(a)When the parent of a student who is
enrolled in a public school provides written notice, the principal shall
allow the student to attend a school for religious instruction that is
conducted by a church, an association of churches, or an association
that is organized for religious instruction and incorporated under
Indiana law.
(b)After receiving notice under subsection (a) and subject to
subsection (c), the principal shall work in a collaborative manner with
the parent or entity offering religious instruction to provide assistance
in determining a period or periods for the student to receive religious
instruction. An entity offering religious instruction to a student as
described in this subsection shall, as applicable, work in a collaborative
manner with the principal to ensure the p
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(a) When the parent of a student who is
enrolled in a public school provides written notice, the principal shall
allow the student to attend a school for religious instruction that is
conducted by a church, an association of churches, or an association
that is organized for religious instruction and incorporated under
Indiana law.
(b) After receiving notice under subsection (a) and subject to
subsection (c), the principal shall work in a collaborative manner with
the parent or entity offering religious instruction to provide assistance
in determining a period or periods for the student to receive religious
instruction. An entity offering religious instruction to a student as
described in this subsection shall, as applicable, work in a collaborative
manner with the principal to ensure the period or periods in which the
student receives religious instruction are the least disruptive to the
instructional time (as defined in IC 20-30-2-1) of the student. The
notice is valid only for the school year in which it is provided.
(c) The period or periods that a student receives religious instruction
under this section may not exceed the following:
(1) For students in elementary school, one hundred twenty (120)
minutes in total in any week.
(2) For students in public secondary school, the amount of time
that is equivalent to attending one (1) elective course at the public
secondary school during the week.
(d) An entity providing religious instruction that receives students
under this section:
(1) shall maintain attendance records and allow inspection of
these records by attendance officers; and
(2) may not be supported, in whole or in part, by public funds.
(e) A student who attends a school for religious instruction under
this section shall receive the same attendance credit that the student
would receive for attendance in the public schools for the same length
of time.
(f) A public secondary school may award academic credit to a
student who attends religious instruction under this section if the
following conditions are met:
(1) The entity that provides religious instruction to a student of a
school corporation under this section agrees to do the following:
(A) Conduct an expanded criminal history check and expanded
child protection index check regarding each employee or
contractor of the entity who is likely to have direct, ongoing
contact with students of the school corporation who are children
within the scope of the individual's employment or contract
services.
(B) Hold liability insurance coverage for services or
transportation provided outside school property (as defined in
IC 20-33-8-5).
(2) The governing body of the school corporation adopts a policy
that allows the awarding of credit. A policy adopted under this
subsection must provide the following:
(A) Classes in religious instruction are evaluated on the basis
of purely secular criteria in substantially the same manner as
similar classes taken by a student at a nonpublic secondary
school who transfers to a public secondary school are evaluated
to determine whether the student receives transfer credit for the
classes. Secular criteria may include the following in addition
to other secular criteria established by the governing body:
(i) The number of hours of classroom instructional time.
(ii) A review of the course syllabus that reflects the course
requirements and materials.
(iii) Methods of assessment used in the course.
(iv) Whether the course is taught by a licensed teacher.
(B) The decision of whether to award academic credit is neutral
as to, and does not involve any test for, religious content or
denominational affiliation.
(C) A provision that a student who attends religious instruction
under this section shall first seek to use a time period during a
student instructional day (as defined in IC 20-30-2-2) that is not
devoted to student instructional time to attend religious
instruction. If a student is not able to attend religious instruction
at a time other than during student instructional time, the
student may not be released to attend religious instruction for
an amount of time per week that exceeds the amount
established in subsection (c).
A student may be awarded a total of not more than two (2) elective
academic credits under this subsection.
[Pre-2005 Elementary and Secondary Education
Recodification Citation: 20-8.1-3-22.]