HB1352: HB1352 Student Character Development Act; enact

Georgia law currently does not require school districts to set up 'released time' programs, where students leave public school to attend religious instruction taught by an outside individual or organization. This bill, called the Student Character Development Act, would require every local education agency (school district) to adopt a policy by August 1, 2026 allowing students to be excused for at least one hour per school week to attend such a course. The policy must require parental consent, attendance record-keeping by the outside provider, and that the provider (not the school) handle transportation and take full responsibility for student safety during the course. Public school funds generally cannot be spent on the courses, and the courses cannot be held on school property except under an open, neutral policy already allowing community groups to use the space. Districts may also choose to award academic credit for the courses based on secular, non-religious criteria. Students in these courses would not be marked absent from school. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.

• Requires every Georgia local education agency to adopt, by August 1, 2026, a policy letting students be excused for at least one hour weekly to attend outside religious moral instruction ('released time') courses.
• Requires written parental consent and shifts responsibility for transportation and student safety during the course to the student's family or the outside provider, not the school.
• Bars local education agency funds from paying for the courses except minor administrative costs, and restricts holding classes on school property unless already open to community groups equally.
• Allows, but does not require, districts to award academic credit for completed courses if they use secular, non-religious grading criteria similar to other courses.
• Prohibits schools from counting students absent while they attend a released time course.
• Directs the Department of Education to maximize state and federal funding for districts regardless of how many students participate, and to create model policies districts can use.

Public school students and their parents or guardians, local school districts and their administrators, outside religious or moral instruction providers, and the Georgia Department of Education, which must issue model policies and protect districts' state and federal funding levels.

Students could regularly leave school for religious instruction without being marked absent or losing school funding tied to attendance, while districts would face a new administrative requirement to set up consent, safety, and record-keeping rules by mid-2026, and outside religious providers would gain a formal path into student schedules.

• Section 1 names the bill the 'Student Character Development Act.'
• Section 2 adds new Code Section 20-2-692.5, defining 'released time course' as religious moral instruction provided independently of a public school.
• Subsection (b) requires each local education agency to adopt an excusal policy by August 1, 2026 covering parental consent, attendance recordkeeping, transportation responsibility, and provider liability for student safety.
• Subsection (b)(5)-(6) limits use of school funds to minor administrative costs and restricts holding courses on school property unless already open to community groups under a neutral access policy.
• Subsection (c) permits, but does not require, districts to award academic credit for completed courses using secular criteria such as instruction hours, syllabus review, assessment methods, and instructor qualifications.
• Subsection (d) states that students attending a released time course are not considered absent from school.
• Subsection (e) directs the Department of Education to protect districts' state and federal funding and to issue model policies for released time courses.
• Section 3 makes the Act effective immediately upon the Governor's signature or upon becoming law without signature.

1. 2026-02-19House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-02-18House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-17House Hopper (House)

• Scott Hilton (R, HD-048)Primary sponsor
• Todd Jones (R, HD-025)
• Johnny Chastain (R, HD-007)
• Matthew Gambill (R, HD-015)
• James Burchett (R, HD-176)

• religious education in schools
• student attendance policy
• local school districts
• education funding
• school board policy