TEXAS
Homeschoolers Make Progress
The Home School Legal Defense Association legal staff has been very busy this year handling various problems for hundreds of HSLDA members throughout Texas. Although homeschoolers won a tremendous victory in the Texas Supreme Court's Leeper decision, many school districts continue to exceed the law in various ways.
In the Garland School District, HSLDA families have received requests for an assurance which includes 1) "a receipt of purchase or enrollment documents associating the student with the curriculum designed to meet basic educational goals," 2) "a curriculum outline of the educational program," 3) "a list or description of the instruction material and textbooks that would be used," and 4) "the annual registration of each home-schooled student." Of course, none of these "requirements" are actually mandated by law or the Leeper case. HSLDA has advised members who were contacted on how to provide minimal assurance that they are teaching the five required subjects mandated by Leeper, using a written curriculum, and abiding by the requirements enunciated in the Leeper decision.
Many school districts are also demanding that homeschoolers turn over their curriculum for "review." The school district in Richardson routinely contacts families, demanding that they set up an appointment to bring their curriculum in for review by school officials. This is clearly not mandated by law, and yet such demands have been a common problem throughout the state this year.
In other school districts, HSLDA members have been told they just use a "recognized" curriculum. The homeschoolers are often provided a short list of various curricula. Of course, the law allows homeschoolers to choose any type of curriculum, and it need not be approved or recognized by the school district or the state.
Other Texas school districts, such as the Spring Independent School District in Houston, have sent HSLDA members lengthy "home school parent questionnaires." These questionnaires demand detailed information on minutes of instruction, the educational background of the parents, progress records, and books to be used in the curricula, among other things. Homeschoolers are not required to fill out such onerous forms, yet some school districts report uncompliant families to the attendance officer in a further attempt to "secure the information needed to comply with the law." These types of threats are unfounded and exceed the law. In every instance throughout the entire state, HSLDA has been able to convince these school districts not to enforce their illegal policies.
Proposed Legislation
As a result of the recent elections and the Leeper decision by the Texas Supreme Court, homeschoolers are enjoying a positive political climate and are in a strong position to amend the compulsory attendance law to specifically protect private schools that operate in the home. In the 1995 session, the entire education code is scheduled to be rewritten. HSLDA and the Texas Home School Coalition have been working together to provide input to state legislators and the department of education in order to protect the rights of homeschoolers as the proposed changes to the education code are being drafted. At this point, HSLDA, the Texas Home School Coalition, and others throughout the state of Texas are prepared to push for some clear language to Section 21.033 of the present compulsory attendance law. The amendment supported by HSLDA would state, "the following classes of children are exempt from the requirements of compulsory attendance:
1) any child in attendance at a private or parochial school, which shall include in its study of good citizenship, math, grammar, reading, and spelling. In this chapter, private school means a school that offers a course of instruction for students in one or more grades from pre-kindergarten through grade 12, including instruction by the parent or legal guardian of the student in the residence of the student and is not operated by a government entity."
This new language, if successfully added to the revisions of the compulsory attendance law, would simply codify the Leeper decision. It would add no further requirements than those already specified by the Texas Supreme Court. It would also make it clear to the school districts exactly what the homeschoolers' rights are.
Furthermore, this amendment would protect the status of home schools as private schools. HSLDA sees an important advantage for homeschoolers to be categorized in this way in order to avoid greater regulation. Homeschoolers are in a tremendous position of strength in this issue and do not need to compromise this language in any way. This language is the maximum which HSLDA or the Texas Home School Coalition would allow. If the legislature tries to compromise this language in any way, the Texas homeschoolers will have the bill killed and simply rely on the Leeper decision. As this bill is introduced, HSLDA will be sending out alerts to all its members to write and call their state legislatures. The governor-elect has already indicated support for any language introduced by homeschoolers.
