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| Date: From: Subject: | 2/23/2004 6:26:42 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Virginia--Old Prejudices Against Homeschooling Revealed in Hearing |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== February 23, 2004 Virginia--Old Prejudices Against Homeschooling Revealed in Hearing Dear HSLDA members and friends: Homeschool advocates and education "professionals" came head-to-head in a Virginia Senate Education Committee hearing last Thursday over H.B. 675, a bill that eliminates the baccalaureate degree requirement so that parents with a high school diploma can homeschool their children without arbitrary government supervision. HSLDA senior counsel Chris Klicka testified in favor of the bill, pointing out that according to studies, homeschool children whose parents have high school diplomas (but no college degree) score 20 to 35 points above the national average. Forty-nine states have abandoned any requirement for homeschoolers to have an education beyond high school, and Klicka emphasized that Virginia should focus on results, not qualifications. He further pointed out that Virginia already requires homeschoolers to be tested or evaluated each year. Since homeschooling parents with only high school diplomas have proven that their children score above average, Klicka urged H.B. 675 to be passed to end the discrimination against non- college graduates. HSLDA staff attorney Scott Woodruff offered testimony about the difficulty homeschoolers face in individual districts and said that at least 15 school districts in any given year cause trouble for homeschool parents with high school diplomas. Delegate Rob Bell, the sponsor of the bill testified that approximately 70 percent of parents in Virginia do not have a college degree and would be excluded from homeschooling under the current law without direct approval from the local superintendent of schools. In a previous hearing, opponents of the bill said that homeschoolers are below grade level when they re-enter the public school system. Anticipating this argument, lobbyist Joe Guarino with the Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV) testified that he spoke with several school districts and asked how many homeschoolers re-entered public school, and asked if there were any problems with homeschoolers. Each school district told him that they only had a small number of homeschoolers re-enter and there were no problems with the homeschooler's education. One woman told Guarino that she had beenwith the school for 30 years and had encountered no problems with homeschoolers' academics. Opponents of the bill testified against it but offered no proof of why the bill should be defeated. Instead, they relied on emotional arguments and anecdotes. Taking issue with HSLDA's statement that more regulation is not necessary for better education, Virginia Education Association president Jean Bankos told the committee: "You have a responsibility to make sure every child in the state gets the same education you would want for your child." When questioned whether results or regulation are more important in education, the VEA president stated that results are more important. A senator in favor of the bill then asked why she would oppose the bill when the studies show that homeschoolers are performing above average. Bankos avoided the question several times and failed to provide a logical response. State Secretary of Education Belle Wheelan said it would be a "travesty" to just let anyone be responsible for the education of a child. "Teaching is a profession," Wheelan said. "My own son graduated high school on a Tuesday. We didn't know until the preceding Friday that he was going to graduate. I wouldn't want him teaching any grandchildren I have. I love him dearly, but he's not qualified to do that," said Whelan. What Whelan failed to realize, in this statement, was that she was implicitly condemning the public education product. Whelan implied that twelve years of public education did not even give parents the ability to teach their own elementary student without direct supervision. Senator Richard Saslaw (D) attacked the studies provided by HSLDA during the hearing by pointing out that of course homeschoolers perform above average because most homeschool families are stable, middle-class, two-parent families. Regardless, he failed to offer any legitimate reason why these children need more regulation. Instead he offered a story from his personal experience of a public school that had trouble with homeschoolers coming back into the system. Rep. Bell quickly countered this argument by sharing that his nephew, a homeschool student, had attended and graduated with honors from the very school Sen. Saslow mentioned. "The opponents of H.B. 675 didn't want to be confused by the facts," said Chris Klicka. "They just did not think parents with high school diplomas were smart enough to teach their children without government supervision." Senator Russ Potts made good on his promise to HSLDA and voted in favor of the bill, to the surprise of many people. When put to the vote, H.B. 675 failed to pass out of committee by a tie vote of 7-7. One of the supporters of the bill was sick and not able to vote by proxy. Although the opponents immediately tried to kill the bill for good, Sen. Potts allowed the bill to be brought up again and passed over until a later date. We expect that this bill will pass the Education Committee this Thursday morning without additional testimony. The expectation is that that Sen. Houck will join in favor of the bill to vote it out of committee. To view a copy of Attorney Klicka's testimony, click here: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=1345 Sincerely, Chris Klicka Senior Counsel Home School Legal Defense Association {{JoinAd}} ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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