🚨 ARIZONA ACTION ALERT 🚨
HB 2266 — Copy-Paste LifeWise Legislation

HB 2266 turns religious release from a local, optional policy into a mandatory, legally protected absence written directly into Arizona’s attendance law.

That shift matters.

Under current law, school districts may allow religious release.
HB 2266 changes that to must.

If passed, this bill would require every public school district and charter school in Arizona to adopt a policy excusing students from required school attendance for religious instruction or religious exercises.

This is not a small technical change. Embedding religious release into attendance law:

• Makes religious instruction a protected excuse from school time
• Forces schools to administer and accommodate religious absences
• Normalizes loss of instructional time
• Increases pressure on schools to facilitate outside religious programs
• Undermines the expectation that public schools remain neutral on religion

📌 This is Copy-Paste LifeWise Legislation

HB 2266 is part of a coordinated national effort to rewrite attendance laws to benefit Released Time Religious Instruction.

The model language was drafted by LifeWise Academy and is being distributed to lawmakers nationwide through the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL).

Arizona is simply the latest state where this template has been introduced.

🗓 Hearing details

📍 Arizona House of Representatives — Committee on Education
📅 Tuesday, January 27, 2026
⏰ 2:00 PM (or upon floor recess)
🏛 Room HHR 1
📺 Livestream:
https://www.azleg.gov/videoplayer/?clientID=6361162879&eventID=2026011071

📖 Read the full bill yourself

👉 https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/57leg/2R/bills/HB2266P.pdf

We strongly encourage people to read the bill language — especially the change from optional to mandated policies in the attendance statute.

📬 Take Action — Contact Committee Members

HB 2266 has been assigned to both the House Education Committee and the House Rules Committee.

📞 House Education Committee contact list (emails & phone numbers):
👉 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SOkR47wDCQFYx_PKmTj5oSaPuIft-H7dB5cKMx1OYcQ/edit?usp=share_link

📞 House Rules Committee contact list (emails & phone numbers):
👉 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15iyl4QW32gpEHyGS1LvdZqxJf0zjwVEx2BhAcFu_VVE/edit?usp=sharing

(If you’ve already contacted Education Committee members, Rules is the next critical stop.)

📍 Arizona residents:
Now is the time to speak up and urge lawmakers to oppose HB 2266.

Public schools exist to educate students — not to serve as a delivery system for private religious instruction during the school day.

The Secular Education Association will continue tracking and opposing Copy-Paste LifeWise Legislation wherever it appears.

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