Billings Gazette, Billings, Montana, 20 February 2007, Halt mandatory ed, lawmaker says
Rep. Rick Jore, of Ronan, told the House Education Committee Monday that current law, which mandates all children ages 7 to at least 16 attend some type of school, presupposes that the state has the final say in a child’s education.
“Parents are the final authority when it comes to the education of their children,” Jore said.
John Taylor Gatto is mentioned in the article, and he was countered by a deputy superintendent who said that, “The right to an education belongs to a child,” …
At roughly the same Jore’s bill was being heard, more home-school advocates were in a Senate committee fighting off a plan to require home-schooled children to be registered with the local school superintendent. The measure was quickly tabled after the debate.
An illuminating statement on “accountability” was made by a state senator from Great Falls.
“We will have some accountability for the whereabouts of every school-aged child in Montana,” Ryan said.
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Great Falls Tribune, Great Falls, Montana, 20 Feb 2007, School bills heat up Capitol building
HELENA — The Capitol took on a youthful aspect Monday as students from around the state showed up for hearings on bills dealing with home schooling and compulsory public school attendance. …
Ryan’s bill would require parents who home-school their children to register with their county public school superintendent. Montana’s home-schooling regulations are so loose in that regard that people fleeing custody fights in other states can simply hide out here and claim to be home-schooling their children, he said.
“I want people to be on record, the next time some little boy or little girl has been hidden away in Montana … to say we think that’s OK,” Ryan said, as he recommended that his own bill be tabled after hearing the extensive opposition to it.
FYI: Audio and video segments of the hearing are available at:
http://cpmont.org/Media/HB404