Education Week posted several states’ legislative maneuvers trying to get out from under federal Common Core State Standards demands.  Many homeschoolers are concerned with the children and parents’ data collection, for one.

Check out EdWeek‘s article – Exit Strategy: State Lawmakers Consider Dropping Common Core 

Both houses in Indiana passed HB 1427 and it’s now a governor-signed enrolled Act directing the State Board of Education take no further action to implement the Common Core State Standards.

Michigan’s House Bill 4276  passed out of the House and Senate prohibiting “the State Board of Education and the Department of Education from implementing the Common Core Curricular Standards, an initiative coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers.” The Spunky Homeschool blog addresses concerns of Michigan homeschoolers with this Common Core initiative and the plan for a “P-20 seamless pathway from school to the work force.”

The New Hampshire Families for Education organization offers more background on Common Core and its problems for families.

New York’s Partnership for Accurate Homeschooling Information (PAHSI)  is researching the inBloom computer data privacy issue and suggests letters be written to the NY Board of Regents expressing this concern, since New York homeschoolers must report to the school authorities.

States Hoping for Common Core Exit Strategy

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports on a Tim Tebow bill and another bill the Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) also proposed calling for restricting a current law allowing grandparents to sue parents for access to or custody of school-age children.  

Home-school legislation seems to be dead this session
Key legislation a coalition supported appears to be dead in the current session that ends May 27 

By Enrique Rangel

“I am disappointed, but our view is that we made some progress and we’ll be back next session,” Lambert said in reference to two legislative proposals he described as being “on life support”: The so-called Tim Tebow bill and a parental rights measure.

Noting the progress these bills have made each session, THSC leader, Tim Lambert reflected:

Lambert takes a philosophical view as to why legislation the coalition pushed for during the last several sessions has not made it to the finish line.

“The (Texas) Founding Fathers designed this on purpose, to make it difficult to pass bills,” he said. “But the progress we made in this session gives us a lot of hope for next session.”

These bills will likely be back next session.  Regarding the Tebow Bill, here’s what the bill’s author said:

Dutton said though he is disappointed his House Bill 1374 did not pass, he will file a similar proposal in the next session.

The UIL people find it OK; everybody is OK with it,” he said. “The only problem is trying to figure out who is against the bill.”

It appears many Texas homeschoolers are concerned with that particular bill.  They do tend to contact legislators.

Texas Tim Tebow and Parental Rights Bills “On Life Support”

These are homeschooling articles I enjoy reading.  Virginia Commonwealth University‘s  Capitol News Service posted a lengthy article: Home Schooling on the Rise in Virginia by Allison Landry and Amber Shiflett.  Homeschoolers were the homeschooling experts in this article, rather than people who like to study homeschoolers.

“My son chose home schooling when he was about 3. I didn’t realize that’s what was happening at the time. We tried having him go to preschool, and it was not a good fit for him,” said Wilson, the government affairs director for the Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers.

“Once I started questioning preschool, I suddenly found myself in this land of home-schoolers.”

Across the United States, a growing number of parents like Wilson have chosen home schooling as an alternative to public schools. In Virginia, the number of home-schoolers has increased by more than 50 percent over the past decade, according to the Virginia Department of Education.

There are now more than 32,000 home-schoolers in Virginia. If they were a school district, it would be the ninth-largest in the state – with almost as many students as the Norfolk Public Schools.

Homeschooler after homeschooler offered their experiences, from Ann Zeise to VaHomeschoolers President – Parrish Mort, to two Fairfax County homeschooling moms.  Since Virginia homeschoolers report their homeschooling status, homeschooling numbers were presented for each county.

The school divisions with the most home-schoolers are Fairfax County (2,929), Loudoun County (2,119), Chesterfield County (1,954), Prince William County (1,345) and Virginia Beach (982). That’s not surprising, because those are highly populated areas, and the home-schoolers there represent a tiny fraction of the school-age population.

But in Floyd County, in Southwest Virginia, the 269 home-schoolers represent nearly 12 percent of all school-age children, according to data analysis by Capital News Service. In Surry County, in the Hampton Roads area, home-schoolers represent 11 percent of all school-age children.

There was a former PTA president who shared her opinion of her non-homeschooling experience:

Missy Edwards, the former vice president of the Parent Teacher Association at Lanier Middle School in Fairfax, expressed that concern. She has three children, who have all attended public schools. Edwards said she has been actively involved in her children’s academic paths throughout high school.

Like many public school parents, Edwards believes home schooling cannot provide the type of benefits that public schools do.

“I don’t believe that home-schoolers can benefit from the social and academic capabilities of dealing with real-world issues,” Edwards said. She said public school “has provided my kids with socialization skills that I wouldn’t be able to give them if I had them at home with me every day.”

Real world issues often do not exist in the classroom, except for issues such as school socialization.

The homeschooling crew was gracious.

While Edwards said that she could never be a home-school parent, VaHomeschoolers leaders Amy Wilson of Prince William County and Parrish Mort of Cumberland County said public schools have always been an option for their children.

“If they told me they wanted to go to public school, I would let them give it a try. So far, they both prefer home schooling,” Wilson said.

Mort agreed: “Every year, we’d re-evaluate. It’s one child, one year at a time. If they chose to make a different choice, it was fine.”

Their response was typical of many homeschool parents – one day/year at a time, review and go the best direction for each child.  That is the glory of educational choice, which often keeps families homeschooling year after year.

In the Land of Virginia Homeschoolers

“There is a difference between the persecution of a discrete group and the prosecution of those who violate a generally applicable law. As the Board of Immigration Appeals permissibly found, the German authorities have not singled out the Romeikes in particular or homeschoolers in general for persecution. As a result, we must deny the Romeikes’ petition for review and, with it, their applications for asylum.”

The Romeike family counsel made a promise to appeal the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision.  Two opinions were presented.  One represented the entire three-judge panel’s opinion, while Judge Rogers offered a separate, concurring opinion.  President Bush nominated two judges – Rogers and Sutton – to the appeals court. President Clinton nominated Judge Gilman in 1997.

 Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Romeike v. Holder OPINION

SUTTON, Circuit Judge. Uwe and Hannelore Romeike have five children, ages twelve, eleven, nine, seven and two, at least at the time this dispute began. Rather than send their children to the local public schools, they would prefer to teach them at home,largely for religious reasons. The powers that be refused to let them do so and prosecuted them for truancy when they disobeyed orders to return the children to school. Had the Romeikes lived in America at the time, they would have had a lot of legal authority to work with in countering the prosecution. See Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 213–14 (1972); Pierce v. Soc’y of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534–35 (1925); Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 400–01 (1923).

But the Romeikes lived in Germany when this dispute began. When the Romeikes became fed up with Germany’s ban on homeschooling and when their prosecution for failure to follow the law led to increasingly burdensome fines, they came to this country with the hope of obtaining asylum. Congress might have written the immigration laws to grant a safe haven to people living elsewhere in the world who face government strictures that the United States Constitution prohibits. But it did not. The relevant legislation applies only to those who have a “well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A). There is a difference between the persecution of a discrete group and the prosecution of those who violate a generally applicable law. As the Board of Immigration Appeals permissibly found, the German authorities have not singled out the Romeikes in particular or homeschoolers in general for persecution. As a result, we must deny the Romeikes’ petition for review and, with it, their applications for asylum.

The decision included an extensive court history review, including analysis of the initial decision to allow asylum in the United States:

The Romeikes entered the United States through a visa waiver program. Uwe applied for asylum, and his wife and five children sought relief as derivative applicants. An immigration judge approved the applications after finding that the Romeikes had a well-founded fear of persecution based on their membership in a “particular social group”: homeschoolers. The Board of Immigration Appeals overturned the immigration judge’s decision. It explained that “[t]he record does not show that the compulsory school attendance law is selectively applied to homeschoolers like the applicants.” Id. at 5. It added that homeschoolers were not punished more severely than other parents whose children broke the law. It concluded by reasoning that, even if the German government had singled out people like the Romeikes, “homeschoolers” are not protected by the immigration laws because they “lack the social visibility” and “particularity required to be a cognizable social group.” Id. at 7.

The opinion offered the reasoning behind rejection of homeschoolers as a recognized “particular social group”, the criteria necessary for granting asylum.

Even assuming for the sake of argument that faith-based homeschoolers (or for that matter homeschoolers in general) are a cognizable social group, a matter we need not resolve, “[t]he record does not show that the compulsory school attendance law is selectively applied to homeschoolers like the applicants,” or that “homeschoolers are more severely punished than others whose children do not comply with the compulsory school attendance law.” A.R. 5. The petitioner’s key witness, Michael Donnelly, testified that all parents who do not send their children to school face consequences ranging from fines to jail time to loss of custody. Donnelly identified parents punished for homeschooling their children for religious and secular reasons as well as parents punished for truant children who received no schooling at all.

The parents of Melissa Buzekros, for example, decided that it would be “better for her to learn at home.” Id. at 272. Melissa’s siblings continued to attend public school, but Melissa struggled due to “high noise levels and cancelled classes,” prompting her parents to teach her at home. Id. at 587. In response, the government removed Melissa from her parents’ custody—not to persecute her parents but to enforce the country’s compulsory-attendance law. Other parents, too, have tried to homeschool their children for secular reasons, whether because they were “very unhappy” in public school, highly gifted or low performing, and they also were punished. See id. at 591–92 (affidavits of Tilman and Dagmar Neubronner) (explaining that they faced $9,500 in fines after trying to homeschool their kids who were “very unhappy” in public school); id. at 657–58 (affidavit of Jorg Grosselumern) (explaining that “people who would like to practice homeschooling” because of “educational needs of the child,” such as being highly gifted or low performing, “do not dare to practice homeschooling actively because of the varied sanctions”).No. 12-3641 Romeike v. Holder Page 6

The parents of “school skippers,” truant students who do not show up for school, face civil fines as well. If the parents fail to convince their children to go to school, the government places them in alternative learning programs or special schools for truants. This enforcement of the law has nothing to do with homeschooling, whether for faith- based or secular reasons. For better or worse, Germany punishes any and all parents who fail to comply with the school-attendance law, no matter the reasons they provide.

There has been great concern from many in the United States homeschooling community regarding President Obama’s/Department of Justice homeschool friendliness here, via reflection of this particular asylum case.  There is no doubt many of Obama administrative heads’ previous Illinois history shows homeschool over-compliance demands, particularly during Department of Education Arne Duncan’s former CEO tenure over the Chicago Public Schools. This administration has strong backing from the teacher unions and the unions certainly do not support homeschooling freedoms.

But homeschoolers would be wise to keep a clear and educated eye on the various goings on in the various federal departments, particularly Education, along with a close watch of their state legislative actions.  The attitude might be echoed by the Justice Department’s asylum opposition, but other present and past US administrative actions and policies should bear a more distressing heads up for families and their freedoms.

Below is the final word from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the Romeike case:

The question is not whether Germany’s policy violates the American Constitution, whether it violates the parameters of an international treaty or whether Germany’s law is a good idea. It is whether the Romeikes have established the prerequisites of an asylum claim—a well-founded fear of persecution on account of a protected ground. See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 483 (1992) (explaining that, even if the petitioner could prove he held a particular political opinion, he must also show that he would be persecuted “because of [his] political opinion” rather than because he defied the guerilla army’s general conscription policy); Chen Zhou Chai v. Carroll, 48 F.3d 1331, 1342 (4th Cir. 1995) (“Even if the applicant can characterize his failure to comply with the population control policy as a political opinion, the applicant must still demonstrate that the government’s actions or threats against the applicant, even to the extent those actions or threats involve forced abortions or sterilizations, were taken for a reason other than to enforce the population control policy.”).

The Romeikes have not met this burden. The German law does not on its face single out any protected group, and the Romeikes have not provided sufficient evidence to show that the law’s application turns on prohibited classifications or animus based on any prohibited ground.

III. For these reasons, we deny the Romeikes’ petition.

Best of wishes to the captivating Romeikes and their search for educational and family freedoms.

Romeike Family Denied Asylum – Appeal Continues

Photo credit to Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register

The Des Moines Register posted bill progress on a move to free up Iowa home educators from bureaucratic busy-ness. The homeschoolers’ freedom hinges on an education reform package agreement between the two major political parties.

Home schooling tripping up education reform 
Efforts to improve public education face a move to also alter parent-led instruction

By Jason Noble

Home schooling — and specifically three proposed changes to the state law regulating it — has emerged as a key division between Democrats and Republicans working to craft a compromise over K-12 reforms.

Both sides recognize it as one of the few remaining issues standing between them and passage of legislation that all sides say they support and that Republican Gov. Terry Branstad has made a personal crusade. House and Senate leaders have not yet negotiated language in earnest in an attempt to broker agreement.

Talking points are also being laid out.

One of the measures would allow home-school parents to teach their children driver education, while another would allow home-school educators to teach up to four unrelated students. The most controversial, though, would remove requirements currently in law for home-schoolers to file paperwork with their local school district and to undergo testing by an independent teacher. Results are reported back to the district.

Even with the requirements, some children slip through the cracks with too little education — raising questions about what could happen if they went away entirely, said Mary Gannon, attorney for the Iowa Association of School Boards.

The above IA-SB‘s argument is frequently used by anti-homeschool freedom proponents, even as the same often have high levels of interest/activity in public schools discouraging a large number of students’ educations.  Forget cracks, these children are thrown into public school chasms.  The success ratio logically speaks to taking care of one’s own backyard before worrying about homeschoolers.  Besides, the Iowa Association of School Boards could take a lesson from the Illinois Association of School Boards.  They rejected a local Illinois school board proposal for homeschoolers to “take the same assessment tests as those required for public school students.”  As pointed out in this current Des Moines Register article, Illinois home educators don’t have the stringent regulations Iowa homeschoolers currently have and most importantly, learning achievements have not suffered.

The Pool family pictured above, are hoping the home education option will be opened up to more families.

The reforms now before the Legislature appear to simply be offering the opportunity for other families to do the same, they said. The provision allowing parents to teach unrelated students, for example, could make home schooling more available to the children of single parents.

“The road should be paved much easier,” Tamara Pool said. “We shouldn’t be putting roadblocks in the way for people to have that choice.”

Instead, the Iowa School Board Association is concerned about a minority of a minority of privately educated (and funded) children’s education, rather than focusing on the big picture.

“We have had first-hand evidence of these students not getting the appropriate education they need to be getting,” she said. “I don’t think that’s the majority of home-schoolers by any means, but I don’t know how you pick and choose who’s going to do a good job and who’s not.”

Don’t pick and choose from privately educated (and funded) homeschoolers.  As scope and sequences vary in different subjects, let the gaps be filled in when necessary.

Iowa State Education Association‘s accountability concerns below divert from the bottom-line of learning success. Besides my repeated notion of tax payers expecting results from tax-paid public school teachers and school systems.

ISEA Executive Director Mary Jane Cobb noted that while other aspects of the reform package are aimed at improving accountability of public school teachers with new evaluation procedures, the home-school language does the opposite.

“It seems to me to be a really odd mix of strong accountability on our public school teachers but much, much less accountability on home-school parents,” she said.

Homeschool parents answer to their beloved children and family.  The level of responsibility should be noted and is extreme.  This battle will be interesting, as these legislators show themselves to their voting bases.

Iowa Home Education Freedoms Entwined in Public Education Reform Battle

The Sioux City Journal posted a Brent Hoffman column this morning: THE REGULARS: Growing number of American parents choose to homeschool:

Make no mistake, homeschooling works, and it works not because of governmental bureaucracy and accreditation standards, but in spite of it. It works because it places responsibility for the education, nurturing and growth of children squarely in the hands of the parents.

When you consider that homeschool parents spend an average of $500 to $600 a year on each student in comparison to $9,000 to $10,000 for each government school student in the United States, the academic results are astounding. Essentially, homeschool parents are paying less to educate their own children than they spend to educate someone else’s children in the government school system.

Whatever thread a homeschooling family makes up in the vibrant, varied tapestry our community enfolds, many agree government oversight is not a help in our home education pursuits.  It appears Mr. Hoffman – former Sioux City Council member, Pentagon 9/11 survivor and widower – is a homeschool dad enjoying the time, for one – “Hugging your kids while you take turns reading a good book.”   From Dave Madsen at NewsNetNebraska:

These days, thanks to his military retirement and a successful real estate business, Hoffman has the financial means to be able to spend time working on a biography about his wife. He calls it a tribute to her, dedicated to his kids. “I’m writing it so one of her friends, or any of the people who knew her might be inspired by reading it,” he says. As he has done for several years, he plans to take his children to California this winter, where he will home school them…another example of his devotion to the kids.

Parents Choosing to Homeschool

Yesterday, Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole introduced H.R. 1850, the Home School Equity Act for Tax Relief.  I wonder who was lobbying for this controversial bill.

Many homeschoolers are extremely wary of federal “home school” legislation.  

From Representative Cole’s press release:

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) today introduced H.R. 1850, the Home School Equity Act for Tax Relief. This legislation allows home school families to receive the same tax deduction currently offered to elementary and secondary teachers for education expenses. Currently, home school families are only eligible for this tax credit in states where they are defined as “private” schools; H.R. 1850 would make this definition apply to all fifty states.

“Home school students have increasingly become recognized for their academic achievement and high performance levels,” said Congressman Cole. “As valuable contributors to our nation’s academic future and with more than 1.5 million students nationwide, it makes sense that home school families should also receive this tax credit.

“Choosing to educate children at home is not an easy or inexpensive decision for parents. It requires hours of time teaching and planning, commitment by at least one parent to stay at home and thousands of dollars spent for educational supplies each year. For families in many communities, home schooling is also the only alternative to failing public schools. In order for families to continue providing quality education at home, it is essential that they have the best resources for that success.

“Home school families are directly training up the next generation of leaders. We should support their continued success.”

You may contact Representative Cole.  There are no other sponsors.

Tell Legislators “No Thanks to Tax Credits” Taking Charge - Larry and Susan Kaseman

Interest is increasing in privatization of education, including tax credits for homeschoolers. An example is a January 4, 2011 piece on The New York Times Web site. However, tax credits would undermine our homeschooling freedoms. It is time for us to tell our federal and state legislators that we do not want tax credits, especially since legislators will be hearing directly and/or through the media from the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), a national organization that supports tax credits and is giving legislators and others incorrect and misleading information.

This column discusses reasons why tax credits would lead to increased government regulation of homeschooling and counters statements by an HSLDA lawyer in the Times piece. It suggests action we can take and includes a sample letter to legislators.

Background

Our previous column (HEM, JF/11, Beware of Privatization of Education) explains why tax credits for homeschoolers are likely to be part of a general move toward privatization of education by the new Republican majority in the US House of Representatives and many state legislatures. Although Republicans have generally been more supportive of homeschooling than Democrats, so-called government “favors” for homeschoolers come with strings attached.

The Times Web site includes a series called “Room for Debate” in which “The Times invites knowledgeable outside contributors to discuss news events and other timely issues.” On January 4, 2011, the topic was “Do Home Schoolers Deserve a Tax Break? Some conservatives want a federal credit for families who teach their children at home. What are its chances in the new Congress?” Seven people with various backgrounds, political affiliations, and perspectives responded. Do Home Schoolers Deserve a Tax Break?

Homeschool Tax Credit Bill Introduced in DC

The Athens Banner-Herald posted A day in the life of a homeschooler.

The Ginnel and Johnson families were spotlighted in the article by Allie Jackson.  This excerpt presented  the more serene aspects of homeschooling.

Although it’s a Wednesday, the girls, ages 14 and 7, aren’t rushed to catch the bus or get to class before the bell rings. They aren’t arguing about who gets the bathroom first or worried about what outfit to wear. The morning feels calm.

Sydney and Molly, like thousands of other Georgia children, are home schooled.

Each morning they rise and spend the first hour of their day tending to the many animals the family owns on a 5-acre farm in Auburn. “I love being home schooled because it means I get to spend more time with the animals,” Sydney said as she softly strokes her 11-year-old Great Dane, one of multiple dogs on the property. “When I went to (public) school I barely ever got to spend time with them. Now, I see them first thing in the morning and then again after I’m done with my school work, and then I get to ride the horses.”

Ashlie Johnson explained some of her reasons to homeschool by “slowing down the pace” and keeping her family grounded.

Johnson has four children spanning first through seventh grades. She said she doesn’t fault the public school system. Keeping her children home was more about the desire to know them better.

“When my boys did go to (public) school we got up earlier for them to leave and be gone for seven or eight hours,” she said. “Then they would come home and have hours of homework and I can’t even imagine what it would be like if they had played a sport back then.”

Johnson also feels that home schooling gives her children more discipline than a public school atmosphere.

“It seems ironic, but it makes them more independent,” Johnson said. “What I mean by that is … the kids who are home schooled get more sleep and learn more home responsibilities, such as home chores, doing dishes or helping with younger siblings. If they are in school all day, they just don’t have the time or energy. When kids are in home school, all of those things get taken care of.”

The National Jewish Study on home educated teens agrees with those benefits.  More here.  Both families also discussed the home-based social benefits.  School socialization does seems to be highly over-rated.

The co-leader of an Athens area homeschool group also pointed out thoughts on homeschooled kids socializing in their communities.

“My personal opinion is that it is a myth that the best way to socialize children is to put them in groups of children the same age for long periods of time. This seems artificial compared to real life,” Bruce said. “For that reason … the socializing opportunities for home schooled children are higher in quality and as frequent.”

Many home schooling parents use field trips, co-op classes, park days, sports, church and other activities as a way to socialize their children.

“There is much more flexibility to make time for these opportunities,” Bruce said. “Since their schedule is not determined by an outside source (such as) public or private school.”

Homeschooling parents tend to agree with that perspective.  Wanting their children to be well-rounded and engaged in communal activities is certainly not deterred by a homeschooled life.  The focus on days in the life of these Georgians was a worthwhile read.

A day in the life of a Georgia homeschooler

From Tennessee Representative Ron Travis in The Chattanoogan:

Home School Students – The House of Representatives passed legislation this year authorizing home school students to participate in interscholastic athletics at the public school in which they are zoned. House Bill 222 gives home-schooled students an opportunity to try out for local school sports teams if they meet the same health, academic, and conduct standards required of other participants. The bill was fueled by the success of NFL quarterback Tim Tebow who was a home schooled student. The legislation is not in conflict with Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) standards as the organization has opted to leave the decision about participation of home schooled students to local boards of education.

SB 240/HB 222 passed on April 29.  There’s more information here.

Tennessee Tebow Bill Wrap Up

Washington’s KEPR posted an article and video with the focus on retaining school district money.  KEPR covers the Tri-City area of Kennewick, Richland and Pasco.

The reporter said: “Kennewick and Richland have homeschooling programs that keep money coming into the district and that is Homelink and the Mid-Columbia Partnership.“ Homelink and Mid-Columbia Partnership are both public school at home programs.

Homeschooling takes off in Pasco by Abby Acone

TRI-CITIES – Taking your child’s education to the home. KEPR learned more parents in Pasco are choosing to homeschool their children. It’s a choice with two sides — individualized education for a child and the possibility of pulled funding for our districts.

Perspective is everything, as one could say homeschoolers save taxpayers money. That is not KEPR‘s perspective:

Local districts offer alternative schooling for families that don’t want to homeschool fully. These include Three Rivers HomeLink and the Mid-Columbia Partnership. Carrie DeForest leads MCP based in Kennewick.

“If their child is stuck on a concept or is not quite mastered a skill, then that”s why we meet with a certified teacher to help give ideas,” said MCP Principal Carrie DeForest.

She says the program allows students to individualize their education with those certified teachers — offering even more options. Because of this — money still comes into the districts to support a child’s education.

For sure, certified teachers cost money.  Traditional homeschoolers pay for their own resources.  Homeschoolers seem to have great educational success, even though they might not keep that money rolling into school districts.  Seems like KEPR forgot a school district’s purpose.

Homeschooling Pulls School Funding Vs Saving Money