If the state were to mandate all our little ones attend a Christian, Muslim, or Jewish preschool, I’d stand shoulder-to-shoulder with my counterpart in vehement protest. That would absolutely be in violation of our Constitution.

But that isn’t the scenario we’re discussing in Colorado.

Nobody is being forced to send their child to a school that teaches any certain religion. Nobody, that I’ve seen, is even suggesting such nonsense. Instead, the state has proclaimed its desire to specifically exclude those choices for parents in the near future.

The Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment exists to protect a person’s right to exercise their religious beliefs. I fail to see how allowing a Jewish couple to send their child to a Jewish preschool with the same funding mechanism as any other family would fail that test. There is nothing coercive, discriminatory or otherwise offensive about the suggestion.

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What many on the left don’t want to admit is they have an inherent distrust of parents, and when it comes to education, they’d like them to stay at arm’s length. That belief, usually disguised with clever slogans, reared its ugly head when former Democratic Virginia Governor (and then-candidate for the governorship again) Terry McAullife admitted on the debate stage in 2021 that he didn’t “think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

If parents don’t make that decision, who does?

My counterpart admits our “schools are trying to raise citizens who will vote and stay informed on issues through a lens not determined singularly by a religious belief.” Though I, too, desire for future generations to be informed critical thinkers, I also understand it is not my role to dictate how my neighbors raise their children.

Publicly-funded education shouldn’t teach singular religious ideal | POINT

I recall back to late last year when the state Board of Education overturned the Denver Public Schools’ denial of 5280 Freedom School’s charter application. All three Republicans on that board voted to give that school a second chance at a charter despite the school’s curriculum being centered on the core tenants of the Black Lives Matter movement. Why would they do that? Because though they may not have agreed with the school’s curriculum, they agreed with the principle that it is up to the parent to decide what educational pathway is best for their child.

As the kids say these days, they “understood the assignment.”

The Polis Administration has perhaps yet to reach that same level of understanding.

Sage Naumann is a conservative commentator and strategist. He operates Anthem Communications and was previously the spokesman for the Colorado Senate Republicans. Follow him on Twitter @SageNaumann.