At the parishes here, the RE director runs the program, with little to no input from the pastor (the "liturgical committees" probably work the same way, but that's a different problem). At another local parish, the RE director is very conservative, while the pastor is, well... less so, to put it kindly. I would never attend mass there, but I would probably let my kids go to RE. The cafeteria is far from closed here in the trenches.
Okay - I just wondered.