Released Time is a concept used in the United States public
school system wherein pupils enrolled in the public schools are permitted by law to receive religious instruction. The
principle is based on the constitutional right of parents to direct the
religious education of their children.
Early history
The original idea of released time in the United States was first discussed in 1905 at a school
conference in New York City. The proposal was that public elementary schools should be
closed one day a week in addition to Sunday so that parents who so desired could have their children receive religious
instruction off the school premises. This idea was later implemented by Dr. William Wirt, an educator and superintendent of the school establishment of
Gary, Indiana, in 1914. In the first years of Wirt's
implementation, over 600 students participated in off-campus religious education.
Most released time programs were held off school property, and the public school system had no involvement in the religious
programs taught off school property.
The released time program began to grow rapidly. In 1922 released time programs were active in
23 states. Approximately 40,000 students from 200 school districts were enrolled in such programs. In 1932, thirty states had active released time programs in 400 communities with enrollment of 250,000 students. In
1942, participation reached 1.5 million students in 46 states. Released time reached its peak
enrollment totals in 1947 when 2 million students were enrolled in some 2,200 communities. During
this period, legislation paving the way for released time programs had been adopted by 12 states. [1]
Legal challenges
McCollum v. Board of Education
In 1945 Vashti McCollum brought legal action against
the Champaign, Illinois public school district. McCollum, who did not profess
religious beliefs, was the mother of a student in the district. McCollum's suit stated that her eight-yead-old son had been
coerced and ostracized by school officials because his family had chosen to not participate in the district's in-school religious
instruction program. The Champaign district's religious instruction was held during regular school hours in the classrooms in
Champaign's public schools, and was taught by members of a local religious association with the approval of school officials.
McCollum's suit argued that religious instruction held during regular school hours on public school property constituted an
establishment of religion in violation of the
U.S. Constitution, and violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The state district court ruled against McCollum, as did the Illinois Supreme
Court upon appeal. However, in 1948, the United States Supreme
Court ruled 8 to 1 in favor of McCollum, reversing the lower courts' decision. [2]. The high court ruled that the Champaign program was unconstitutional since it used the state's compulsory
education system to aid in the teaching of religious doctrine, and because tax-supported school buildings were being used.
In the aftermath of the McCollum decision, the number of released time classes dropped by 12 percent across the nation.
[3]
Zorach v. Clauson
In 1952, the case of Zorach v. Clauson came before the Supreme Court. The case
involved the education law of New York State, particularly a regulation by which a public
school was permitted to release students during school hours for religious instruction or devotional exercises. In a 6 to 3
ruling, the high court upheld the New York law.
In the majority opinion, Justice William O. Douglas wrote that New York's program
"involves neither religious instruction in public schools nor the expenditure of public funds", unlike the earlier McCollum case
that the Zorach plaintiffs had cited as precedent.
Douglas wrote that a public school "may not coerce anyone to attend church, to observe a religious holiday, or to take
religious instruction. But it can close its doors or suspend its operations as to those who want to repair to their religious
sanctuary for worship or instruction. No more than that is undertaken here."
The Court's opinion stated that
- In the McCollum case the classrooms were used for religious instruction and the force of the public school was used to
promote that instruction. Here, as we have said, the public schools do no more than accommodate their schedules to a program of
outside religious instruction. We follow the McCollum case. But we cannot expand it to cover the present released time program
unless separation of Church and State means that public institutions can make no adjustments of their schedules to accommodate
the religious needs of the people. We cannot read into the Bill of Rights such a philosophy of hostility to religion.[4]
Today
There are approximately 1,000 released time programs in operation today, ranging from kindergarten to high school, with
250,000 students enrolled. In some areas, including most public school districts in the state of Utah, released time programs allow students a daily class period which may be used for extracurricular
religious studies.
One notable large group taking released time for religious instruction are LDS students. Most LDS
students in ninth through twelfth grade take released time, which is called seminary. For many outside of large LDS
population centers in the West this means classes are quite early, before classes begin at the public school. However, in the
West, such as in Idaho and Utah, it is common to find an LDS seminary building within close walking distance of public high
schools, sometimes directly adjacent. In such situations the LDS students will take one class period off from the public school
as released time. The large numbers taking released time means the seminary has up to six or seven periods corresponding to the
public school class periods. (see Church Educational System#Seminaries and
Seminary#LDS Youth seminaries)
Supporters of released time programs interpret the various court cases as permitting these programs, provided several
guidelines are met. These conditions are
- Classes must not be held on public school property,
- Religious instruction may not be financed by public funds,
- Students must have parental permission to be released from public school for the purpose of attending religious
instruction.
See also
References and further reading
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