“A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO PERMIT HOME SCHOOL, CHARTER SCHOOL, AND PRIVATE SCHOOL
STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETICS AND TO
APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR THAT PURPOSE…”
Can be found here: http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/House/PDF/H2018v0.pdf
“Power to Adopt Eligibility Rules for Interscholastic Athletic Competition. – The State Board of Education may adopt rules governing interscholastic athletic activities conducted by local boards of education, including eligibility for student participation. Students attending home schools or other nonpublic schools shall be permitted to participate in interscholastic athletic activities in accordance with the requirements of G.S. 115C‑566.1; students attending charter schools shall be permitted to participate in interscholastic athletic activities in accordance with the requirements of G.S. 115C‑238.29L. The State Board of Education may authorize a designated organization to apply and enforce the Board’s rules governing participation in interscholastic athletic activities at the high school level.”…”
For the complete text of this bill please visit: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2009/Bills/Senate/HTML/S1410v0.html
By JENNIFER RADCLIFFE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
“More than 22,620 Texas secondary students who stopped showing up for class in 2008 were excluded from the state’s dropout statistics because administrators said they were being home-schooled, according to Texas Education Agency figures.
But that’s where the scrutiny of this growing population seems to end, leaving some experts convinced that schools are disguising thousands of middle and high school dropouts in this hands-off category.
While home-schooling’s popularity has increased, the rate of growth concentrated in Texas’ high school population is off the chart: It’s nearly tripled in the last decade, including a 24 percent jump in a single year.
“That’s just ridiculous,” said Brian D. Ray, founder of the National Home Education Research Institute. “It doesn’t sound very believable.”…”
For the complete article please visit: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6999109.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+houstonchronicle%2Ftopheadlines+%28chron.com+-+Top+Stories%29
Iowa’s Department of Education wants lawmakers to hold home school assistance programs more accountable and limit where those programs can use taxpayer dollars.
Home school assistance programs give students and parents access to certified teachers, materials and even some classes. Funding for those kinds of activities would remain the same. ….”
“A proposed policy revision in the Indian Prairie school district would require many home school students to repeat years of school to graduate with an Indian Prairie diploma.
In Monday’s school board meeting, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Nancy Valenta and School Improvement and Planning Director Mike Popp presented a policy revision that would require home school and private school students in District 204 to present proof that the school they transfer from is accredited before they can apply transferred credits to graduate from the district.
The revision, which would affect section 702.05 of the policy manual, would cut the first two sentences of the current policy, which state the district will accept credits awarded by home or private school. Credits currently transfer as pass-fail unless they have been accredited by an external agency.
A new sentence would be introduced which reads: “Credits and grades awarded by home school will not be reflected on the high school transcript unless the grades are certified by a district-approved external accrediting agency.”
Losing credits
The policy would effectively prevent home-schoolers from graduating in the district, said Chris Klicka, senior counsel at the Home School Legal Defense Association, a nonprofit home school advocacy organization. Many home-schoolers choose to teach at home because they oppose the accreditation process, and accreditation is also an added difficulty for the parent….”
For the complete text please visit: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/1586094,D204-Rule-changes-home-schoolers_na052109.article
Lumberton resident Sierra Smith, 27, said while she does consider it unusual that a school board member would not enroll his or her child in the district the trustee serves, she considers the issue to be a personal family matter.
“No, I wouldn’t think that someone would want to serve on a school board if they would rather home-school their kids but I don’t see how it’s anyone else’s business as long as they are doing a good job on the school board,” Smith said by phone Tuesday.
However, Franklin Kiser, 44, disagrees and said it sends the wrong message to the public.
“You tell me, Joe Citizen, how great Lumberton ISD is but it’s not good enough for your kid?” asked Kiser.
“If there is a reason then OK but it kind of looks bad.”
Lumberton school board member Peter Morrison says his 5-year-old, home-schooled son has a medical condition.
“He’s got severe asthma, and I’m thankful that my wife has her master’s degree in speech therapy and is able to stay at home and work with our children,” Morrison, 27, noted Tuesday in a written statement….”
For the complete text please visit: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/home-schooling_his_son_the_choice_of_lumberton_school_district_trustee_04-29-2009.html
“by Janet Schultz
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, February 21, 2009
The Lewiston-Porter Board of Education met Tuesday and heard about policies regarding home instruction and a plan to save $1.1 million in special education costs.
Because this was the first reading of the home schooling policies, no action was taken. The presentation, led by School Superintendent Christopher Roser and special education teacher Barbara Godshall, was the result of updating of state and local policies and procedures. While most policies are set by the state, the school does have some latitude in deciding on what services can be used by home-instructed students.
The board still has to act regarding home-instructed children’s use of school facilities, such as the pool, gym and library; borrowing of such items as computer hardware/software, library books and science equipment; and if home-instructed children will be allowed to take part in certain non-credited extracurricular activities….”
For the complete story please visit: http://www.wnypapers.com/news/2009/02/s21_homeschool.html
“…Another problem Pennsylvania parents are having with the Central Dauphin School District actually involves home schooling. According to the Home School Legal Defense Association, or HSLDA, parents who have chosen to educate their children from home have received unlawful treatment from Central Dauphin School District. The HSLDA reports that four families who are members of the association requested their assistance when they received letters from the Central Dauphin School District informing them they would need to stop homeschooling.
These four families had done everything required by law in order to be a homeschooling family. The official who made the decision that these families should not home school disagreed with their outlined curriculum objectives. However, the problem with this is that those objectives are not supposed to be used in determining a family’s eligibility to homeschool. The school district’s request for the family to submit revised objectives was actually a violation of the law. …”
For the complete text visit: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1063099/central_dauphin_school_district_in.html
INDIANAPOLIS — Democrat Richard Wood promised yesterday that if elected state superintendent of public instruction, he will stand up to lawmakers, the governor and the public to ask for more money for schools. But Republican Tony Bennett said if he wins on Nov. 4, he’ll stand up for taxpayers and heed concerns about the economy and property tax bills….
The debate also exposed differing views on home schooling. Both candidates said there were two kinds of home schools — those where parents are heavily involved in the education process and where students are learning well, and those where parents are simply trying to avoid attendance requirements or other rules.
To address that concern, Wood said he supports standardized testing for all home-schooled students to ensure they are learning and achieving.
“I think that it would be in our best interest — and I know there are many home-school parents who would disagree — but I believe if we are going to test our students in our traditional schools and our private schools, we should also test our home-school students,” he said.
Bennett did not address the issue of testing during the debate. But later he said he does not favor mandatory standardized tests for home-school students.
“It comes down to the fact that education is still the parents’ choice,” he said. “I believe if parents are doing the right job home-schooling their children, that is their responsibility and that’s their choice. If parents are not appropriately schooling their children, then it becomes the job of child protective services and law enforcement.”…”
For the complete article visit: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809260473
“By Greenhut, Steven
…California officials operate some of the worst education bureaucracies in the nation. Yet some officials here are concerned not so much with the government-run schools, but with the possibility that a fraction of the state’s students are being educated by their non-credentialed parents at home. This is the “let no flower bloom” approach to public policy, as government officials and public-sector unions react against small private successes in their midst, mainly, I suppose, because of the embarrassment it entails. If for a few bucks a year parents can teach kids who go on to excel in state tests, get accepted to Berkeley, and win spelling bees, then why can’t the professional “educators” do as well with $11,000 or more per student each year taken from taxpayers?
In California this issue of homeschooling had been dormant for about five years, after the current superintendent of public instruction overruled his predecessor’s policy of harassing homeschools. But a February ruling by the state district court of appeal brought back reminders of the bad old days after it ruled that “parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children. . . . Because parents have a legal duty to see to their children’s schooling within the provisions of these laws, parents who fail to do so may be subject … to imposition of fines or an order to complete a parent education and counseling program.” The court even issued a threat to parents that they could lose custody of their children if they persist in teaching them at home: “the juvenile court has authority to limit a parent’s control over a dependent child.”….”
For the complete article visit: http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/1492893/court_holds_californias_homeschoolers_in_suspense/