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Legislative rollercoaster

Mark Twain once said that "no one should see how laws or sausages are made," and Legislative Bill 868 is a good example of what he meant. Introduced by Senator Pam Redfield, the bill was designed to solve the problem of 16-year-olds who quit school against their parents' wishes. It raised the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18 and gave parents the right to opt their children out of the last two years of school. By using state power to back up parents no matter which option they chose, LB 868 was intended to be a family-friendly bill.

Unfortunately, LB 868 went through a number of changes on its way through the legislature. After merging with another piece of family-friendly legislation, the bill was amended, based on testimony from public school officials, to lower the compulsory attendance age from 7 to 5¾ years. As homeschoolers expressed their concern over these changes, Senator Redfield's original bill mutated into something that Home School Legal Defense Association had to oppose. Repeated efforts to amend the bill solved some problems, but created others.

In the end, LB 868 emerged from the legislature and was signed by the governor on April 15. Even though it has some objectionable features, the final version contains several excellent provisions for homeschoolers. Parents can keep a 5-year-old child out of school if they sign a sworn statement indicating that they intend to teach the child at home the next year, and they can opt their children out of compulsory attendance after the age of 16. Parents can graduate their own children upon completion of a homeschool program of instruction. And in a surprise move at the very end of the session, the bill was amended to protect homeschool records as "private information," instead of categorizing them as "public data." HSLDA has repeatedly asked the department of education to solve this persistent privacy problem. LB 868 finally provides homeschoolers with the privacy they deserve.

HSLDA would like to publicly thank Senator Redfield for her efforts to protect parental rights and respond to homeschoolers' concerns. Although LB 868 was a real rollercoaster ride, Redfield has proven herself a friend to Nebraska homeschoolers.

— by Scott W. Somerville