MISSOURI
Dangerous Licensing Bill Not Expected to Live
Missouri House Bill 602 would have required any person who performed duties as a professional educator in the schools of Missouri to have a license issued by a teacher licensing board. For home schoolers, this bill would have had the same effect as last year's infamous amendment to H.R. 6, which would have required home schoolers to be certified in every subject area they teach.
Kim Spangler of Family Home Educators and Kerry Messer of Missouri Family Network contacted Representative Stoll, the bill's sponsor, to voice their concerns about this legislation on behalf of Missouri home schools and private schools. Stoll agreed to entertain amendments to the legislation which would exempt private and home school teachers from the licensing process.
Prior to the House Professional Registration and Licensing Committee hearing on March 1, 1995, Representative Stoll agreed to an amendment which made it clear that the bill did not apply to private and home school teachers. The amendment was introduced and unanimously adopted by the committee.
However, even with the protective language for home schools and private schools, this legislation is bad public policy. Home schoolers were not the only ones voicing concerns at the committee hearings—opposition testimony was offered by several teachers' unions and lobbyist groups.
H.B. 602 is still in committee at the time of this writing, and the majority of the committee members have indicated that it will not pass out of committee. This is the fifth time that this legislation has been presented to the committee. The bill appears to be essentially dead, but we will continue to monitor the situation.
Parental Rights Amendment Introduced
On a brighter note, Senate Joint Resolution No. 14, which is before the Missouri Senate, would add the following language to Article I of the Missouri Constitution relating to the Bill of Rights: "The right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children shall not be infringed. The General Assembly shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this section."
Similar resolutions are being introduced across the country this year, as states seek to re-establish the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children. Unfortunately, courts have not been willing to enforce parental rights as fundamental; thus, there is a need for constitutional amendments. While these parental rights initiatives have not met with much initial success, we should see some of them to begin to pass as we become more persistent.
We urge you to tell your senator to vote for SJR No. 14. If the Senate passes this resolution, the issue will then come before the people in a general election.
