A new year is about to dawn. In terms of law and public policy will it bring more of the same or something new? In Tennessee we will learn soon enough from the disposition of Senate Bill 1/House Bill 1, pre-filed by the House and Senate Majority Leaders as a top legislative priority. 

Last Sunday a friend told me at church that my writing has become more “frank,” a step down from “camel-hair wearing and locust-eating” from a couple of weeks ago. Nevertheless, be forewarned: If you don’t want frank talk, then skip what follows. And do not listen to today’s podcast about the future of parental rights and home education. Stick with reading verses and poems in DaySpring greeting cards and listening to Joel Osteen sermons.

From parents divided along lines of regulating COVID, textbooks, “porn” in libraries, “don’t say gay,” to sex education, some or all of which is driving charter school and student voucher legislation, public education has become a political war zone. What kind of fruit will come from the legislative efforts of political conservatives directed at these issues?