New Ohio law requires public schools to 'reasonably' accommodate students' religious beliefs

(OSV News) -- Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine July 24 signed the Religious Expression Days Act into law, which requires every public school to adopt a policy that "reasonably accommodates" the sincerely held religious beliefs and practices of students.

The new law also allows students in grades K-12 to be absent for up to three school days for religious expression per school year so that they may celebrate major religious holidays that are not already school holidays, without those days counting against their attendance record.

A spokesman for DeWine did not immediately respond to an OSV News request for comment.

The Catholic Conference of Ohio did not take a position on the law, HB 214, but the group did testify previously during the legislative session as proponents of a similar bill that would have also made accommodations for students in public schools to be excused for holy days.

Brian Hickey, the conference's executive director, told OSV News the group "welcomes the provisions of the Religious Expression Days Act that recognize the importance of holy days for Catholic families in Ohio."

"Providing Catholic students, and all students of faith, the freedom to celebrate holy days with their families enriches our society's commitment to religious liberty and acknowledges the centrality of religion to Ohioans," he said July 30.

Lebanon City Schools Superintendent Isaac Seevers told Ohio's WSYX-TV that their public schools do work with families to make accommodations for students' religious beliefs.

"We have students from a wide variety of religious, you know, expressions here in Lebanon," Seevers said. "We have students who regularly communicate through their families. You know, our kids aren't going to be in school today because of a holy holiday or something."

Seevers said parents should continue to work with school officials to ensure students are not missing critical instruction time.

"If they miss a day when there's a test, how do we allow them to have those opportunities to make that up? And, you know, as somebody who is a religious person myself, right? I mean, those holidays are important, but it doesn't excuse the students from the work either. They've got to stay up to date with that," Seevers said.

As of January 2023, Catholics made up about 16% of the population of Ohio, according to data on the Ohio Catholic Conference's website.