Hawaii
Bills die in legislature
Four bills being monitored by Home School Legal Defense Association during the 2002 legislative session died when the Hawaii Legislature closed on May 2.
Companion measures—House Bill 99 and Senate Bill 93—would have lowered the compulsory attendance age from age 6 to 5 and would have made kindergarten attendance mandatory. HSLDA opposed these bills as those which would further erode the right of parents to determine the age at which their children are ready to begin formal instruction in school.
H.B. 1055 would have presented an unacceptable alternative to the current home school law. The current home school law would have remained an option for parents, but the new option would have been a step toward total state control of home instruction. For example, one of the provisions of the proposed law was that home schooling be in accordance with criteria and standards established by the board of education in terms of curriculum, course load and content, examinations, grading, alternative projects in lieu of home instruction, attendance, qualifications or certification of parents to teach courses, and other factors as the board deemed necessary. In essence, this option would have been nothing more than public school at home.
S.B. 562 would have established a program allowing home school students to participate in extracurricular activities at the public school. HSLDA continues to take a neutral position on such legislation.
—Dewitt T. Black
