee on Wednesday.
The House Education Policy Committee rejected HB 342, sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, on a 4-9 vote despite significant amendments to the bill that gave local school boards more flexibility with the policy.
Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, the chair of the committee, said she supported the amendments but said the pushback from both sides was stronger than she expected.
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'I had every superintendent around me actually reach out and ask not to,' Collins said in an interview about her vote. 'There was just a lot of passion. The amount of people pushing both ways was extreme, more so than I thought, and that makes me hesitant.'
State law currently allows boards of education to extend that credit, but does not mandate released time religious instruction (RTRI), the subject of DuBose's bill, in which students can take time out of the school day for religious instruction.
The ministry teaches students about the Christian Standard Bible 'with a focus on head, heart and hands,' according to its website. In a sample curriculum, it alters the language and organization of Bible lessons so that children can understand it easily.
Rep. Alan Baker, R-Brewton, also voted against the bill, saying schools can already create religious release time policies. The Legislature passed a law allowing school boards to create a policy in 2019.
'I think the local authorities need to make that decision,' Baker said in an interview. 'If they want that there in their system, then they can handle it.'
Collins said she wanted to see more results of the current law.
'My thought is, we passed it several years ago as a 'may.' I would like to see how that works a little bit longer,' she said.
Rep. Tashina Morris, D-Montgomery, said the program would take away needed instructional time.
'The school hours haven't changed, but we keep sticking things into the class time,' she said.
DuBose said the bill may come back next year, but start in the Senate.
'People had a difference of opinion. And that happens all the time,' DuBose said in an interview. 'I don't think anything went wrong.'
SB 278, sponsored by Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, is identical to DuBose's bill with the amendments. It was filed Tuesday and is in the Senate Education Policy Committee.
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