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ACROSS THE STATES

NEVADA

Statewide ID card proposed

In the process of improving Nevada's homeschool regulations, the state board of education has received a proposal from Clark County school officials for statewide implementation of the county's policy requiring homeschool parents to have an ID card. The proposed regulation states that homeschool parents must provide "Proof of the identity of the parent, consisting of a state or federally issued photographic identification card or some other document, sufficient to establish the parent's identity and evidence of their connection to the child being exempted. . . ."

Home School Legal Defense Association believes the adoption of a statewide homeschool parent identification policy would violate the following constitutional rights:

>>	the right to privacy, which has been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court and which restricts the type of information a government agency can collect;
>>	the right to freely exercise one's religious beliefs without unreasonable and unnecessary restrictions (such as proof of identity); and
>>	the right to direct the education and upbringing of one's children.

Furthermore, the proposed regulation's present wording makes it virtually impossible for any parent to fully comply with the requirement to establish his identity and parent-child connection without medical testing.

If this regulation is enacted, law-abiding parents will be penalized because the state does not trust them to tell the truth. No other state places such offensive regulations on homeschoolers—the parent's word is good enough.

HSLDA will continue to work with Nevada homeschool groups and the state board of education to ensure that this proposal is abandoned.

— by Christopher J. Klicka