What Happened to Local Control?

Today Mr. Heidelberger talked about the silliness of SB112.  The bill co-sponsered by the likes of Don and Jenna Haggar, Lederman, and District 6 Senator Ernie Otten (I think he has signed onto every single bill connected with education or discrimination) would allow teachers like me to teach intelligent design.    The brilliance in the bill is the lack of anything substantial in the way it was written.

        FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act to prohibit schools from preventing the instruction of intelligent design.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:
    Section 1. That chapter 13-33 be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as follows:
No school board or school administrator may prohibit a teacher in public or nonpublic school from providing instruction on intelligent design or other related topics.

That is the total extent of the bill.  I thought that schools should have local control.  If a school board decides that intelligent design should not be part of the biology curriculum, then shouldn't they be able to have control over their curriculum?  What if a private school with very fundamental beliefs has a curriculum that pushes evolution only?  This is getting so bad that Pat Powers has resorted to a bit of potty mouth in response to some of the hijinks connected policies like this and those dealing with anti-homsexuality free speech.

“An Act to protect the citizens and businesses of South Dakota regarding speech pertaining to views on sexual orientation and to provide for the defense of such citizens and businesses.” Have we had one lawsuit in South Dakota arising from someone being sued for expressing their religious beliefs on the subject of sexual orientation? Even the threat of one? 

If we’re going to perseverate on a topic and introduce loads of legislation on it, why don’t we focus on bringing new and better jobs to South Dakota? Or, reducing the cost of college tuition? Or how about measures that reduce government red tape or the tax burden on it’s citizenry?...

Put more bluntly, we can protect the sanctity and definition of marriage without being dicks about it. 

This bill is like many of the bills that have been offered by the GOP and the likes of Ernie Otten that has fallen into the special category named by Mr. Powers.