Carefully monitored by home schoolers and other conservative leaders, this Congress’ vocational education legislation culminated in H.R. 1853, the Carl Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act, which passed Congress and was signed by the President. Many feared this bill would be the first step in pushing home and private school students into a government-supervised, School-to-Work framework for their education. However, this is not the case.
At the insistence of the National Center for Home Education and other conservative groups, the Education Committee of the House and Senate have worked to add to the bill language which would protect all individuals, including home educated students. The following sections, drafted by HSLDA legal staff, were approved by Congress and are now part of the law.
SEC. 5. PRIVACY.
“(b) PROHIBITION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NATIONAL DATABASE.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to permit the development of a national database of personally identifiable information on individuals receiving services under this Act.”
SEC. 6. LIMITATION.
“All funds made available under this Act shall be used in accordance with the requirements of this Act. None of the funds made available under this Act may be used to provide funding under the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 (20 U.S.C. 6101 et. seq.) or to carry out, through programs funded this Act, activities that were funded under the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994, unless the programs funded under this Act serve only those participants eligible to participate in the programs of this Act.
SEC. 113. ACCOUNTABILITY.
“(iv) ROLE OF THE SECRETARY.ūThe role of the Secretary in the agreement described in clauses (iii) and (v) is limited to reaching agreement on the percentage of students who attain the State levels of performance.” [NOTE: This section specifically limits the power of the US Secretary of Education (and his agents) to use this law to impose additional regulation on the states and citizens who are effected by this law.]
SEC. 313. CONSTRUCTION.
“Nothing in this Act shall be construed to permit, allow, encourage, or authorize any Federal control over any aspect of a private, religious, or home school regardless of whether a home school is treated as a private school or home school under State law.”
SEC. 314 VOLUNTARY SELECTION AND PARTICIPATION.
“No funds made available under this Act shall be used—(1) to require any secondary school student to choose or pursue a specific career path or major; and (2) to mandate that any individual participate in a vocational education program, including a vocational education program that requires the attainment of a federally funded skill level or standard; or (3) to require any individual to obtain a federally funded or an endorsed certificate of mastery.”
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