Freedom Is Not A Gift; Fighting For Educational Liberty

While the nation focuses on the campaign trail leading up to who will be our next president, it is important to take some time to get to know the candidates who will be running for state offices. Whether they are local legislators, judges or candidates for the state Board of Education, these are the men and women who will have far greater effect on the liberties of homeschoolers than the next president. While bills introduced in the House and Senate do indicate that we are headed toward a national curriculum and a decreased ability for states to direct their own education systems, there has been very little that would directly effect home schools in the near future. At the local level, however, home schooling liberties continue to be challenged.

In Washington, D.C., for example, the decomposing bodies of four children were found when an eviction notice was served to their mother, Banita Jacks. D.C. has very liberal homeschooling laws, requiring only a letter of intent to withdraw a child from school. Jacks did not even do that much and fell through the cracks of the social services system despite multiple reports. The New York Times did not look at the failings of the social services system, nor at Jacks herself to assess blame for the deaths of these children. Instead, it noted the lack of supervision of home schools.

The lack of supervision of the home-schooling process, some experts say, may have made it easier last year for Ms. Jacks to withdraw her children from school and the prying eyes of teachers, social workers and other professionals who otherwise might have detected signs of abuse and neglect of the girls. New York Times

While everyone who ever looked at Jacks' file in D.C. is now at risk of losing his or her job, Mayor Adrian Fenty has also turned a regulatory eye on homeschooling.

He also vowed to establish a system to track children who are home-schooled or who move from school to school. After Jacks’s daughters were withdrawn from D.C. charter schools, she sent word through a school employee that she would home-school the girls. The Washington Post

This fear of what could happen in a family that is "outside the public eye" is not unique to the nation's capital, nor does it appear only in the wake of horrific abuse cases. Here in my home state of Nebraska, we are fighting restrictive legislation which would require the Commissioner of Education to "approve" our homeschool curriculum while homeschoolers submit to a choice of testing or turning in our lesson plans and student work to ensure that we are meeting state standards and our children remain on grade level. If this is not achieved, children would be required to attend an accredited school. Senator Schimek, who introduced the bill, asks:

How do we know what’s happening in home schools? Lincoln Journal Star

A more important question to ask is this: Why do we so readily accept that the state has a right...a responsibility even...to oversee what happens in the family? As Senator Fulton said in a letter to a homeschool family,

Parents have the primary obligation and responsibility for the education of their children - NOT the State. This bill smacks of arrogance and makes an erroneous presumption that the State is of higher authority than the parent.

Mississippi homeschoolers are fighting similar legislation with Senate Bill 2271, requiring the establishment of "student testing proficiency standards for promotion to grade levels for students in home instruction programs which are equivalent to requirements applicable to public school students." Life on the Planet, a Mississippi homeschooler, has reported that the bill was killed in committee. And this comes a little less than a year after the defeat of another measure introduced in Mississippi to further regulate homeschoolers, marking the importance of staying informed about what is happening in local affairs.

Even bills which do not appear to directly relate to homeschooling can have an effect. In Wisconsin, virtual charters are suffering due to a lack of distinction from homeschooling. Back in December, an appeals court ordered the state to stop funding the state's largest virtual charter.

The court found parents were the primary educators -- a violation of a state law requiring public school teachers to be licensed. And districts who operate schools cannot receive taxpayer money for students who do not attend school within their boundaries under current law, the court said. TMJ4

Legislation is being drafted to save the virtual charters, and keep this option open to the citizens of Wisconsin. However, this debate is not without its consequences for homeschoolers. The Wisconsin Parents Association is keeping a close watch on the debate, and the National Charter School Watch Blog also shares thoughts on the importance of maintaining a distinction between government school at home programs and homeschooling.

While homeschooling enjoys broader acceptance and the support of many legislators at the national and local level, some of the most powerful voices in education remain opposed to this educational option. The general public also is increasingly accepting of homeschooling, but remains suspicious of the possibility of children not being educated properly outside of state oversight. The most important battles for education freedom will likely not be fought on a national level, but on a very local one, through public dialog and remaining aware of the stances of our local politicians.

"Freedom is not a gift received from the State or leader, but a possession to be won every day by the effort of each and the union of all."
--Albert Camus,
Resistance, Rebellion and Death, 1961

Dana is a fourth year homeschooling mom to three girls and a boy. In her column, "In the News," she will be taking a look at homeschoolers who have affected the news and news that affects homeschoolers. Visit her blog, Principled Discovery.