Mississippi
Testing Proposal Defeated
Mississippi has traditionally enjoyed one of the most favorable home school laws in the nation. But House Bill 582, introduced by Representative Roger Ishee (R-118), would have imposed a drastic and unwarranted change: mandatory testing of home instructed students. Mississippi home educators successfully opposed this effort to impose additional state oversight, and the bill died in the House Education Committee.
H.B. 582 would have required students in home instruction programs to participate in Mississippi’s uniform statewide assessment testing program for public school students. According to the bill, the purpose was “to verify that the student is performing at or above the minimum performance standards approved by the State Board of Education for the student’s appropriate grade level.” The bill also would have required the state board to adopt a list of tests and assessment instruments that it recognized as valid, alternative means to establish the performance level of a home instructed student. Parents would have been given the choice of either participating in the statewide assessment program or submitting results of other tests or assessments approved by the state board.
Dual Enrollment Sought, But Rejected
Introduced by Senator Alan Nunnelee (R-6) on January 13, 2000, Senate Bill 2026 would have authorized local school districts to dually enroll home school students for the purpose of participating in academic and extracurricular activities at the public school. A home school student applying for dual enrollment would have been required to reside within the attendance boundaries of the school in which the student was seeking enrollment. Further, any requests for dual enrollment in the following school year would have to have been submitted by the parent before May 1. This bill would not have compelled school districts to dual enroll home school students who desire to do so. A school district still could have disapproved the request. This bill was defeated in the Senate Education Committee. — Dewitt T. Black
