Editor’s Note: A guest post by Rev. Gene Mills of the Louisiana Family Forum and Dr. Will Hall, editor of the Baptist Message.

Ronald Reagan once warned that the nine most dangerous words in the English language are: “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

That warning is worth remembering when examining Act 409 of the 2025 Regular Session – a large and complex law that contained a mix of routine updates and far-reaching expansions of government regulations. Some portions were uncontroversial. But embedded within Act 409 were provisions that significantly expanded government control over private pre-kindergarten classes, including many faith-based and Christian schools that serve families who intentionally chose a religious education for their children.

At its heart, Act 409 takes private school pre-K grades out of the school model and drops them into a daycare-style regulatory system that was never built for education – especially not for private and church-based schools that have served families for generations. These are not daycare or childcare centers in the ordinary sense – the pre-K grade levels are part of Christian elementary schools and are ministries, often rooted in churches, where parents specifically choose an environment that reinforces their faith and values. Yet under Act 409, those schools are increasingly treated as regulated daycare facilities, subject to staffing mandates, licensing rules, inspections, and enforcement actions that were designed for a very different setting than that of a school.

Across Louisiana, approximately 250 private and faith-based schools offer pre-K classes. Many of these are Christian schools serving multi-generational families – parents and grandparents who once attended the same schools are now enrolling their own children and grandchildren. These families make intentional sacrifices to place their children in environments where biblical values, prayer, and moral formation are part of daily education. Act 409, however, now places those schools under increasing regulatory pressure, raising tuition costs and creating the real possibility that some Christian pre-K programs may be forced to close – not because parents have rejected them, but because government regulatory burdens become costly and unsustainable.

Moreover, the resulting increase in tuition costs creates the real possibility that some Christian pre-K programs may be forced to close – not because parents have rejected them, but because government regulatory burdens become costly and unsustainable. Even though the full effects of the 2025 private pre-K regulatory capture do not take full effect until January 1, 2027, roughly three dozen private and faith-based schools have already announced plans to close their pre-K classes at the end of this school year.

In response to Act 409, four bills have emerged in the Legislature’s 2026 Regular Session.

1. The “Parental Choice in Education and the Preservation of Religious Education Act of 2026” (SB 402) offers the best and clearest solution. It reaffirms that parents – not the government – have the primary responsibility and constitutional right to direct the education of their children, including choosing private, Christian, and faith-based schools. It restores equal treatment for religious schools, removes daycare-style licensing from school-based private pre-K grades, and protects the ability of Christian schools to operate without unnecessary government interference. It is straightforward, constitutionally grounded, and widely supported by the more than 250 private and Christian schools serving Louisiana families.

Unfortunately, despite strong support from religious parents as well as private and Christian schools across the state, SB 402 did not receive a hearing in the Senate Education Committee, even though it was scheduled for March 10, 2026. For many families, that raised a simple question: Why is a bill that protects parental rights and religious liberty not even allowed to be debated amongst the legislature?

2. By contrast, SB 441 is quickly moving through the legislature and reflects a far different approach – one that replaces direct government oversight with a regulatory oversight scheme from a network of outside accrediting bodies and government-recognized organizations, many of them out-of-state. For Christian schools, this means that instead of answering to Louisiana parents and Louisiana law, they would now be judged by external entities that may not share their values or understand their mission. SB 441 does not reduce bureaucracy – it relocates it.

3. The House version of the “fix” to Act 409, HB 1112, makes a few more positive adjustments than does the Senate’s “fix.” To its credit, HB 1112 recognizes that school-based pre-K grades are not the same as daycares and eases certain licensing requirements. But it still leaves intact much of the regulatory framework created under Act 409, including continued government authority over compliance, investigations, and enforcement. For Christian schools, that means ongoing uncertainty, continued oversight, and the persistent risk that a regulatory finding by a secular government bureaucrat with animosity toward Christians could lead to severe consequences.

No matter how well-intentioned the House “fix” (HB 1112) is, there is a practical reality to consider: When the government gains the authority to shut down a Christian school or faith-based pre-K program for “noncompliance,” it must also build the machinery to constantly monitor those schools. That means more site visits, more documentation demands, and more government involvement in the daily operations of schools that parents specifically chose because they wanted less government control, not more. In that sense, HB 1112 does not solve the underlying problem created by Act 409 – it simply delays the consequences while preserving the same expanded government control that continues to put Christian and private pre-K schools at risk.

At this point, the legislature faces a fundamental choice: Continue layering supposed “fixes” onto a government system created last year by Act 409 that is already burdening and shutting down private and religious schools, or address the root problem directly. The most direct solution and effective remedy is to pass “Parental Choice in Education and the Preservation of Religious Education Act of 2026” (SB 402) and restore parental choice in education – especially for religious families – because children do best when parents, not bureaucracies, decide their education. Republican legislators hold the majority in the legislature and often speak in strong support of parental choice in education. But if those same legislators are not prepared to fully trust parents who are working two or three jobs to afford private Christian schooling for their children and who are deeply invested in their children’s success and well-being, then the next best course is clear:

4. Suspend Section 3 of Act 409 with all its negative impacts on private and faith-based schools and start over. This can be easily accomplished by amending HCR 43 to do just that. That House Concurrent Suspensive Resolution would legally pause the current regulatory expansion before additional Christian and faith-based school pre-K classes close down, and before more families lose access to schools that reflect their values and faith.

Ultimately, the question is no longer how to fine-tune the regulatory scheme created by Act 409 – but whether it should remain in place at all, given that it places faith-based schools at risk of closure and steadily erodes the ability of religious parents to choose Christian education for their children.