Gov. Bill Lee, photographed at the groundbreaking for a Rutherford County charter school in 2023, spurred the creation of a state board authorizing charter schools. (John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

That crumbling sound you hear is not the Tennessee Vols defense falling apart brick by brick. That was more of an implosion against Vandy last weekend at Neyland Stadium.

No, this is the gradual dismantling of the “wall of separation between church and state.”

The latest disassembly involves an opinion by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti saying the state’s prohibition on religious-based charter schools “likely” violates the free exercise of religion in the First Amendment.

Skrmetti wrote the opinion at the request of Republican state Rep. Michelle Carringer of Knoxville who has

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