GEORGIA
Taking Aim at Home School Freedoms
Legislation is now pending in the General Assembly of Georgia which, if passed, would seriously affect home schooling families. One of these bills, House Bill 586, threatens the very existence of home study programs in Georgia as they are presently being conducted. Up to this point, the Peach State has had one of the best home school laws in the nation. H.B. 586 would make Georgia's law among the most oppressive in the country.
H.B. 586 would make the following changes in Georgia's home school law:
- require that all parents have at least a bachelor's degree in order to teach their own children and require that tutors be Georgia state-certified teachers;
- require annual standardized achievement tests at the expense of the parents;
- require parents to write a semiannual progress assessment instead of an annual report;
- require parents to maintain a portfolio of records and materials which must be made available for inspection by the local public school superintendent;
- require parents to annually submit a curriculum and lesson plan for the entire school year to the local superintendent;
- require parents to submit the student's record of immunization to the local superintendent;
- require parents to submit the record of the results of visual and hearing testing to the local superintendent;
- require that each student's education progress be evaluated by a Georgia state-certified teacher at the end of each school year, with the results sent to the local superintendent;
- require parents to provide remedial instruction, with the home study program to be on probation for one year, should the student be found deficient either through standardized testing or teacher evaluation; and
- prohibit any home study program from being conducted if either parent has been convicted of or pled guilty or no contest to charges of child molestation, child abuse, or spouse abuse.
The main sponsor of H.B. 586 is Representative Carolyn F. Hugley, a Democrat representing Georgia District 133. When contacted by a home schooling family expressing opposition to this legislative proposal, Representative Hugley explained that this legislation was introduced "in response to concerns from the State School Social Workers Association regarding home study programs." Representative Hugley also stated that she had even received requests from home study advocates seeking more state and local government involvement in home study programs. HSLDA has, in fact, received comments from at least two Georgia member families within recent months expressing their desire for more accountability of home schooling families to the state, although no specific instances were cited of families needing this additional accountability. Home School Legal Defense Association strongly disagrees with this request, and research has shown that home school students residing in highly regulated states perform no better on standardized achievement tests than students living in unregulated states.
A second bill, Senate Joint Resolution 4, was introduced by Senator Richard O. Marable, a Democrat representing Georgia District 52. This legislation would create a Joint Study Committee to conduct "a study of home study programs, including a review of their effectiveness, an analysis of their shortcomings, and a consideration of possible ways of improving and enhancing such programs." Obviously, this is a move toward increased government regulation of home study programs, even in the absence of any indication that students in home study programs are not being properly educated.
In response to telephone alerts initiated by Georgia home school leaders and a mail alert from HSLDA to all its member families, Georgia home schoolers bombarded the General Assembly with telephone calls and letters expressing their strong opposition to both legislative proposals. As a result, H.B. 586 was referred to a legislative study committee for further review this summer, after which it will be sent back to the House Education Committee. On the other hand, S.J.R. 4 received a favorable report out of the Senate Rules Committee. But Georgia home schooling families have been given the assurance that no further action will be taken to advance either of these bills during the remainder of the 1997 session. At this time, both bills are expected to be considered further during the 1998 legislative session. The best remedy remains to have this legislation withdrawn by its sponsors. Accordingly, home schooling families should continue to lobby their legislators in order to bring about a defeat of these dangerous proposals.
