Amends TCA Title 49.

ON APRIL 15, 2019, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1373, AS AMENDED.<br /> <br /> AMENDMENT #1 rewrites this bill and changes present law concerning released time courses. A "released time course" is a period of time during which a student is excused from school to attend a course in religious moral instruction taught by an independent entity off school property.<br /> <br /> Present law authorizes local boards of education to adopt a policy that excuses a student from school to attend a released time course in religious moral instruction for up to one class period during each school week. This amendment increases the limit on the number of released time courses for which a board's policy may excuse a student to no more than one class period per school day.<br /> <br /> Present law requires that a student who attends a released time course is credited with time spent as if the student attended school, and the time is calculated as part of the actual school day. This amendment adds authorization for local boards of education to adopt a policy to award students one-half unit of elective credit for work completed in a released time course that is substantiated by a transcript from the course's provider. In order to determine whether elective credit may be awarded for the student's completion of a released time course, the amendment requires boards to evaluate the course in a neutral manner that does not involve any test for religious content or denominational affiliation. The full text of this amendment identifies four secular criteria for the evaluation of a released time course. <br /> <br />