Across the States
Record-breaking Crowd Sends Message to Legislators
Nearly 1,000 New Hampshire homeschoolers attended the public hearing for two house bills that would radically rewrite the way homeschooling parents must annually assess their students.
House Bill 367, the more onerous of the two, proposed changes to New Hampshire’s homeschool law that would require parents to provide public school authorities with both a portfolio evaluation conducted by a certified teacher and standardized test results. Authorities would then have the discretion to determine whether a homeschool program should continue.
Close to 100 people testified against the bills, while fewer than 10 testified in their favor. Representative Judith Day, the sole sponsor of the bills, tried to explain that her intent was to help—not harm—children in the state.
Proponents of the bills, including Day, claim that the state needs more data to make sure that all children are getting an adequate education.
Home School Legal Defense Association Staff Attorney Mike Donnelly provided the committee with preliminary findings from a forthcoming study by Dr. Brian Ray showing that New Hampshire homeschoolers perform better than their public school counterparts on standardized tests, and when compared to the scores of homeschooled students in more highly regulated states, New Hampshire homeschoolers’ scores are slightly higher, demonstrating that increased regulation does not produce better test results. Furthermore, Donnelly pointed out that no other state requires two annual evaluations.
The Education Committee met on March 5 in executive session and voted “ITL” (inexpedient to legislate) on H.R. 367 but retained H.R. 368 as a “vehicle” to continue studying the homeschool law in New Hampshire.
Donnelly stated that homeschoolers will continue to oppose these attempts to further regulate their liberty: “Since the system is working, it should be left alone.”
— by Michael P. Donnelly
