Released Time

Released Time programs in public schools allow students to leave during the school day for scheduled religious-related instruction or activities off-campus. States allowing this by statute as of 2025 include:

Florida, Hawaii, Indiana (up to 2 hours per week), Iowa, Kentucky (at the discretion of the school board, and only one has approved as of Oct. 2025), Montana, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin.

North Carolina enacted a law in 2026 authorizing local school boards to allow 1-4 hours per week of released time for public school students, depending on the time approved by the local school board. But under this new law a school board could choose not to allow any released time.

Most additional states also allow this if the local public school or school board approves. In some states academic credit is available for the released time instruction, as in Utah (by administrative regulation).

Large providers of these services include LifeWise (based in Ohio) and School Ministries (based in South Carolina).

States requiring released time

Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, North Dakota, Oregon and Pennsylvania require all the public schools in their states to allow students to have released time, provided there is parental consent for each student. See Fla Stat Section 1003.21(2)(b); MCL 380.1561(3)(d); Mich Admin. Code 340.71; ND Cent Code Section 15.1-19-04; Or Rev Stat Sect 339.420; Pa Stat Ann tit. 24 Sect 15-1546. In addition, see Dilger v. Sch. Dist., 222 Or. 108, 118-19, 352 P.2d 564, 569 (1960) ("We regard the statute as stating that a child shall be excused upon the presentation of a proper application for his release. The authority of the school district or its representatives to adjust the time when the child's absence shall fall in the school day, although not expressed, is derived by implication from the other sections of the school law which delegate to the school district and its representatives the power to operate the schools and to make such regulations as are necessary to do so.").

States with statutes concerning released time

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Illinois

As with half the states (see below), there is no specific law in Illinois governing released time instruction or activities. In the 1946 Illinois Supreme Court decision of Latimer v. Board of Education, 68 N.E. 2d 305, a challenge to released time was rejected and since then one hour per week at the request of parents has been allowed for off-site religious instruction during the school day.

25 states with no limitations on this

These 25 states have no laws about released time, thereby leaving it up to local public schools or school boards:

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Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.

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See also

• LifeWise Academy expanding opt-in Bible study program in Arkansas public schools
• state-by-state listing
• Snyder v. Charlotte Pub. Sch. Dist., 421 Mich. 517, 540, 365 N.W.2d 151 (1984)