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LEGAL/LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
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ACROSS THE STATES
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LB 868's silver lining
The Nebraska Department of Education is still struggling to make sense of Legislative Bill 868, a new law affecting home education. While Home School Legal Defense Association opposes some provisions of this law, we are aware that it also contains some excellent provisions for homeschoolers. In particular, this statute explicitly allows homeschool parents to graduate their children upon completion of a homeschool program of instruction.
The department of education refers to this provision as a "loophole," but homeschoolers have to disagree. The provision was added to the original bill in an effort to keep it from harming our families. Scott Summers, a department of education attorney, tried to persuade the senate to take the provision out while LB 868 was being debated, but soon discovered that the senators did not want it changed.
What the department of education may not realize is that Senator Pam Redfield, who sponsored LB 868, wanted very much to protect parental rights in any legislation she enacted. That is why she was careful to clarify that homeschoolers can set their own graduation requirements.
According to a recent study, one out of four homeschoolers is a grade or more ahead of his peers. This means that a surprising number of homeschoolers finish their high school studies before they turn 18. LB 868 now gives these students an explicit right to move on to jobs or higher education.
— by Scott W. Somerville
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