WEST VIRGINIA
Home Schoolers Detonate Bad Legislation
West Virginia families had their own small-scale H.R. 6 experience in March, when Senator Rebecca White of Harrison County filed legislation which would have nearly regulated home schoolers out of existence. Senator White has, in the past, called home schoolers a "blot on West Virginia education," so few experienced home schoolers expected her bill to be good for home schooling. In fact, it was not. Senator White's bill would have required families operating "approved" home schools under Exemption B(a) to have two years of college and a passing score on every area of the National Teacher's Exam.
The three sponsors of the bill hailed from the three most anti-home educator regions of the Mountain State. Harrison County has been a hotbed of hostility for home schoolers, ever since Bobbie Gelpie took over as home school "coordinator." Mercer County, home of Senator John Pat Fanning, has seen consistent opposition to home schoolers. And the Eastern Panhandle, which Senator Herb Snyder represents, has two problem counties.
Fortunately, several hundred phone calls a day into the senate persuaded Senate Education Committee Chairman Lloyd Jackson to bury the bill. With no one arguing for the bill, and the entire West Virginia home school community opposing it, Senator White's attack on home schooling expired.
