It is easy to believe that major changes in public education happen through laws, hearings, and votes.

What happened in Ohio shows something very different.

It started quietly, behind closed doors, with emails no one was supposed to see. 

For families and teachers, the result was children being pulled out of class — and school officials being told they had no real choice.

The Letter That “Settled the Debate”

On November 1, 2023, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sent a letter to every public school superintendent in the state.

The letter addressed “released time religious instruction” — programs that allow students to leave school during the day to attend religious classes off campus. It assured districts that such programs were legal, praised their growth, and encouraged schools to adopt policies allowing them.

For school administrators already facing pressure from LifeWise Academy, the letter landed like a verdict.

Superintendents cited it.
School boards referenced it.
Parents were told the matter was “settled.”

What the public did not know was that the letter did not originate as an independent legal opinion.

It was the product of lobbying.

LifeWise Hits Resistance

By fall 2023, LifeWise Academy was expanding rapidly across Ohio — but not without pushback.

In districts like Johnstown-Monroe Local Schools, parents and board members began asking questions that LifeWise did not want to answer publicly:

Why were students missing class time?
Why was one religious program being facilitated through the school day?
Why did families feel pressured to participate?

Internal LifeWise emails show that leadership viewed this resistance not as a warning, but as a problem to overcome.

Their solution was not transparency. It was leverage.

“It’s in Our Court”

On October 17, 2023, a LifeWise program coach emailed colleagues with an update. A local pastor, he wrote, had a “deep relationship” with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and believed Yost would be willing to help.

The message was not celebratory. It was tactical.

The coach asked LifeWise leadership for direction: what should the Attorney General say?

The question was not whether the Attorney General should weigh in — but how to make his voice work for LifeWise.

The response made LifeWise’s intentions unmistakable.

Founder and CEO Joel Penton replied that a letter from Yost would be “fantastic.” He suggested it be addressed to the local school board — but only if LifeWise could then reuse it elsewhere.

Then Penton drafted the substance of the letter himself.

Not an outline.
Not general themes.
Specific talking points.

LifeWise wanted the Attorney General to:

• Assure school boards that released-time programs were legal
• Praise the rapid expansion of LifeWise Academy
• Frame release time as “cooperation” between church and state
• Warn districts they might “drive away families” by saying no
• Dismiss civil-liberties objections as scare tactics

This was not LifeWise asking for legal advice. This was LifeWise directing a message.

On October 23, LifeWise leadership approved sharing those talking points through the pastor to the Attorney General.

You can read those emails here.

Nine Days Later

Just nine days after the final internal email, Attorney General Dave Yost issued his letter.

But instead of writing to one school board, Yost sent it to every superintendent in Ohio.

The letter did not read like a cautious legal overview. It read like reassurance.

“As Ohio’s Attorney General, I want to reassure you that Ohio law takes into account all relevant constitutional issues, and that you are free to follow Ohio law to best serve the needs of your community.” — Dave Yost, Ohio Attorney General, Nov. 1, 2023

The letter echoed the same framing LifeWise had discussed privately. It arrived while districts across the state were actively debating LifeWise programs.

The effect was immediate.

School officials now had cover.
Parents were told the Attorney General had spoken.
Boards were warned of legal risk if they resisted.

LifeWise had successfully elevated its local fight into statewide authority.

Read the full letter here.

The Records That “Didn’t Exist”

Later, a public-records request was submitted to the Ohio Attorney General’s office asking for communications related to the November 1 letter.

The response came back saying no responsive records were found.

That matters.

When a statewide policy letter is drafted, there are almost always emails, drafts, or internal discussions. Those materials are normally available under public-records laws.

Those laws exist so the public can see who is influencing government decisions — especially when they affect public schools.

The absence of records suggested the letter had been written without outside input.

That story did not last.

The Emails That Changed Everything

Months later, internal LifeWise emails surfaced.

They showed — in LifeWise’s own words — that the organization had:

• discussed contacting the Attorney General,
• outlined what his letter should say,
• and planned to use that letter to pressure school districts —

all before the letter was sent.

These emails were not released by the Attorney General’s office.

They came from LifeWise.

This creates an unavoidable question:

If LifeWise was actively shaping the message in advance, why did the public-records request return nothing?

There may be explanations.
The communications may have occurred through informal channels.
They may not have been preserved.
They may not have been captured by the request.

But without records, the public cannot know.

What is known is that LifeWise asked for help, suggested the message, and then received a letter that accomplished exactly what it wanted.

This Was Not an Isolated Event

LifeWise’s rapid growth was made possible by a broader political and religious infrastructure already operating inside the Ohio government.

LifeWise’s success did not happen in a vacuum.

That broader context was documented in recent reporting by The Cincinnati Enquirer, which detailed how the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) has grown into Ohio’s most powerful Christian lobbying organization — drafting legislation, mobilizing church networks, and maintaining a permanent presence across from the Ohio Statehouse.

According to the Enquirer’s investigation, CCV has lobbied on hundreds of bills, trained thousands of pastors to engage politically, and helped shape state policy affecting public schools, families, and education.

Read the full Cincinnati Enquirer investigation here.

At the same time these events were unfolding, Ohio’s largest Christian lobbying organization — the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) — was expanding its influence inside the Statehouse.

According to reporting by the Cincinnati Enquirer, CCV:

• lobbied on more than 300 bills,
• quadrupled its revenue since 2020,
• established headquarters directly across from the Statehouse,
• trained thousands of pastors to engage politically,
• and helped draft legislation affecting schools, families, and education.

CCV hosts prayer services inside the Ohio Statehouse itself. That influence was not hidden.

At one such event, Attorney General Dave Yost knelt on the floor while clergy laid hands on him in prayer.

Photo: The Columbus Dispatch

This is the ecosystem LifeWise operates within.

The pastors LifeWise relies on locally are part of the same political church network pushing legislation statewide.

In early 2025, Ohio lawmakers removed what little discretion school districts still had. Through House Bill 8 (H.B. 8), the state amended Ohio law to require every public school district to adopt a released-time religious instruction policy, regardless of local opposition or community concerns. 

Before H.B. 8, districts could choose whether to allow these programs. After H.B. 8, they no longer had that choice. 

By the time the mandate took effect, districts had already been reassured by the Attorney General that such programs were legal and uncontroversial. What began as behind-the-scenes pressure on individual school boards was now embedded in state law.

Why Public Schools Are the Prize

Public schools are not incidental targets.

They reach nearly every child.
They operate under state authority.
They confer legitimacy.

For programs like LifeWise, access to the school day is not symbolic — it is strategic.

For families, the impact is immediate:

• students miss instructional time,
• children are separated by religion,
• administrators are pressured by state-level authority,
• parents are told the issue is already decided.

Why This Matters Beyond Ohio

LifeWise operates in over 34 states.

What happened in Ohio offers a roadmap:

1. Enter quietly
2. Face resistance
3. Escalate through pastors
4. Secure support from a high-ranking official
5. Use that support everywhere
6. Change the law to lock it in

This is not speculation. It has happened before, and it is likely happening again — right now.

The Question Every State Should Be Asking

This story is not about faith.

It is about who gets access to power, who writes the rules, and who is left out of the conversation.

If a private religious organization can lobby a state’s Attorney General behind closed doors, suggest his talking points, and then rely on his authority to pressure public schools — without the public ever seeing how it happened — then Ohio is not an outlier.

It is a warning.

And unless families, educators, and lawmakers are paying attention, it will happen again — somewhere else — exactly the same way. The emails, the letter, and the silence afterward show how quietly it can happen — and how difficult it is to undo once it does.