What to Know About LifeWise Academy - An Opinion

by Tom Bachelder

      LifeWise Academy is a religious organization that sponsors release time for religious education for students during regular public school hours. It was founded by Joel Penton in Hilliard, Ohio in 2018. As of September 4, 2025, 613 Ohio public schools in 303 school districts have cooperated with LifeWise in school day release time for religious education. Today LifeWise has grown into a multi-state entity operating in 34 states.

Although LifeWise is currently the most aggressive organization promoting public school release time for religious education it does not stand alone. In 2006, School Ministries Inc. led an effort to allow release time religious education for high school credit. In 2014 School Ministries Inc. was successful in getting potential release time credit in Ohio public schools.

How did we get here?

 In 1952 the United States Supreme Court, in Zorach v. Clauson, determined that a school district allowing students to leave public school for part of a day to receive off-site religious instruction did not violate the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment. Essentially the Supreme Court left the decision up to local school boards and local communities. Religious organizations that have sponsored public school release-time for religious education other than School Ministries Inc., and LifeWise Academy, include the Latter-day Saints (The Mormons) primarily in Utah and Idaho, and in New York City the Jewish Education Program. Note that both of these examples, unlike School Ministries and LifeWise, are geographically limited.

     In January of 2025 Ohio governor Mike DeWine signed HB8 (passed in late 2024) into law, requiring public school districts to create a religious instruction release time policy. This opened the door wide for the rapid expansion of LifeWise into the public school sphere. The Ohio Revised Code provides the current legal framework for this.

Excerpt from

Ohio Revised Code - Section 3313.6022 - Released Time courses in religious instruction

(F) A policy adopted under division (B) [Section (B) defines the criteria for a school district to grant release time for religious education.] of this section may authorize high school students to earn up to two units of high school credit for the completion of a released time course in religious instruction. In determining whether to award credit for completion of such a course, the board shall evaluate the course based on purely secular criteria that are substantially the same criteria used to evaluate similar nonpublic high school courses for purposes of determining whether to award credit for such courses to a student transferring from a nonpublic high school to a public high school. However, there shall be no criteria requiring that released time courses be completed only at a nonpublic school. The decision to award credit for a released time course of religious instruction shall be neutral to, and shall not involve any test for, religious content or denominational affiliation.

The fact that in Ohio public school credit can be granted for school day release time for religious education at the discretion of the school district appears to be a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution ratified December 15, 1791. The Establishment Clause states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise there of.”  It was Thomas Jefferson who in 1802 in a letter to the Danbury Baptists defined the First Amendment Establishment Clause as “building a wall of separation between church and state.”

In Ohio, public schools are supported primarily through property taxes, and in some instances by an additional 1% income tax. This suggests that in whatever small form it takes a portion of this tax money can, when approved by the local school district, be used to fund resources directed at providing public school credit for private religious education courses taught during school day release time. This seems to me a subtle First Amendment violation of separation of church and state.

What to know about LifeWise Academy

      LifeWise Academy was founded in 2018 out of a 2012 partnership between Stand For Truth and Cross Over the Hill. According to figures provided by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, between 2012 and 2021 revenue for the combined organizations grew by an annual 9-year average of 27.3%. However, between 2021 and 2024 revenue exploded, with an annual average growth of 164%! In 2024 LifeWise’s revenue exceeded $35million, with assets of nearly $25 million. (2024 audit)

Major donors to LifeWise Academy include the following:

Hobby Lobby – David Green, founder and owner of Hobby Lobby, is a major financial contributor to conservative Christian and far-right political groups.

Kimray – Kimray is a manufacturer of oil and gas control equipment. Kimray’s Board of Directors include the following: Mike O’Neil, President Emeritus, Oklahoma Christian University; Ben Manis, President Emeritus, Reaching Souls International; Jerry Wells, Pastor Emeritus, Together Church, Oklahoma City; and Trevor Pemberton, vice-chairman of Search Ministries and past board member of Salt and Light Leadership Training, its mission “to awaken, equip, and support Christ Followers to transform their city.”

Regent Bank – From “Our Purpose” on their website, “To show God’s love to our employees, clients and communities.”

Patriot Mobile – From their website, “For over 10 years, America’s ONLY Christian conservative wireless provider.” Their home page displays a prominent group photo that includes Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon.

Inspire Investing – From their home page, “Inspiring transformation for God’s glory by empowering Christian investors through Biblically responsible investing excellence and innovation.” Inspire Investing provides anonymity for their donors.

American Endowment Foundation – Provides anonymity for donors. In 2024 the American Endowment Foundation gave LifeWise Academy $13.2 million in anonymous grants!

The Heritage Foundation – In 2025 the Heritage Foundation, originator of Project 2025, gave LifeWise an Innovation Prize that included a financial award. The amount of the financial prize isn’t disclosed on Heritage’s webpage.

LifeWise has major donors with deep pockets — some of them with obvious political connections. However, LifeWise is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and is allowed to accept donations from political entities like the Heritage Foundation, as long as those donations are not used for political campaigns. I guess that means political donations can be used to pay for shuttle vans, gas for the vans, insurance, the electric bill, office staff, etc., freeing up nonpolitical donations to pursue political objectives. Seems like a shell game to me.    

Below is an excerpt from a WCMH piece by Kyle Beachy on LifeWise this past summer. It was titled “LifeWise Academy experiences great growth amid criticism”.

IRS filings show the rapid growth of LifeWise. In 2019, it claimed just more than

$1.6 million in revenue. That number ballooned to more than $35 million in 2024. …

 “We do not invest a lot into marketing,” Penton [Joel Penton, founder of LifeWise] said.

“I mean, we have some marketing, but more often than not, people hear about it. They hear about it because the neighboring school district has a LifeWise, or because their relative has a LifeWise, or they see it, someone posting about it on Facebook.” That money comes mostly from donations, program fees, and grants, although LifeWise did claim almost $900,000 in investment income in 2024. Many contributions are made through foundations categorized as Donor Advised Funds, or DAFs. These types of foundations allow donors to anonymously contribute money to the fund and direct it to an organization of their choosing. (italics added)

-In conclusion-

      For those who, like me, are concerned about the activities of LifeWise Academy and the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause there is an organization that focuses on these issues, AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. I encourage you to check them out and support their work. It should be noted that AMERICANS UNITED isn’t anti-religious. In the FAQ section of their website they address this concern. “AU was founded by people of faith … united in the belief that being treated equally under the law depends on separation of church and state. … We are in no way opposed to religious practice; in fact, our work safeguards it.”

The Board of Directors of AMERICANS UNITED includes the following members: 

The Rev. Douglas Avilesbernal - Executive Minister, Evergreen Association of American Baptist Churches.

The Rev. Traci Blackmon - Associate General Minister of Justice and Local Church Ministries for the United Church of Christ.

The Rev. Derrick Harkins - Senior Advisor, Faith Strategies Initiative at the Raben Group, a public affairs and organizational consulting firm.

Daphne Lazar Price - Executive Director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance.

      AMERICANS UNITED provides resources for parents and other people concerned about LifeWise’s activities and the December 2025 issue of AU’s magazine Church and State includes the article “Public schools, private religion: What happens when half the class leaves for Bible study” that specifically addresses LifeWise Academy.”