Vote Smart's Synopsis:

A vote to pass a bill that requires school boards to offer Biblical courses.

Highlights:

• Requires the Board of Education to authorize local school boards to offer, as an elective in grades 9-12, with appropriate credits toward graduation, a comparative religion class that focuses on the tenets, history, and religious observances and rites of world religions (Sec. 1). 

• Specifies that these courses should include: (Sec. 1)

• The Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament of the Bible;

• The New Testament of the Bible; or

• A combined course on both. 

• Requires the Board of Education to develop standards of learning and curriculum guidelines for such courses (Sec. 1). 

• Specifies that no student enrolled in any of the above courses will be required to use a specific translation of a religious texts as the sole textbook for the course (Sec.

Full Bill Text