o
failed to pass, a local. delegaue told him Eha! "never in recenE years has Ehere been a grassrooEs movement wiEh as much energy and effort as the home education efforE. One influenEial Senator was heard saving Ehat he had never seen a more weLl-organi.zed and
senEaEion, and many ocher parenEs
aLso spoke... They voiced sErongesE
opposifion to SecEion II, Teacher QualificaEions, which would require the Eeacher Eo have a college degree. The chairman of uhe SchooL Board commiEEee... asked for a show of hands from Ehose who wouLd be prohibited well-lobbied grassrooEs bill. . . " MICHIGAN: PaE MonEgomery of CLON- from homeschooLing by Section III and my impression nas thac aE least one LARA SE]FT6EE Rep. Walberg's HB 5356 (GWS #52) is in Ehe final sEages of Ehird of Ehe families raised a hand." pubLic hearings, MeanwhiLe, the Super- Anne says the proposed regulations intendent of Public Schools and a com- will probably be sent to Ehe LegislaEure in January mitEee of five Intermediate SuDerinVIRCINIA: In a few staEes, incLuEendents orooosed EhaE home schools ding ilAl-iEi-home school laws were be considbreil private schools and be interpreEed Eo the same regulations, strictly to mean chat if subjecc a home school family failed Eo notify including strict curriculum requirethe auEhoriEies of its inEenEions at ments and a certified teacher presenE the beginning of the school year, ii every day. PaE Montgomery, Rep. Walcould noE starc Eo homeschool unEil berg and several homeschoolers gave Ehe following year. Now Cathy Myers Eestimony against this proposal aC a of NORTHERN VA HOMESCHOOLERS sends us meeting in September. NORTH DAKOTA: A biLL which Ehe Ehis memo from Ehe SuperinEendenE of PubLic InsCruction Eo all Division NORTH-TAROTA_E-OME SCHOOL ASSOCIAT ION Superintendents: "Previously it was called "unacceptabLe" was kiLled in our undersEanding Ehat an AugusE deadcommitEee. NDHSA credited Ehe defeaE Line for filing notice of intenE Eo to "the strong shorring in attendance ceach a chiLd at home would oreclude of our home school supporters, coupled with the impressive testimony acceptance of such notices flom parents at mid-term or oEher times durof Mr. MichaeL Farris" of Ehe HOME ing the school year. The AtEorney GenSCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION. a homeeral has now issued an opinion which ORECON: Peggy Sawyer, :"indicaEes Chat, in appropriate cases, schoolirlg parenc, writes that because failure to file such Inotice in August Ehe new OR law requires testing of prior to the school year does not homeschool students, homeschooling necessarily preclude home instrucfamilies might wanE Eo register insread with rhe oAK MEADow scHool of tion..." I^IEST VIRGINIA: Dci rdrc Prtrdv nf Oiai. OAK MEADOT^I has become a cer-.:-. CA. private school in OR, and OR ALTERMFITUETTM-EDUC;i i oil ;. i i;'i,' Cified privaLe schooLs are not subjecE co that homeschoolers have filed the Eesting ;equi rements."friendly suicrr (cl.}s #51) in Circuit Court and then asked the staEe suDerPENNSYLVANIA: The stace School inEendenf to forbid countv suDerintenBoard-FiTidd-iEil-regul a t i ons a pp1 y ing denEs from prosecuEing exempcion K to home scudy scudents. The regulaschools. (ExempEion K allows schools tions list the subjects that must be to form with minimal scace overtaught and state that the Cutoring sighC.) The state superintendent "shall be subject to the annual agreed Co do this, so homeschoolers approval of the disErict superintenare safe for Ehe '86-'87 year, buE dent.'r They go on to say that the Deirdre says thaE IIEST VIRGINIA HOME approval will be based on "acceptable EDUCATORS and WEST VIRGINIANS FOR RELevidence of the tutor's ability to teach such program to the pupil and IGIOUS FREEDOM plan Eo work to make by written assurance from the parent homeschools clearly private schools that the instructional requirements under the law. listed above shall be met. If aoproWISCoNSiN: The WISCONSIN PARENTS vaI is granted, the superinEend;nE ASSOCTATfON newsletEer reDorts thaE may afEerwards also require such Ehe Sparta PubIic School iloard, which evidence as is deemed necessary to had drafted a rescrictive Dolicv demonstrate thaE the pupil is making regarding the encry or re-bnEry- of satisfactory progress..," homeschoolers into public schools Howard Richman wrote in the PENN- (GWS #51), adopted a significantly SYLVANIA HOMESCHOOLERS newsLetEer more IenienE policy. In Ehe adopted that hearings had been heLd on the version. "students from home-based programs are not restricted to encry/ new regulations and that homeschoolers obiected to them on Chree re-entry rsocial at the ninth grade or below, grounds: "(1) superintendents could and the maEuriEy' and 'approreouire home-educated children to priate social inEeracEion with take achievement tests, (2) there was his/her peers' are no Ionger criteria no clarification of whether parents for grade placement, AIso, Language had to be certificated tutors... (3) concerning the use of sEandardized there was no provision for due proEesEs appears now Eo cover oEher pricess hearings if parents are arbitrar- vaEe school students, and, Ehough ily denied permission... Several home- less clear, public schooL sEuschooling parents spoke against the dents..,'r WPA adds that this more reguLations and Ehe festimony r^rent on reasonabLe policy came about because for several hours. The regulatory com- "parenEs, friends, concerned persons, mission was amazed to hear that the and a Iawyer worked diplomatically, present law governing private tutorconstrucEively and persisEently over ing provides for no due-process hear- three Eo four months with Lhe local ings or administrative appeal. . . " school board." - SS SOUTH CAROLINA: SC Law permits homesdE66-ITi!-TF-TE i s "substanE ial ly equivaLent" to classroom education. COURTNEWS Homeschooling parent Anne Johnson Eold us that the State Board of EducaFor many months, we heard Ehat a tion proposed reguLations which would group of Texas families, under attordefine "subsEantially equivaLent.r' On ney Shelby Sharpe, had a homeschool the day of the hearing concerning suiE pending. On August 7, Ehe judge these regulaLions last May, "the room issued a preliminary judgement in the (Leeper et a1. lTEh Judicial Diswas packed with several hundred homecase .r,+ schooling families, who had come in trict ) . Homeschoolers $re've heard opposition to the regulation. Dr. Ray- from appear mixed in their opinions premond Moor:e had fLown in to make a as Eo wheEher this judgement is a
backi'rard; steD ^ forward or
The ruling says:
.. 'The CourE declares that
a
school-aged chtLd residing- in. the , SEaEe of Texas who is regurarry.ano
dilisenELv pursuing in Ehe cnrro s a n"rn""" wricten cur;iculum of eiEher oii""c" or parochial schooL in which the child is enrolled which exisEs from Ehe child's home or which has been obtained from oEher sources' said curriculum following a regular olan of insEruc!ion designed Eo meeE basic educational goals of reading, language arEs, mathematics and a study of good ciEizenshiP, is con-a side?ed Eo be in aEtendance uPon DrivaEe or parochial school"' The borrt furthir finds that the current curricula of CALVERT SCHOOL' FIRST
BAPTIST ACADEMY OF DALLAS, CHRISTIAN LIBERTY ACADEMY SATELLITE SCHOOLS' REFORM PUBLICATIONS' and AMERICAN CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS are written curYic-
ula Iwhich saEisfy the above require. ...fn" Court also finds that if Darents or those standing in Che parLnEaL relationship Eo such a child furnish ro any public school attendance officer uPon his written request the results of a nationally normed standard achievement Eest which was given in accordance with the instrucEiotrt t..otPanying the test and was taken uithi; the preceding L2 monEhs of rhe wriEten request showing Ehat the child is making reasonable academic Droeress for chac child, then Ehis furnisEing shal I establ ish chaL thepurchild is iegularly and diligenEly suing the curricuLum being taken' "
mencs I
[DR: ] This may be fine for families who want co use a Christian corresDondence course and give sEandardized achievement tesEs' but as one GWS reader writes: ...ManY - PossiblY a majoritY of homeschoolers are finding it di fficulE to accePt this ProPosaL." It would seem Eo give over a Power co Ehe sEaEe which they never had in Ehe firsE olace. The August 7th hearinS. broughr homeschoolers from across Ehe sEaEe; some were ready Eo accePE the proPosaI, many staEed Ehat Ehe l5 families in ArlingEon did not represenE a ma iorit.v-of homeschoolers in Texas' Afier haaring festimonies of -ProEest' Ehe judge oraered atlorneys- for each side Eo rewrite Ehe proposal clarlryins anv sEaEemenEs which would be misfe;dina to homeschooLers and school disEricfs. AooarenElY Ehis whole Ehing will r'rb'asain bcEober l7 for a final "o.e ruling' by-the judge...
o.n"t "orrtl-Jr, In a JulY CriaL'
ALABAMA:
Don
O'BriE6--6TTef f erson CounEy successfully defended his family. The judge
dismissed the criminal charges because the sEate failed Eo prove lhaE the O'Briens even had a child of school agel Civil charges ?I9-sliI.l.
pending.-(Source:
TORS.
ALABAMA HOME EDUCA-
)
HAWAII: EducaEional neglecE charees aEaTi-sE Jeff and Sandy Baczynski iet" dropp.d in JuLy. The judge chastised thi-sEaEe for their sloppy presentaEion and IiEEle investigaEion into the case, and felt thac Mr. Baczynski hlas conscientious in the aEEeirrpt Eo educate his son' (Source: HAWAIi
HOMESCHOOLERS ASSOCIATION'
PENNSYLVANIA:
)
Judge JosePh
GROI.IING I^IITHOUT SCHOOLING #53