SB 1457: Pupil instruction: excused absences: religious or moral instruction.

Session Year: 2015-2016
House: Senate

Version:

Existing law allows pupils, with the written consent of their parents or guardians, to be excused from school in order to participate in religious exercises or to receive moral and religious instruction, as specified. Under existing law, these absences will not be deemed absences in computing average daily attendance if (1) the governing board of a school district, in its discretion, first adopts a resolution permitting pupils to be absent from school for the exercises or instruction, (2) the governing board adopts regulations governing the attendance of pupils at the exercises or instruction and the reporting thereof, (3) the pupil attends at least the minimum schoolday, and (4) no pupil is excused for more than 4 days per school month.

This bill would authorize the governing board of a school district to adopt a policy to allow a pupil in high school to participate in released time instruction, as defined. The bill would require that a policy include certain conditions, and would authorize a policy to allow a pupil to receive up to 2 elective credits towards that pupils high school graduation requirements. The bill would require the policy to include secular criteria for determining whether to authorize a pupil to earn credit that are substantially the same criteria used to evaluate a similar nonpublic high school course for the purpose of determining whether to award credit for that course to a pupil transferring from a nonpublic high school to a public high school, and would specify certain secular criteria that are required to be included. The bill would require a decision to award credit for released time instruction to be neutral to, and not involve any test for, religious content or denominational affiliation, and would prohibit school district staff and faculty from encouraging or discouraging participation by pupils in released time instruction. The bill would require that an absence for released time instruction not be deemed an absence in computing average daily attendance.

This bill would delete the condition that a pupil be excused for no more than 4 days per school month, and would instead require as conditions that a pupil in kindergarten or in grade 1 to 8, inclusive, attend the exercises or instruction for no more than 2 hours per school week and that a pupil in grade 9 to 12, inclusive, attend the exercises or instruction for no more than the number of hours required to complete one course at that pupils school.

Discussed in Hearing