Indiana Released-Time Religious Instruction Tracker

Can Indiana students leave school for Bible class?

Yes, when the statutory conditions are met. Written parental notice triggers the principal’s release duty. The law covers qualifying religious instruction rather than one named provider. Families and schools collaborate on timing; LifeWise enrollment alone does not establish an agreed school release schedule. Read §20-33-2-19(a)–(c).

How long? Up to 120 minutes weekly for elementary students; for public secondary students, the time equivalent of one elective course weekly. Does it count? Attendance credit is required for qualifying time. Up to two elective academic credits may be available only through a qualifying local policy and course review.

Four detailed district trackers

Current Indiana law: duties and limits

Attendance credit, elective credit and provider checks

Section 19(e) protects attendance credit. Section 19(f) creates an optional academic-credit route with additional safeguards. A district’s policy must evaluate the course using secular criteria comparable to transfer credit. The law lists instructional hours, syllabus, assessment methods and teacher licensure as possible criteria; it does not make teacher licensure alone a universal provider-eligibility requirement. The decision must remain neutral toward religious content and denomination. Current credit subsection.

For credit-bearing instruction, students first seek a period in the instructional day outside instructional time; if that is unavailable, release remains subject to subsection (c). Expanded checks and insurance in subsection (f) should not be represented as a universal statewide registration regime for every release request.

Local differences matter: Mt. Vernon E200 authorizes a credit-review route. West Lafayette’s final E200 does not contain the credit language in its earlier draft. Washington Township pairs its release policy with a detailed notice form. Their release policies apply provider safeguards beyond simply repeating the statute’s credit subsection.

Parent notice, transportation and missed classes

Start with the principal and the current district form. Confirm the provider, proposed dates, release period, destination, departure and return arrangements, attendance-record exchange and any missed assessments. Distinguish what state law requires from what a local form asks families to provide.

Washington Township’s form says the district does not provide or supervise transportation and allows written revocation. Lanesville’s prior-year elementary handbook assigns travel to family/provider and excludes district facilities. West Central’s historical manual assigns transport to sponsor/family/student, while board records separately approve bus rentals with terms not supplied. These examples do not create one statewide transport contract. Washington Township form · Lanesville handbook · West Central evidence.

Section 19 does not itself establish a make-up-work rule or authorize religious instruction on school property. Constitutional, facility-use, safety and other applicable rules remain relevant. See the national court-context section; do not treat statutory silence as facility approval.

Search and compare 15 Indiana districts

Search district, status, provider or rule; filter by evidence status and sort by name. Expand a row to compare normalized fields. “Unknown-not-located” describes this review’s evidence gap, not a rejection or absence of a program. “Approved” for West Central refers to the documented bus rental, not a blanket compliance finding.

Download Indiana records (CSV) · Download Indiana records and scoring (JSON) · National normalized research database (JSON)

LifeWise and other providers: what is verified

West Central’s district records name LifeWise. The three other detailed trackers establish policy or form requirements without assigning a verified provider. Louisville Public Media’s September 2025 report describes Greenville Elementary activity in New Albany-Floyd County; it remains a historical lead pending current district policy and operating confirmation. West Central procedure · Historical Floyd County reporting.

Anderson’s historical school calendar lists religious education. Awaken / Anderson Weekday Religious Education separately describes its own history; this review does not equate that provider statement with current district participation. Penn-Harris-Madison’s automated MOU summary contains conflicting wording and has not been promoted into an approval claim. Anderson calendar · Provider history · Unverified PHM lead.

Implementation timeline and superseded guidance

Research selection, search intent and updates

Fifteen candidates were ranked for research value: primary records 30 points, recency 15, documented provider evidence 10, implementation differences 15, observed community interest 10, estimated audience opportunity 10, observed search-result gap 5 and update potential 5. Scores are editorial judgments, not measured traffic, population estimates, provider quality or legal compliance. Ties retain research order.

Live searches surfaced statute mirrors, provider/advocacy summaries, older news and district PDFs. The useful gap is a dated comparison of final local rules and implementation, particularly credit, annual notice and screening. This state page answers Indiana law questions; district pages answer their own local policy and provider searches. Only four received full trackers. The remaining records need stronger or more differentiated evidence before publication as standalone pages.

No automatic monitoring has been scheduled. Future changes should record the source, action date, publication date, former finding and revised finding. Retrieve final minutes, signed agreements and current school notices before changing a proposal or policy status to verified operating activity.

Frequently asked questions

Source and document library

Page research baseline: October 8, 2026. Source type and document vintage are shown below. A provider statement, agenda and final adopted policy establish different facts.

1. Indiana Code 2026 §20-33-2-19

   Current official statute. Full rendered IGA section inspected October 8, 2026. Amendment history ends P.L.194-2025, SEC.4; no 2026 amendment listed. Subsections (a)–(e) govern release; (f) governs optional secondary credit.

2. State Board of Accounts — June 2025 School Bulletin

   State agency enactment summary. Page 22 identifies P.L.194-2025 / SEA255 and July 1, 2025 effective date. Historical implementation source, read against the 2026 Code.

3. IDOE — 2024 legislative implementation guidance, revised June 21

   Historical agency guidance. Page 19 addresses HEA1137, written notice, excused absence and attendance records. Its universal two-hour summary predates the 2025 secondary-school change.

4. IDOE — July 26, 2024 bulletin linking implementation guidance

   Official agency publication. Establishes provenance of the linked IDOE guidance; it is not a 2026 guidance update.

5. West Central — board policy manual, December 7, 2022 edition

   Official historical policy manual. Chapter IX, XXV, pp.145–146: Elementary & Middle School Released Time Religious Instruction (RTRI) Guidelines. First reading March 4, 2021; second April 13, 2021. Later consolidated policy text not located; do not treat this edition as a verified 2026 revision.

6. West Central — May 2, 2024 board minutes

   Official board minutes. LifeWise bus-rental request approved 4–0. Does not include price, cost recovery, trip purpose or signed rental terms.

7. West Central — January 2, 2025 minutes copy

   Board record on municipal website; unapproved file label. Records LifeWise bus-rental approval 6–0. Final approved district copy and underlying agreement not located.

8. West Central — August 3, 2023 board minutes copy

   Board record on municipal website. Elementary report announces August 14 LifeWise start. A dated announcement, not current attendance data.

9. West Central Elementary — e-learning procedures

   Official school operating procedure. Currently linked two-page document states LifeWise does not meet on e-learning days. Undated; supports a district operational reference, not a precise 2026–27 enrollment count or timetable.

10. Mt. Vernon CSC — E200 Religious Release Time and Credit for Religious Education

    Official adopted district policy. Adopted September 21, 2020; revised August 11, 2025. Includes a local elective-credit policy and provider screening/insurance requirements. No named provider.

11. MSD Washington Township — E200 Religious Release Time

    Official adopted district policy. Adopted August 27, 2025. Provider checks and liability coverage appear in the release policy; no elective-credit award provision.

12. MSD Washington Township — C175-E / E200-E parental notice form

    Official district form. Two-page form linked by district policy index. Annual notice, written revocation, provider contacts, dates and transport choices; district does not provide/supervise transport. K–8 and high-school limits are separately listed.

13. MSD Washington Township — Instruction policy index

    Official policy index. Lists policy and form dated August 27, 2025. Confirms the district provenance of ParentSquare-hosted documents.

14. West Lafayette CSC — E200 Religious Release Time

    Official active district policy. Policy hub marks Active, adopted December 8, 2025. Final text contains release and screening provisions but no academic-credit authorization.

15. West Lafayette — November 10, 2025 E200 first-reading draft

    Superseded draft. Includes optional credit language and placeholders. Do not use as final adopted policy; compare the December 8 active policy.

16. West Lafayette — December 8, 2025 board agenda

    Official agenda. Second-reading context. An agenda alone does not establish a vote tally; adoption date comes from the active policy.

17. Western Wayne — E200 Religious Release Time

    Official adopted policy. Adopted August 13, 2025; separate elementary/secondary caps, annual notice, checks and insurance. Named-provider operation not verified.

18. New Prairie United — January 29, 2026 board notes

    Official district board summary. Pages 3–4 report second-reading adoption of policy package including revised 5223. Not a full signed policy or named-provider operating record.

19. Madison Consolidated — September 10, 2025 minutes

    Official board minutes. Pages 13–14: second reading and approval of revision package including 5223, Released Time for Religious Instruction, passed 4–0. Final policy text needs a dedicated review.

20. Lanesville Elementary — 2025–26 handbook

    Official prior-year handbook. Pages 20–21: guardian notice naming organization, private transport, off-premises sessions and continuing academic duties. Current-year form and provider records remain unverified.

21. Louisville Public Media — Floyd County LifeWise report, September 24, 2025

    Independent local reporting. Reports first/second-grade Greenville Elementary sessions, 40 minutes weekly. Historical report, not current district authorization or 2026–27 participation confirmation.

22. Penn-Harris-Madison LifeWise MOU — Civic IQ lead

    Secondary automated meeting lead. Title describes deferral while boilerplate calls it an award. Original minutes/MOU were not verified. No approval or operation conclusion is published.

23. Hamilton Southeastern — Sand Creek Intermediate handbooks

    Official school handbook page. Religious-release notice and 120-minute provision located for intermediate students; not a districtwide provider-participation finding.

24. Anderson Community Schools — October 2024 calendar

    Official historical school calendar. Eastside fourth-grade religious education entry October 25, 2024, 12:40–1:40. Provider identity and current operation not established by calendar alone.

25. Awaken / Anderson Weekday Religious Education — history

    Provider statement. Non-LifeWise research lead; the provider describes its history. Not sole evidence of current district participation.

26. Zionsville — high-school attendance and health handbook

    Official handbook search finding. Indexed text retains a 120-minute statement. Edition and reconciliation with the secondary-school statutory change need review; no finding of noncompliance.

27. MSD Decatur Township — attendance information

    Official district search finding. Indexed religious-release text refers to Policy 5223 and 120 minutes. Full current policy and implementation not independently reconciled.

28. Fort Wayne Community Schools — policies and procedures

    Official district research entry point. Specific final released-time policy and named-provider implementation not located in this review.

Update log and next records

October 8, 2026 — Phase 12 Indiana publication. Compared current 2026 Code with dated local evidence. Published four district trackers and a 15-district research register; policy, provider and operation are recorded separately.

Next review: enacted law, final local policies, current forms, signed provider agreements, screening/insurance documentation and dated school activity. No automatic monitoring is active. Submit a documented correction.

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