On any given hour of any school day in Utah, thousands of teenagers leave their schools and are gone for a period. No one calls the truant officers, no parents are notified and there is no effect on the students' academic or citizenship standing.
The students are taking advantage of longstanding Utah practice that allows children, with parental consent, to be released from school for a period each day for religious instruction or other activities of choice.Although the policy is general and applies to all students for any desired purpose, the great majority of the release-time students in Utah attend seminary classes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In the 1992-93 school year, 86,662 Utah students were enrolled in the LDS release-time program - 66.6 percent of the 130,082 children in grades 9-12 on Utah's public school rolls that year.
Stretching budgets?
Over a period of 80 years, seminary has become so entrenched in Utah's education picture that there is no conscious consideration of it when education budgets are prepared.
But, in fact, the church program has a profound effect on the public system.
"If these students all of a sudden came back into our schools on a full-time basis, there would be a huge impact on the need for classroom space, teachers, supplies - all of the costs related to educating them," said State Schools Superintendent Scott W. Bean.
Although the State Office of Education does not routinely calculate the financial impact of seminary on its secondary schools, Bean estimated that education costs could increase as much as 10 percent if taxpayers had to pick up the burden. In a $1.2 billion budget, that could mean a $120-million-per year hike to maintain the current education program. That would cover only the costs of the state's weighted pupil unit - the per-child state contribution to education. There would be additional costs for classroom space.
LDS officials would not disclose the costs of the seminary program, but Clarence F. Schramm, executive assistant to the administrator of the church seminary and institute programs, said the church probably spends more per child (prorated to reflect the fact that a student spends only one period a day in seminary) than the state spends.
In areas where seminary attendance is high, the current per-pupil state contribution of $1,539 actually is divided over a smaller number of students, giving those schools an economic advantage.
Utah's public school statistics are based on total student numbers, Bean said, so the class-size calculations released by the state for grades 9-12 actually are skewed. Teacher/student ratios are lower than the figures indicate, because a certain number of students are out of the school building during any normal class period.
The percentage of students attending seminary varies from school to school, causing the effect to be uneven, said Davis District Superintendent Rich Kendall. Staffing is determined based on the total number of students in a school. Where there is high seminary participation, teachers may have smaller classes than in schools that have fewer students leaving temporarily each day.
More than just the Mormons?
At various times, non-LDS religious groups have sponsored release-time programs, some even accepting invitations to use LDS seminary facilities for classrooms.
The Catholic Church has had seminary programs over the years in Magna, Layton, Roosevelt and Price, said Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, principal of Judge Memorial High School. However, at the moment, the church does not have release-time classes and encourages students instead to attend its parochial schools, which are expanding. Relying on volunteer instructors was a problem in keeping release-time programs going, he said.
The heavy LDS participation in release-time programs may create some misunderstandings among student groups. Some non-LDS student apparently think their Mormon classmates are getting consideration that doesn't extend to all students. Two who were contacted by the Deseret News both thought release-time was for the Seminary crowd only.
"It kind of bothers me that they get a period off that no one else does," said Julie Beckett, a ninth-grader at Highland High School.
"I think it's kind of inconsiderate," agreed Elias Hill, Bountiful High School.
When assured that release time is available to all students, however, both said they would not be interested in taking advantage of a similar program if one were offered by their own church.
Julie said there are times when LDS friends talk about things that occurred in Seminary "that I'm not interested in hearing about." But she doesn't see the release-time program as generally divisive among students, at least not in her case. "It's not a big thing - not something I base friendships on."
Elias said some of his LDS friends attend Seminary but "some of them sluff because they don't care."
Many LDS students, on the other hand value the break from their secular classes as an opportunity to focus on spiritual matters and say it helps them perform better in their regular classes.
"I feel more peaceful and better for the rest of the day," said Joshua Hiller, a student at Viewmont High School in Bountiful. "I really enjoy the opportunity to learn more about the gospel and find it's a relief from the pressure of school to spend some time concentrating on religion."
He said he would like to see more non-LDS students take the same opportunity to learn more about their own religions.
The program's here to stay
LDS Church education officials don't foresee any curtailing of a program they view as a singular success. Growth in the seminary program both in Utah and around the world has been extraordinary and research has shown a strong correlation between seminary attendance and continued religious involvement for LDS young people, said Schramm.
"We see religious education as being as important as (secular) education - more vital from an eternal perspective," said Schramm.
While the seminary curriculum (a four-year rotation of Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon and History/Doctrine and Covenants) has remained the same for years, there has been a significant investment in supplementary materials and technology in recent years, he said.
In Utah, seminary has been an alternative to private schools, Bean said. In many states where there is a large percentage of any one religious group, private schools have been established to assure students a religious component to their education. Utah, with 70 percent of its population affiliated with the LDS Church, has the country's greatest concentration of a single religious denomination. Only heavily Catholic states in the East approach that percentage.
A long history
In the LDS view, education has always received significant emphasis. In its early history, LDS wards were responsible for schooling of children. Later, the church developed an "academy" system to provide a combination of religious and secular instruction for LDS youths. The academies were a counterbalance to schools being established in Utah by other faiths.
Had a strong private system developed that siphoned off the predominant LDS student population, there would have been little left for a public system, said Bean.
The church instead adopted the seminary approach in areas where there are large groups of LDS students, with early morning classes and other alternatives where church numbers are smaller, Schramm said.
The shift to seminary began in 1912, when the first program was initiated at Granite High School under the auspices of the Granite LDS Stake. Church officials borrowed $2,500 from Zions Savings Bank for a building across the street from the school, and Thomas J. Yates was hired at $100 per month to instruct 70 students, including the mother of Henry Eyring, current Church Education System commissioner.
Yates rode his horse to Granite from the Murray Power Plant site, where he was an engineer supervising construction of a new facility.
When the stake couldn't repay the money it borrowed for a seminary building, the Church General Board of Education paid off the loan.
The fledgling program had the blessing of the Granite District Board of Education.
As the demand for seminary in other schools quickly grew, the makeup of the local school board often was a determining factor, a history of the program says. An LDS-dominated board was generally more amenable to a request than a non-LDS board.
On legally solid ground
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1951 set a standard for release time for all American schools. The court ruled on a case out of New York City, where the school system was allowing children to leave school daily, with a parent's permission, for religious instruction, said Douglas Bates, legal counsel to the State Office of Education.
In his majority opinion, the late Justice William O. Douglas said that while separation of church and state is a fundamental requirement of America's Constitution, government did not need to be "alien and unfriendly" to religion. Accommodations, with religion and government functioning independently, are the ideal, he suggested. America is a nation "whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being," he said, calling for mutual respect among diverse groups.
Utah's right to allow students release time was challenged in the early 1980s by the American Civil Liberties Union. A Wyoming judge, called in to give the trial an unbiased hearing, ruled that the practice was illegal. However, the 10th Circuit Court in Denver, on appeal, reversed his decision, Bates said.
Tacit agreement, cooperation
Although both church and government officials maintain what they believe to be a suitable distance to assure separation, tacit understandings based on long custom affect school planning.
For instance, the construction of a new junior high school or high school in Utah almost assuredly means the location of a seminary building within easy distance.
Jordan District officials recently approved two new high school sites. While there was no official discussion of the seminary relationship during open meetings, architects reporting to the Jordan Board on the completed plans noted that easy access to the main building had been planned for students expected to be attending nearby seminaries.
"We work carefully with districts and share information, but we don't try to influence decisions regarding the placement of schools," said Schramm. The church waits until a siting decision is made, then looks for a suitable seminary location. Occasionally, the church purchases property from a district, based on fair market value arrived at through an appraisal.
More often, a school district may purchase property from the church on the same basis, he said.
When they plan schools, boards look at the total anticipated student body, not at the number of students who are likely to be in the building at any particular time, said Jordan Superintendent Raymond Whittenburg. However, having some students gone each period gives a school more room to grow, he conceded.
"We try to be givers, not receivers," Schramm said. "We don't ask districts to do things for us." Seminary can be affected by changes in school calendars, programs and daily schedules, as well. Seminary officials wait for such decisions and plan their schedule around that of the school.
Growth and diversity
The growth of the seminary system has been consistent. By 1919 there were 13 seminaries, with a total student body of 1,528. By 1925, most Utah communities had programs. By the 1950s, the church was expanding the program to many countries where significant numbers of LDS were located. By 1986, seminary was available in 74 countries and territories, and materials were being prepared in many languages. The programs have enjoyed "phenomenal success in a time of general rebellion against organized religion," the history says.
Seminary has become more diversified to meet the needs of various groups. In Carl Chris-ten-sen's classroom at Hunter High School, for instance, a group of handicapped students uses basic materials that rely largely on pictures rather than on printed texts. Student volunteers from other classes are matched to those with special needs. Such classrooms are located strategically to provide opportunity for special education students throughout the more densely populated areas of Utah.
As the program grew, there were concurrent efforts to build a strong corps of teachers, Schramm said. Seminary instructors are expected to hold at least a baccalaureate degree, although it need not be in education. The church then provides additional training for prospective teachers to meet its own specifications and offers "more practical classroom experience than those in the public system" as an introduction to church teaching.
Salaries are comparable to those of teachers in Utah's public system, but church educators may earn more overall because they are given opportunities for summer work, Schramm said. Teachers are evaluated by students and by peers and by supervisory personnel.
Unlike the public system, however, the various roles within the church school system are less compartmentalized. Seminary teachers in a building may rotate the administrative responsibilities and "there's not a dime's difference in their pay," Schramm said.
Seminary teachers are not considered part of a school's staff, and they are expected to work their programs around school holidays and events that involve the total student body.
The great majority of seminary teachers are male, in keeping with the LDS philosophy that mothers of young children should remain in the home, Schramm said. In contrast, Utah education leaders are increasingly expressing concern at the over-representation of female teachers in the public schools.
Seminary teacher satisfaction is generally high. Few quit the system, Schramm said.
Although the stresses of modern life are showing up in the lives of LDS teenagers, just as they are in the general population, seminaries are largely free of the violence and other negative activities that are plaguing American schools, Schramm said.
A Hunter High School seminary instructor agreed. He said he has never seen an act of vandalism in his seminary building. Principals report that the release-time program has a calming effect on those who attend and ultimately contributes positively to the overall atmosphere of a school.
The church investment pays big dividends in terms of continued religious involvement of those who complete seminary. A longitudinal study of such students shows a high number remain active, fill missions, marry within the church and accept leadership positions later in life, said Darwin L. Thomas, BYU professor of sociology. He said three dissertations based on the data all came to the same conclusion.
*****
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
LDS seminary program
Type of program Utah US/Canada* Rest of world
Released-time, daytime, 86,662 118,243 127,275
special education
Early morning 103 81,506 149,046
Home study 0 8,736 41,687
Total LDS enrolled 86,765 208,879 315,713
Potential LDS
enrollment 101,392 277,648 543,046
Percent 85.57% 75.23% 58.14%
Non-LDS enrolled 723 2,452 5,435
Number of programs 190 1,462 3,341
Full-time teachers 625 229 NA
Volunteer teachers 210 8,481 19,688
*Excluding Utah