A student wearing a LifeWise Academy shirt writes at a desk. (Photo provided by LifeWise Academy)
PEEWEE VALLEY— Students at an elementary school in Oldham County could be among the first to leave school for Bible lessons under a provision enacted by the Kentucky legislature earlier this year.
The proposal has generated controversy among parents and community members as a citizens group calls for the board of education to reject the proposal from LifeWise Academy, a nonprofit that offers Bible-based classes to public school students around the country.
Chris Keith, a religion scholar and parent of Oldham County students, said the program’s curriculum doesn’t represent the full breadth of Christianity.
“I care a whole lot about this as a father — as a father who is also very interested in biblical studies,” he said. “I’m all for religion. I’m all for Christianity, I’m all for critical thinking. I’m all for public schools. I’m all for kids. I’m not for indoctrination,” Keith said last week during a meeting of the citizens group, Kentucky Citizens for Democracy.
Earlier this year, the Republican-controlled General Assembly enacted Senate Bill 19 over Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto. The legislation initially required moments of silence at the start of school days. Toward the final days of the session, the House added a section to allow boards of education to permit moral instruction programs for students off campus and during school hours. The law also says parents or guardians must give permission for their students to participate in moral instruction.
Headquartered in Ohio, LifeWise operates in 27 states and enrolls more than 44,000 students. The program “maintains a high view of the authority of Scripture and we align ourselves with historic, orthodox Christian beliefs as expressed in the Nicene Creed,” according to its Statement of Faith listed online.
“We believe the storyline of Scripture that climaxes in the central gospel message, that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead,” the statement says. “We believe this gospel is true, essential and announces the way by which sinners are reconciled to God.”
The Heritage Foundation awarded LifeWise one of its Innovation Prizes earlier this year, which included a financial award. LifeWise reported in its most recent IRS filing that its revenue exceeded expenses by $17 million. The organization reported its revenue grew from $13.8 million to $35.3 million from 2023 to 2024.
Marshall County is the only active LifeWise program in Kentucky, with six schools in that district having the program this fall. LifeWise has been in the district since 2023. State law previously allowed school based decision making (SBDM) councils to decide if off-campus moral instruction programs could be offered to students.
The group has ambitious plans in Kentucky, following the change in state law. Cassie Allchorne, the program director of Oldham County’s LifeWise Academy, told the Lantern that LifeWise has about 45 planning teams that are forming or are fully formed across Kentucky’s 171 public school districts.
The Oldham County proposal is to have a one hour per week Bible-based moral character education program, starting at Locust Grove Elementary School for third to fifth grade students. Allchorne said LifeWise would be offered during related arts time, which also is when students can take music, physical education and art classes.
The program would transport students to a nearby church or community center and off school property with parents’ permission.
Allchorne said she became involved in LifeWise because she is a parent of three students at Locust Grove. LifeWise had sought approval to offer classes to Locust Grove students from the school council before the law was changed earlier this year.
“I heard about this and thought it was amazing, and would love the opportunity to just be able to provide this for my kids and for other parents who wish to have this option for their kiddos too,” she said.
LifeWise is “open to everyone, no matter what they believe, who they are,” Allchorne said.
The curriculum is “designed to teach the main and plain things of the Bible” along with promoting positive character traits, like love, kindness and gratitude, as part of the lessons,” Allchorne said.
Anyone can submit a request to review LifeWise’s curriculum for 48 hours on its website. The Kentucky Lantern’s review of the curriculum, which included lesson plans for elementary, middle grade and high school students, found lessons based on Bible stories and generating analysis and discussion of morals taught in those stories. The lessons typically had an activity for students and ended with a prayer.
In a Year 3 lesson designed for elementary school students about Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, a suggested activity is to invite a local pastor to class to answer questions about baptisms. Another lesson in Year 3 centered around respect discusses Daniel’s obedience to God. It includes a lesson designed for older students to decide between two actions which would be the most biblical response in situations such as a parent telling a student that “church is a waste of my time” and the student should be at home to help instead or a teacher telling a student to stop talking about God at school “because it makes other students uncomfortable.”
Opposition and support
Kentucky Citizens for Democracy held a meeting of about 50 people at St. James Episcopal Church Aug. 19 to discuss concerns with LifeWise’s proposal. The group has been circulating a petition online that asks the board to reject LifeWise’s request.
Michael Fox, a parent of Locust Grove Elementary students and a teacher, had learned of LifeWise’s proposal before the school council earlier this year and has since brought his concerns about the program to the Oldham County Board of Education. He argued that children who do not attend LifeWise could be affected by schedule changes, and that could affect a parents’ “say in how it affects my child’s education.”
“They specifically want this during the school day because they know they can have access to kids that’s unopposed,” Fox said.
Lutheran Pastor Richard Gianzero, who is also a parent of Oldham County students, told the group that LifeWise’s program tells students what to believe rather than putting them on a path of “embracing the unknown.”
“What this group wants to do is bring in a very specific and explicit, a dogmatic approach to morals that legislate and tell our children and our families what is right and what is wrong, based upon an ideological framework that is authoritarian and appropriately described as being part of white Christian nationalism,” Gianzero said.
Anita Davis, a member of the group and a former chief academic officer for Oldham County Schools, said the citizens group is not anti-religion but “pro-separation of church and state” and wants all children to feel safe, included and respected in schools. As a former educator, she also questioned if approval of the program could lead to issues with schools’ master schedules for all classes and bullying of students who do not go to the program.
“Right now, it’s up in the air,” Davis said. “It’s a ‘may’ state, and we ‘may’ have it, or we ‘may not’ have it. We don’t know because we’re not sure where the board is on this.”
Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a law earlier this year requiring school districts to create a religious instruction release time policy. The law had previously allowed school boards to decide policies around letting children attend religious instruction during the school day. The change in law paved the way for LifeWise to expand in Ohio.
Kentucky’s law says boards of education “may provide an opportunity for pupils to attend moral instruction” if it chooses.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Ticheror, who represents Oldham County and was a co-sponsor of the legislation this year, told the Lantern she views LifeWise as “a great program that’ll fall in line with Kentucky and Kentucky values.” When asked if she would be supportive of Kentucky changing its law to mirror Ohio’s mandatory policy requirement, Tichenor said she “would be supportive of it,” and added that precedent exists from a decades-long Supreme Court decision for students to leave school for moral instruction.
“When you’re teaching values of don’t lie, don’t steal, treat your neighbor as yourself, treat others as you want to be treated, the Golden Rule, why would that be a negative thing to try and teach students within our school day?” Tichenor said. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all.”
The Oldham County Board of Education will meet Monday evening, but it will not vote on LifeWise’s proposal then, board Chair Carly Clem told the Lantern in an email seeking comment on the proposal.
Clem added that the board has asked the Kentucky attorney general’s office for clarification on the amended state law and “are still discussing logistics on this new statute.”
According to documents received via an open records request submitted by the Lantern, Clem said LifeWise “is likely a wonderful program” in an Aug. 6 email responding to a parent who was supportive of the program.
“As a Christian, I would love for my kids to have many opportunities to learn about the Bible,” Clem wrote.
However, Clem added that she has concerns surrounding the potential involvement of schools in LifeWise promotions to parents and students, such as whether LifeWise would be allowed to participate in school open houses for parents.
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