Senate Bill 56: Unapproved Private School Diplomas

Author:
Senator Cain

Summary:
This bill would have made diplomas issued by unapproved private schools the equivalent of a General Equivalency Diploma (GED). Under this bill any diploma that would have been provided by a homeschool parent operating as a private school in Louisiana would have found their diploma on the same level as a GED certificate.

After learning of this bill HSLDA and CHEF of Louisiana quickly discussed several different options. Once we settled on a plan of action, CHEF contacted the sponsor of the bill and was able to find out some information about the bill. Apparently, at least one large traditional private school had requested this bill to help their students due to some problems they had been having. Beryl Amedée was able to meet with the sponsor of the bill and those who had requested the bill and explain our concerns.

We suggested that the bill be amended to state that these private school diplomas would be officially recognized by the state. While the bill was not able to be favorably amended, the sponsor did agree to withdraw the bill entirely. We believe this decision was made due to the fact that both CHEF of Louisiana and HSLDA would have opposed the bill.

Currently under Louisiana law, homeschool parents who file as a private school can issue diplomas for their homeschool high school graduates. As these diplomas are issued by a legally operating private school they should be accepted as proof of graduation from high school. While these diplomas may not be issued by the state, homeschool families have generally had little or no difficulties when documenting their child's graduation with a homeschool diploma. As it was written, Senate Bill 56 would have reduced the benefit these private school diplomas would have had.

Status:

04/18/2006		(Senate) Withdrawn from the files of the Senate.
04/18/2006		(Senate) Rules suspended, recalled from committee.
03/27/2006		(Senate) Read by title and referred to the committee on Education.
03/13/2006		(Senate) Prefiled and under the rules provisionally referred to the committee on Education.

HSLDA's Position:
We vigorously opposed this bill.

Action Requested:
None.

Other Resources

Bill Text    (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)