More than 40% of Ohio school districts have active LifeWise Academy chapters, with more on the way

Ohio has the most chapters of Ohio has the most LifeWise Academy chapters, a Christian religious release time program for public school students.

About 32,200 Ohio students are enrolled in 267 active LifeWise chapters across the state — about 43% of Ohio’s school districts, according to a LifeWise spokesperson. 

There are 240 more LifeWise chapters in process in Ohio, according to a new map on LifeWise’s website. 

“Ohio is LifeWise Academy’s home state, so we have deep roots and strong community support here,” according to a LifeWise spokesperson. “Ohio also has a long history of released time religious instruction, including the program in Van Wert that helped inspire LifeWise’s creation.”

LifeWise’s founder and CEO Joel Penton is from Van Wert in Northwest Ohio.

LifeWise is a non-denominational Christian program based in Hilliard that teaches religion to public school students during the school day at a special release time. It currently has 531 live chapters and 4,377 chapters in process nationwide, according to the map. 

Religious release time instruction must meet three criteria: the courses must take place off school property, be privately funded, and students must have parental permission. The United States Supreme Court upheld release time laws during the 1952 Zorach v. Clauson case.

Mercer County in western Ohio is the only county in Ohio where a LifeWise chapter is not live, launching or in the planning stages, according to the map. 

In January 2025, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a law passed by Republican lawmakers that mandates public school districts create a policy allowing release time for religious instruction. Ohio is one of 18 states with such a law, according to LifeWise. 

“LifeWise has been well received in Ohio communities as families see the positive impact it has on students’ behavior, academic performance and well-being,” according to a LifeWise spokesperson. 

But the program isn’t universally accepted in Ohio by any means. Some parents have said their students have been ostracized and bullied for not taking part in LifeWise, and some parents have said their child goes to a study hall in the school’s gymnasium while their classmates attend LifeWise.

“(LifeWise doesn’t) look at the effects of the Jewish students that are basically being forced into a gym, that are feeling punished because they don’t believe as such, and because they don’t believe, they don’t go,” said Kitty Schwanitz, an organizer for the Secular Education Association.  

She said LifeWise is spreading “very much almost the way that cancer spreads.” 

“(People) don’t realize what they’re getting, and that’s actually what we’re seeing a lot of,” she said.

“Parents are coming to us and going, I didn’t understand or realize what I was getting my kids into, and now they believe these things, and I’m horrified. … Parents are getting the buyer’s remorse of what LifeWise is.”

Indiana has the second most live chapters LifeWise with 63, followed by Illinois with 28, and Michigan with 19, according to the map. 

Texas has more than 400 chapters in process, Pennsylvania has more than 350 chapters in process, and Indiana has more than 200 chapters in process, according to the map. 

Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Utah, Nevada, and Hawaii do not have any live LifeWise chapters, but all are building up chapters, according to LifeWise. 

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on X or on Bluesky.