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The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging Bixby Public Schools to proceed with extreme caution as it prepares to allow LifeWise Academy, a religious organization, to begin operating release-time bible classes during the school day in the district.

FFRF wrote to Superintendent Lydia Wilson raising concerns after the Bixby school board unanimously approved an agreement with LifeWise Academy, which plans to begin off-campus religious instruction for middle school students any day now. LifeWise is a Christian ministry that offers weekly bible-based classes during instructional hours, requiring students to leave school to attend. 

In response, Superintendent Wilson assured FFRF via email that the district is committed to enforcing all applicable rules, protecting students’ First Amendment rights, and complying with Oklahoma’s release-time law. She stated that the district does not favor students who participate in the program over those who do not.

FFRF welcomes the district’s assurances but is emphasizing that strong policies must be matched by careful implementation and ongoing oversight.

LifeWise’s curriculum is “designed to take students through the entire Bible” over a period of five years. It is run by Stand for Truth Ministry, a “Christian ministry that exists for one purpose, and one purpose only — to take the Gospel to students in America’s public schools.”

According to local reporting, the district’s approval of LifeWise’s program is contingent on LifeWise providing the district with required materials, including staff and volunteer background checks, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance confirmation and documentation of the program’s safety procedures.

“We appreciate that Bixby Public Schools is committed to complying with Oklahoma’s release-time law and is already taking steps to ensure that LifeWise Academy follows the law,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence writes. “To protect students’ First Amendment rights, the district must remain vigilant and ensure that its schools do not cross the constitutional line if LifeWise is operating in the district.”

FFRF emphasized that public schools may do no more than release students whose parents request participation. Schools may not encourage or advertise LifeWise classes, provide school resources or staff support, allow religious representatives special access to students, or treat participating students more favorably than those who do not attend.

FFRF has documented recurring constitutional violations in districts that partner with LifeWise and similar programs nationwide. These include allowing LifeWise representatives into schools to recruit students, distributing promotional materials during the school day, holding assemblies promoting the program, using school staff to facilitate religious instruction, and providing preferential scheduling or academic treatment to participating students.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma state law requires public schools to allow release-time programs, like LifeWise, to operate, but these programs must meet certain guidelines. The district is required to evaluate any release-time course using neutral and secular criteria to determine whether students deserve elective credit for it. Oklahoma law imposes a duty on the district to check that the release time course has at least minimal academic soundness, which may include examining the assessment methods used and the instructors’ qualifications. LifeWise must be held to minimal academic standards if the school awards students elective credits for completing its release time course.

FFRF is warning the district that any partnership with LifeWise must be carefully implemented to prevent religious indoctrination from becoming the focus of students’ time at school.

“We have seen LifeWise invade schools across the country. Taking students out of classrooms to be indoctrinated into Christianity is a disservice to their rights,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor says. “Bixby Public Schools must protect students’ constitutional rights and ensure LifeWise isn’t allowed to further abuse its access to public school students.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members across the country, including hundreds of members in Oklahoma. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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