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Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democratic filibuster likely kills Alabama abstinence, ‘sexual risk avoidance' bill
Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, listens to a filibuster over a bill to overhaul sex education and make public schools teach 'sexual risk avoidance' and abstinence on April 29, 2025 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Alander Rocha/ Alabama Reflector) A bill seeking to make Alabama's public schools teach 'sexual risk avoidance' and abstinence likely won't become law this year. A Democratic filibuster over the General Fund budget Tuesday pushed debate over SB 277, sponsored by Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, to the last couple of minutes before midnight, when the legislative day ends. The late debate meant senators could not vote on the measure. Shelnutt made his unhappiness at the prospect clear. 'We've only got 10 more minutes. Y'all wasted the whole day. So, let's just waste the last 10 minutes. I know you want to waste the last 10 minutes,' Shelnutt said at around 11:50 p.m. when Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, asked if he would be willing to delay the bill until next year to allow them to work on something together. There are four days left in the 2025 session of the Alabama Legislature. Starting on Thursday, bills originating in the Senate that have not yet passed that chamber need unanimous consent to be sent to the House. A single senator's objection can kill a bill. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Figures asked about the specifics of the curriculum and its implementation during the debate on the bill after Shelnutt initially ignored her on the floor. 'Senator?' Figures asked after a few seconds, following a question about whether he had been in contact with the Department of Education to learn about the current sex education curriculum. 'You've read the bill. You know what the bill does. There's no sense wasting my time answering your questions. Y'all want to stop it, so just you got the mic. Go,' Shelnutt responded defensively. 'Senator, I am sincerely asking you questions about this bill,' Figures responded. Shelnutt remained defensive during the debate, maintaining that 'this is a good bill' and that he didn't want 'teachers, left-wing, crazy people, teaching my kids about stuff that I don't ever want them to hear about.' 'If you got a problem with it, you got a problem with it,' Shelnutt said to Democratic senators. The bill would change sex education programs to include information about the 'financial cost of pregnancy and child care, abortion, and adoption,' as well as 'instruction about parenting responsibilities.' It explicitly prohibited 'providing a referral to or information about how to acquire an abortion,' 'misrepresenting the efficacy of or demonstrating the use of contraceptives,' and 'using images that are sexually explicit.' 'I don't want my kids taught that crap. I mean, it's crap,' Shelnutt said on the floor. The bill also tried to prevent local boards of education from using services from any individual or organization 'that does not endorse sexual risk avoidance or that advocates for or performs abortions.' It also mandated that parents or guardians be given a 14-day notice before any sex education instruction and granted them the right to opt their children out of such programs. Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, spoke briefly after Figures and pushed back on the claim that Tuesday was a 'wasted day.' Instead, he said, it was an opportunity to compromise. 'It's only a waste when you don't care about things that we're trying to address for the people that we represent. So, if I'm categorized as trying to represent the people that I represent, and someone wants to call it a waste, then so be it,' Smitherman said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama Senate approves bill requiring school boards to adopt religious instruction policies
Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville (left) speaks with Sen. Lance Bell, R-Pell City, on the floor of the Alabama Senate on April 8, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would require local school boards to develop policies allowing students to leave campus during school hours for religious instruction. SB 278, sponsored by Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, would mandate that school districts establish procedures for students to attend religious classes off-site for elective credit, provided certain conditions are met. The bill passed 25-6 and moves to the House for consideration. 'We passed a law in Alabama in 2019 allowing school districts to enact policies. Since that time, very few school districts have adopted release time policies … parents are approaching superintendents and school boards throughout the state and are being told no,' Shelnutt claimed as he introduced the bill to the floor. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Under the bill, which Shelnutt framed as a 'parental rights and religious freedom bill,' participation in religious instruction would be optional and require parental consent. The bill would mandate that organizations providing instruction provide transportation to and from school and that they be liable if anything happens to a child. The bill would also prohibit local funds from being used to provide religious instruction. Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, asked about teacher qualifications and program accreditation for the off-site religious classes and whether instructors needed to be certified. 'If I'm Muslim, and I want to go to a mosque to get this done — so the school board has to go speak with the person who's over the mosque to make sure that they're accredited and certified in their program?' Singleton asked. Shelnutt said this would be decided locally, saying 'that would be up to the local school board if they want to set their policy.' This led to further exchanges about whether local boards would vet programs across different faiths, such as instructors at a mosque or various churches. Shelnutt maintained local boards set the policy. 'I'm sure there will be differences in the local school boards and how they set them up,' Shelnutt said when pressed on potential inconsistencies across the state's 139 districts. Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, asked for assurance that local policies could not discriminate against specific religions. 'The policy cannot isolate whether it be the Jehovah Witnesses or whether it be the Seventh Day Adventists or be the Methodists … the policy would have to cover for each of those, is that correct?' Albritton asked. Shelnutt said the policy 'cannot be restricted' and parents ultimately choose participation. Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, asked about liability, particularly regarding child safety, referencing past issues within religious institutions. She asked who holds liability under programs if something negative happened to the child. 'A child could break his or her leg or hurt themselves? Who holds that liability? With these off-campus type entities,' Coleman asked. Shelnutt said that the 'sponsoring entity holds all the liability, and the state law already states that,' which would absolve the school system. Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, questioned the need for the bill, given existing religious education avenues and school choice laws. 'Why don't you give the local school board the option to vote this in if they even want to do it for their particular school system?' Figures asked. Shelnutt maintained they are giving the local school boards 'local control' by 'giving the local school board control of coming up with the policy.' Shelnutt also added an amendment before the bill's passage to ensure that school boards with pre-existing release time policies would not be required to change them, which was adopted 26-4 with one abstention. A House committee rejected a similar bill earlier this month. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama Senate committee approves religious instruction policy mandate
Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, laughing on April 16, 2025, in the Senate Education Policy Committee meeting in the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama. Shelnutt's bill that requires local school boards to adopt a policy on released time religious instruction (RTRI) passed the committee 8-1 on Wednesday. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill that would require school boards to adopt policies on whether to allow students to leave school for religious study and give them academic credit for it. SB 278, sponsored by Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, mirrors HB 342, sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, which was rejected by the House Education Committee on April 2. The state already has a law that allows school boards to adopt such policies, known as Released Time Religious Instruction (RTRI). The bill would mandate the development of those policies. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The committee heard from critics and supporters of the legislation last week. 'The bill is designed to provide local control and flexibility, ensuring a district can implement policies that best suit their needs, while respecting the constitutional rights of students and parents,' Shelnutt said Wednesday. The senator said the policy could forbid RTRI. 'Yes, local boards have the ability to adopt their own policies,' he said. 'If the policy they implement is super narrow because this does not work in their district in any way, then so be it.' Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, echoed a concern raised by Dale County Superintendent Ben Baker last week that there is not enough time in the school day for students to leave campus for RTRI. He said religious instruction should happen at home. 'This is kind of boilerplate legislation, in my view. At some point we have to give parents the responsibility we say parents should have in terms of how they go about the process of sharing moral values with their kids,' Hatcher said. 'In fact, I know that it should begin at home.' Hatcher also questioned the intent of the bill. Although the legislation says that any religious group can participate, Hatcher was concerned about what that would look like and if it would happen. 'I do know that there's a slippery slope to this kind of legislation,' he said. 'I do know that a part of the intent of legislation like this has a great deal to do with this notion of Christian nationalism.' Sen. Roger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, raised concerns over liability. He said that students could sign up for the program, leave the school and not attend the program. 'We don't have control over them but they're still under us, but we don't have control. That's an hour that is returned outside during the hours of eight to three,' Smitherman said. Shelnutt said the groups that host RTRI, like LifeWise Ministry, will assume all liability. According to LifeWise's sample curriculum, it teaches the Christian belief that 'God created all things good' to a list of virtues that the nonprofit describes as 'LifeWise qualities.' At least 30 school board representatives from across the state attended Wednesday's meeting. Sally Smith, executive director of the Alabama Association of School Boards, said she is disappointed the legislation passed, but would continue to have conversations with lawmakers. Smith has consistently expressed concern and opposition to the bill. 'We think that we just have to have continued conversations with our senators due to local leaders' concerns with this bill,' Smith said in an interview. 'It is in the area of making policy that presents constitutional challenges to local boards of education. So it is not as clearly clean cut as some may think.' The bill was approved 8-1 with Hatcher as the only member that voted against the bill. Smitherman said he only voted for it to get it out of committee, but that it still needed significant work. Shelnutt said he would work with Smitherman on his concerns. 'I'm going to vote to get the bill out of committee, but I do think that before we move that bill on the floor, that these things have got to be tightened up,' Smitherman said. The bill moves to the full Senate. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
