Missouri Homeschoolers Under Attack In Missouri Legislature Again
Earlier reports by Lisa Naeger, Dana Loesch and Tere Scott (from the St. Louis Examiner) provided information on several homeschool related bills being introduced by the Missouri General Assembly this session, including one introduced by Missouri Representative Lampe of the 138th district. Both FHE and HSLDA have both issued alerts on HB 1543 (links can be found below).
In keeping with my desire to represent the broad and diverse members of the homeschool community I will try to keep the information current from all groups that ask to have their information and links included.
The following are links to sites where information about the 2010 legislation can be found:
Links to the actual individual bills on the Missouri General Assembly site:
HB 1297 - This bill would lower the age when a child must start attending school from 7 to 6 years of age and would require, beginning in the 2010 school year, all schools have a full-day kindergarten program.
HB 1504 - This bill expands eligibility for the Missouri Returning Heroes' Education Act scholarship and specifies that homeschooled students must receive the same financial aid consideration as non-homeschooled students. Registration would be required for a homeschooler, prior to graduation, in order to be eligible.
HB 1543 - While the bill's title indicates that it deals with changing the laws regarding school employee liability, safety practices, and reporting acts of violence, this bill is an omnibus bill and is incorporating many education issues. Representative Lampe and others are trying to use this bill as a vehicle to add changes to the homeschool law as well.
SB 688 - This act would require the parent, guardian, or other person responsible for a child enrolled in a home school to notify the chief school officer of the child's school district of residence that the child is enrolled in a home school.
SB 788 - This act establishes the "Students First Interscholastic Athletics Act." It would allow every high school-age student the opportunity to participate in interscholastic athletics. This would include students enrolled in public, private, the Missouri Virtual Instruction Program, or a home school regardless of their background and education program. A high school-age student would have the right to seek participation in interscholastic athletics through his or her school. If the school does not offer athletics (as a homeschool most likely would not), the student would be allowed to participate through his or her school district of residence if the student has registered to participate prior.
HB 2067 - A companion bill to SB 688, this act would require the parent, guardian, or other person responsible for a child enrolled in a home school to notify the chief school officer of the child's school district of residence that the child is enrolled in a home school.
SB 976 - This act allows Missouri to apply for federal Race to the Top Funds. This funding would mandate Missouri's compliance to common standards through a states' consortium. The legislation also gives the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, control over state education through broad reaching regulation capacity. While homeschooling is not expressly mentioned, many homeschoolers accross the country have expressed concerns that this may ultimately lead to mandates for homeschoolers, in particular, compliance with national standards being adopted.
Duncan's Homeschool Policy Recommendation. Arne Duncan, strongly supports registration and monitoring of homeschoolers, including compliance with state standards and testing. For more information on recently recommended homeschooling policies in 2006 for the state of Illinois, go to this Illinois policy recommendation document.