Barrow Co. considers Bible-based courses in school

WINDER - Another Georgia school system is considering whether to offer Bible-based courses.

The Barrow County Board of Education has approved district officials' proposal to form a committee that will study whether to offer the courses as early as the 2008-2009 school year.

The board called for a survey of students and teachers in February to gauge interest in the classes, which would be centered on the history and literature surrounding the Old and New Testaments.

District reports indicate about 15-hundred of the 32-hundred students surveyed said they would be interested in taking the courses. Less than half the teachers said they would willing to teach the classes.

District spokeswoman Lisa Leighton says a committee of 15 to 20 people -- including students, parents, teachers and administrators -- is expected to present specific recommendations next spring on whether and how the classes should be offered.

In west Georgia, Columbus education leaders are considering whether to offer two literature classes on the Bible as high school elective courses -- a move that would make it one of the state's first major school districts to adopt the plan.

The Muscogee County School Board is scheduled to vote on the proposal at an April 23rd meeting.

The Georgia Legislature paved the way for the courses when it passed a law in 2006 authorizing state-funded courses on the Bible to be offered in public schools -- despite objections from critics who warned that the state is treading into dangerous turf.

The state Board of Education voted to adopt the classes in a March meeting, leaving it up to each school district to decide whether to offer the courses.