State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) criticized a group of his fellow Republicans in the Legislature for failing to support strong conservative bills in recent years.
The lawmaker is particularly disappointed in the body’s failure to pass a bill last session that offered public school students the ability to participate in off-campus religious and character instruction during school hours.
The State House Government Committee voted down the bill last session after a 5-5 vote. Ties in committee votes result in failure.
Elliott discussed the issue Tuesday on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program.”
“[S]ometimes on issues such as this, I look around and I can count the supporters of an issue like that, maybe on one hand, and then the rest get kind of squeamish,” Elliott said. “They hear from their superintendents and their school boards back at home, and they don’t follow through on what I think is an easy win for conservatives.”
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State Sen. Shay Shelnutt (R-Trussville) has pre-filed legislation for the 2026 session that would require all public school districts in the state to grant elective credit to students who attend private religious instruction during the school day.
Elliott said he hopes many of his colleagues will step up and vote for it next year.
“We saw some of that last year. You’ve heard Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth really get very vocal about some of the advocacy by some of those, what I call edu-crats, right? You know, out there fighting back against this issue and others. And so I think when you start pushing good, hard conservative issues, it really separates the true conservatives from those that may not be as conservative on issues like this.”
Should the legislation pass, it will require each local board of education to implement a policy allowing elective credit to students who are released from the classroom to attend religious instruction during the school day. Each local board of education may tailor the policy to meet their needs.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
