In Shadows of the Past: Nebraska homeschoolers stand together

In Shadows of the Past: Nebraska homeschoolers stand together

Nebraska, 1982. Homeschooling fathers were arrested. Mothers fled the state with their children. Small unaccredited schools operating near the border had escape plans including how to get the children across state lines and where to meet parents in case the state were to raid the school. The Reverend Everett Sileven locked himself and members of his congregation in the Faith Baptist Church in Louisville and held a several day standoff with authorities. He was arrested; the church was padlocked. It wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last.

Eventually, in 1984, a governor’s panel would determine that the Nebraska law requiring certified teachers even in private schools was probably unconstitutional. Sileven appealed his sentence which was overturned by federal judges who ruled the sheriff had acted unconstitutionally in the arrests of several people in the standoff with the church. The legislature drafted a new law allowing for the existence of “unaccredited private schools” which has come to be synonymous with homeschools in Nebraska.

As one of the last serving senators to have been in office since this time, Senator DiAnna Schimek has not forgotten the controversy, nor the turmoil it caused in the legislature. Nor has she forgotten what she thought the legislature was creating with the new law: unaccredited private schools, something the legislature thought would be overseen through testing and occasional visitation. The thought of homeschools as we know them today was not entertained.

This can all be seen in the current law, with its use of the term “unaccredited private school” and the provisions for testing and visitation for which the Board of Education may adopt rules. The reason testing and visitation has never been adopted is not because of the law itself, but because of the changing nature of unaccredited private schools in Nebraska. No longer are we talking about small parochial schools operated by uncertified teachers, but about parents educating their own children in their homes. The Nebraska Christian Home Educators Association (NCHEA) clarifies (emphasis added):

Student Testing/Standardized Tests: While Section 79-1601(2)-(5) gives the State Board of Education the option to adopt rules and regulations for regular achievement testing of students and visitation of schools, these would have to be arranged with the consent the parents. An opinion issued by Nebraska Attorney General Robert Spire dated July 30, 1987, stated testing of students and visitations must be applied uniformly to all private schools and their students and must be arranged with the consent of the parents. To date, the State Board of Education has chosen not to test or visit private schools. NCHEA

This isn’t quite what Senator Schimek had in mind back in the early 80’s as she debated the new law. To correct this, she introduced Legislative Bill 1141 which would require annual testing of all homeschooled children or the submission of portfolios or lesson plans combined with samples of student work. If a certified teacher did not determine the child was on grade level and had made at least six months progress, then the child would be forced to attend an accredited school. This would be a drastic step from current law, and would place stricter accountability measures on parents than on public or private schools.

The basis? According to Senator Schimek,

There is anecdotal evidence of homeschoolers running around during school hours with little to identify truancy.

Anecdotal evidence and fear of what might be able to occur in homeschools where parents are not held accountable to the state. Her introduction to the bill and closing remarks during the bill’s hearing by the Education Committee on February 26, 2008 reiterated many of the fears regarding homeschooling I hear in conversations with people who have never really had much experience with homeschoolers or view it only through their experience with accredited schools.

I just want to make sure there aren’t some homeschooled students out there who can’t live in the real world.

Fortunately for Nebraska homeschoolers, this is a shortened session. Even if this bill makes it out of committee, it would lack the priority status to be debated on the floor. And with 1300 homeschoolers turning out to the committee hearing (in a state with just under 6000 reported homeschools), an impression was certainly made.

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Photo of the Warner Chamber, courtesy

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.

Tags: Family Life, homeschool, homeschool life, News

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