Bad-faith-based legislating

This would almost be comical, but it's just sad:

While most observers were focused on debates over private-school vouchers and the end of traditional teacher tenure rules, the House GOP leadership quietly killed most of a bill to create a statewide rating system to identify high-quality early-ed programs, steer the fragile families that rely on public child-care subsidies toward them and reward providers that deliver top results.

Authored by Rep. Jenifer Loon, an Eden Prairie Republican, the bill was revenue-neutral, meaning its implementation would not cost a cent, and it enjoyed the backing of Dayton, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and pretty much everyone on the political continuum between them.

It did not, however, have any friends on the religious right, which declared it an attempt to usurp the rights on Minnesota parents by placing their children under the authority of a nanny state. The Minnesota Family Council and Education Liberty Watch lobbied against the measure, arguing among other things that the government has no business telling parents how to parent.

Government does have a business making sure taxpayer money is spent wisely, however.  It's sad to see that the religious right prefers to have low income parents make "faith based" rather than "fact based" decisions about their children's education.