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Alabama has long exempted faith-based day cares from state licensure and regulations such as maximum child-to-worker ratios.

The exemption originates from an unjustifiable belief that churches or other faith-based entities deserve complete autonomy in all they do, and that government shall have no say in any functions under the realm of the church.

That archaic thought is beginning to unravel, finally, with an Alabama House of Representatives move to allow inspections of all day cares, as well as the ability to gather some other information that would help ensure the safety of children.

A House committee approved Tuesday a compromise proposal that will give the state limited oversight over hundreds of faith-based day cares currently unregulated by the state.

The House Children and Senior Advocacy Committee unanimously voted to send the bill to the House floor. The approval came after a lengthy public hearing in which advocates named children who had been injured, or killed, in exempt centers.

“Everybody knows we have a problem,” bill sponsor Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, said.

Nearly half of the 1,914 day cares in the state claim the religious exemption, according to the Department of Human Resources.

The proposal deserves full legislative approval and should go to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.

Many church-operated day cares have excellent reputations, but that is no excuse for any institution to get around laws and inspections that may prevent harm to children. Any building is subject to inspection and should be up to code for safety, so why would any business (or church) running a school-like program not want to meet basic safety rules?

Under the compromise bill, the centers will remain exempt from getting a license, but the state will be able to inspect the centers annually. They would also have to submit names of workers and their criminal histories. Centers that take government subsidies will have to be licensed. Exempt facilities will have to post notices that they are not licensed by the state.

Opponents of the bill said they were worried about additional regulations on church-run day cares.

John Eidsmoe, senior counsel with the Foundation for Moral Law, told the committee the centers are already accountable to parents and the church. That’s a reach on his part.

The inspections are not an intrusion into church doctrine or policies. Day cares are simply places to keep children whose parents are at work. Whatever educational programs may be offered are between churches and parents, but operating under standards of safety and ensuring staff members are suitable to be around children are two areas where the state can offer valuable assistance.

No one is attempting to regulate church doctrine, teachings or beliefs. That argument just doesn’t match up with the need for safe day care facilities.

We believe state lawmakers need to move forward with this bill and bring all day cares into a similar code of safety that is good for Alabama’s children.