Here's what they're hoping for. That you'll see this flurry of action, this hocus and pocus of legislative legerdemain, and mistake it for something of substance. I think we're all too anxious to be seen as doing something. To be seen as doing something fills two needs at the same time. Meaning, a politician's need to posture as a figure of decisive action in a time of confusion and a voter's need to see decisive action in a time of confusion.
Problem is, none of that addresses the cause of the confusion.
Worse, it leaves us more flawed law to contend with. If as a Christian you bemoan this because it prohibits a teacher from pushing your child toward Jesus, you might note that it also prohibits that teacher from pushing your child toward Buddha, Muhammad or Vishnu. Well, I've got news for you, compadres. There are no magic bullets. Salvation will come not from the tip of a politician's pen, but from you and me, working house by house and heart by heart to restore a sense of community and instill in our children an understanding that they belong to something larger than their own lives.