Two more KY school boards decide against off-campus Bible classes; one approves

The Boone County School Board on Thursday let a motion die that would have approved off-campus Bible classes during the school day for students in the Kentucky district.

The decision involving LifeWise, an Ohio-based Christian nonprofit that provides the classes, follows a November vote against the classes in Kenton County. Oldham County voted against the classes in October, but McCracken approved them in September.

Barbara Brady, a spokesperson for Boone County Public Schools, said the motion died because it was not seconded. The board of education had already stated their reasons at last month’s board meeting for why they were not adopting a policy for moral instruction, she said.

At the November meeting, the Boone County Board of Education decided not to implement a policy for moral instruction due to logistics and disruption, Brady said.

“It was considered too disruptive to the school day,” Brady wrote in an emailed statement. “While students are out for moral instruction other students cannot continue with their education until those students return. What happens if those students, out for moral instruction are late or don’t return at all for the day, are all students supposed to fall behind in their education for a few?”

Brady also said the board cited “the lack of clarity in state law” in making their decision.

The Kenton County Board of Education voted unanimously at its Nov. 3 meeting to deny the application submitted by LifeWise Academy to provide a release-time moral instruction program for students in the district, spokesperson Jess Dykes told the Herald-Leader Friday.

The decision was reached following a recommendation from Superintendent Henry Webb, citing significant concerns regarding the disruption of core educational instruction for the district’s more than 13,500 students, said Dykes.

The Oldham County School Board voted unanimously in October against providing off-campus Bible classes to students during the school day.

In late August, the Warren County School Board voted against LifeWise’s program proposal 3-2.

McCracken County Board of Education voted 4-1 to approve LifeWise Academy’s request to provide Bible-based “character education” to Lone Oak Intermediate School students off campus during school hours, the Paducah Sun reported.

Marshall County is the other Kentucky district that has approved the classes.

Lifewise is planning proposals in at least 45 of Kentucky’s 171 school districts, according to media reports.

LifeWise was founded by Joel Penton, a former Ohio State University football player. It is based in Hilliard, a Columbus suburb.

The organization’s principle belief is “keeping the gospel at the center of the program is our only hope for genuinely changing the hearts of the next generation.”

The 2025 General Assembly passed Senate Bill 19, sponsored by Sen. Rick Girdler, R-Somerset, which created a process for school districts to allow off-campus moral instruction, including Bible classes.

The classes “would be optional for families and students to participate in, and the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment allows these optional off-campus Bible classes,” the conservative Christian public policy organization Family Foundation said in a September news release.

Micah Smith spoke in favor of LifeWise Academy at the Boone County board meeting. He said the classes were trying to bring up students “to love one another.”

Under the law, students who don’t participate in a moral instruction class must remain in school and take noncredit enrichment courses or participate in educational activities not required in the regular curriculum.

Those courses or activities must be supervised by certified school staff and may include, but are not limited to, study hall, computer instruction, music, art, library, physical education and tutoring.

More than 1,000 schools across 34 states allow students to participate in LifeWise programs during school hours. LifeWise organizes a local team to provide the programming, transportation and staff without receiving taxpayer funding.

The office of Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman, a Republican, recently said a local board of education is not required to approve a request submitted by a qualified provider to provide moral instruction to students if a board’s decision to deny the request is not arbitrary or motivated by “animosity to religion.” Coleman’s office also said a local board of education is required to accommodate a parent’s request to release a student to attend a district-approved moral instruction program, if there are any.