senior counsel dee black retires federal student tracking

Transcription

HSLDA
®
VOL. 31, NO. 4
{THE HOME SCHOOL COURT REPORT }
FOURTH QUARTER 2015
SENIOR COUNSEL
DEE BLACK RETIRES
FEDERAL STUDENT
TRACKING DEFEATED
HOW WILL
sHE MAKE A
DIFFERENCE?
The Bible tells us that in the last days, people will be
selfish, abusive, ungrateful, slanderous, and without
love (1 Timothy 3). She sees it every day on the TV
programs she watches, in the news she hears, and
in what she reads on the Internet. Will she grow up
to become salt and light to the world or merely part
of the problem?
Prepare your children to make a real difference in
the lives of others by teaching them to see the world
around them through the unerring lens of God’s Word.
Give them a strong foundation and clear biblical
worldview with the What We Believe curriculum.
Beautifully illustrated and written in a conversational
style, the What We Believe series makes the study
of God’s Word exciting and memorable for boys
and girls of all ages. Through engaging stories and
creative notebooking journals, your kids will develop
a generous heart and courageous spirit to share the
love of God with a world in need.
Recommended by
CHUCK
COLSON
on BreakPoint
“Excellent, Bible-rich worldview curriculum.”
World Magazine
“Absolutely wonderful!”
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
“A fantastic and much-needed resource. I’m looking
forward to taking my own kids through these
valuable lessons.”
Sean McDowell
in partnership with
Junior
NOTEBOOK JOURNALS
& AUDIO VERSIONS
TOO!
summit.org
VISIT APOLOGIA.COM OR CALL 1-888-524-4724
FOURTH QUARTER 2015
{ Table of Contents }
FEATURES
COVER STORY The growing problem of
homeschool discrimination & what we’re
doing about it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
SPECIAL FEATURE Senior Counsel Dee
Black retires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
FREEDOM WATCH Federal student
tracking defeated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
COLUMNS &
DEPARTMENTS
LIBERTY’S CALL Generation Joshua
student wins distinguished award . . . . . . . . . . 29
HSLDA STORE Student and teacher
photo IDs • High school transcript service
• 2016 Graduation gear • 10% discount . . . . . . . 4
FROM THE HEART Hard times made
easier • Get/Give support • From the
director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
ACROSS THE STATES
• Arizona, California, Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
• Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
• Hawaii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
• Illinois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
• Indiana, Kentucky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
• Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi . . . . . . . 17
• New Hampshire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
• New York, Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
• Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
• Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
• South Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
•
Tennessee, Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
• Utah, Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
• West Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
• Wyoming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
ACTIVE CASES Missouri—Nixon v.
Sauer (amicus brief) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
THE INSIDE SCOOP Anunciando: ¡Uno,
Duos, Tres! • Member thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
ABOUT CAMPUS Jack Haye: New
president of Patrick Henry College . . . . . . . . . 36
THE LAST WORD Why teach
government? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
AND THE REST
A CONTRARIO SENSU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
GOOD TO KNOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
HSLDA LEGAL INQUIRIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
HSLDA SPEAKING LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
PENDING CASES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
ADVERTISER’S INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
®
Publisher HSLDA
Chairman Michael P. Farris, JD, LLM
President J. Michael Smith, Esq.
Editor Suzanne Stephens
Assistant Editors Grace Matte, Peter
Schellhase, Jonathan Bales, Ethan Weitz
Graphic Designers Todd Metzgar, Keith
Ludlow
HSLDA Attorneys Michael P. Farris, J. Michael
Smith, Dewitt T. Black III, Scott A. Woodruff,
Darren A. Jones, James R. Mason III, Thomas
J. Schmidt, Michael P. Donnelly, William A.
Estrada, Peter K. Kamakawiwoole
Address P.O. Box 3000,
Purcellville, VA 20134
Shipping Address One Patrick Henry Circle,
Phone 540-338-5600
Fax 540-338-2733
Website hslda.org
Email [email protected]
Disclaimer The articles contained in this
publication have been prepared for and are
intended to provide information that may
be useful to members of the Home School
Legal Defense Association. The Association
does not necessarily warrant this information. The reader must evaluate this information in light of the unique circumstances of
any particular situation and must determine
independently the applicability of this information thereto.
Copyright © 2016 by Home School Legal
Defense Association.
The Home School Court Report (ISSN 15393747) (USPS 020294) is published quarterly
by Home School Legal Defense Association,
One Patrick Henry Circle, Purcellville, VA
20132-3197. Periodical postage paid at
Purcellville, VA, and additional entries.
Postmaster: Send address changes to The
Home School Court Report, P.O. Box 3000,
Purcellville, VA 20134-9000.
11
27
Scripture Version Unless otherwise noted,
all Scripture quotations are from the NKJV.
COVER: © THOBURNILLUSTRATIONS.COM
Columnists The views of guest columnists do
not necessarily reflect the views of HSLDA.
Article Submissions See Court Report guidelines at hslda.org/articleguidelines.
6
32
FOURTH QUARTER 2015 • THE HOME SCHOOL COURT REPORT
34
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4
THE HOME SCHOOL COURT REPORT • FOURTH QUARTER 2015
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{ COVER STORY }
EPHANIE BARNES was born in Brazil and came to the United States when she was 11.
At that time she spoke no English, and her mother had misgivings about the education
she would receive in the public school system. They decided to homeschool instead, and
Jephanie graduated in 2007.
Recently, Jephanie decided to work toward a professional license in phlebotomy. If
you’ve ever donated blood or had a sample taken for medical testing, you were assisted
by a phlebotomist—a career not for the faint of heart! Jephanie enrolled in a professional
school for the required coursework and training. After passing her classes, she applied for a
certification from the California Department of Public Health (DPH).
Along with other paperwork, the DPH requires aspiring phlebotomists to submit a high
school transcript. Jephanie included a copy of her homeschool transcript. The DPH sent her a
letter rejecting her application, explaining that she had not sent an “accredited” transcript—
that it did not show that her homeschool curriculum had been certified by the state.
In California, homeschools are classified as private schools, but no state requires or provides
“accreditation” for homeschool programs.
Rather than accepting her valid transcript, the DPH wanted Jephanie to prove she was
educated—by taking the GED. “I didn’t think it was fair that I had to take the GED,” Jephanie
says, “even though I had a high school diploma. It’s like having a high school diploma means
nothing.”
Jephanie’s run-in with the DPH ended in victory. At a hearing to appeal the health department’s rejection, HSLDA threatened to take the DPH to court and obtain a judgment against
them because what they were doing was clearly discriminatory. Rather than face costly litigation, the health department knuckled under and granted Jephanie’s certificate.
“While we were able to help Jephanie, we are unfortunately still having issues with the DPH
phlebotomy program,” says HSLDA attorney Darren Jones. “I am assisting another homeschool
graduate who has run into the same roadblock.”
It’s not just aspiring phlebotomists. Californian HANNAH JOHNSON also faced a challenge to her homeschool transcript when applying to college. “I applied to the University of
California at Santa Cruz and was accepted, but there were a few conditions that they give upon
acceptance—you have to send transcripts and test scores,” she says. “So my mom put together
a transcript—we are registered as our own private school—and we emailed it in before the
deadline.”
Checking on the student portal a few days after the deadline to see the status of her application, Hannah was shocked to see that her acceptance had been withdrawn. The portal indicated
that she hadn’t provided her transcript on time. She knew this wasn’t the case. But when she
called UC Santa Cruz, nobody could give her a straight answer.
6
© THOBURNILLUSTRATIONS.COM
CONFUSED COLLEGE POLICIES LEAD TO MISTREATMENT
BY PETER SCHELLHASE
with reporting by Ethan Weitz
7
“I had a lot of conversations with the administration, but we
would get contradictory feedback,” Hannah remembers. “One
person said that it was because we had emailed the transcript;
another person said that we had to go through the state and have
a legal thing that shows we can send in a transcript ourselves—
because, I guess, they didn’t believe that we were our own school.”
At this point, Hannah and her mother contacted HSLDA and
spoke with legal assistant Melissa Covey, who assured them that
they had in fact done everything correctly. Covey advised Hannah on how to craft an appeal letter to the university, and also
provided a letter from HSLDA President Mike Smith explaining
the homeschool law. Soon Hannah’s admission was reinstated.
“I was sitting in my office when Hannah’s thank-you email
came in, saying that she had been reinstated,” Covey recalls. “UC
Santa Cruz has strict enrollment standards, and we weren’t sure
whether she would get in. I believe God was blessing our efforts.”
What happened at UC Santa Cruz may have been the result
of academic officials unfamiliar with homeschooling trying to
figure out policies for homeschooled students on the fly. But
Hannah’s story is not an isolated occurence.
FLORIDA COLLEGE CHOKES ON DIPLOMA
In Florida, a rising baseball star’s dreams were almost
dashed when a college balked at his homeschool diploma.
Anna Baker* is a homeschooling mother who, in addition to
teaching her own children, helped mentor RAMÓN DÍAZ*,
a family friend, through high school. Ramón’s parents do not
speak English, so Anna helped them enroll Ramón in HomeLife
Academy, a private umbrella school popular among Florida
families who homeschool. Throughout Ramón’s education she
served as an advocate for Ramón and a liaison between his
family and the school.
Ramón received several baseball scholarship offers from colleges. One college offered him a full-ride scholarship. But during
the application process, the department of admissions told him
he could not be admitted because, they said, “we don’t recognize
your diploma.”
This was a surprise to Anna and their families.
“We did everything right,” Anna says. “Ramón had plenty of
credits, all the classes the college was asking for, good grades, so
why wouldn’t they want to accept him?”
Anna tried to inform the college about how homeschool
graduates were accepted by colleges all over the country. “I told
them about lots of different schools, larger schools that accept
homeschool graduates, and they didn’t care.”
Ramón and his family were very upset, and so was the college’s baseball coach, who had been looking forward to working
with him. The coach was reluctantly about to release him so he
could apply to another school’s baseball program.
——————————
* Names changed to protect client privacy.
8
At this point, the families contacted HSLDA. Staff attorney Tj
Schmidt made a single phone call to the college to ask about the
situation.
“It’s funny,” Anna says. “As soon as the attorney gave the college a phone call they said, ‘Oh, we don’t have a problem with
it!’—and they let him in at that point. In fact, they even claimed
they never denied [him].”
When we last spoke with Anna, Ramón was home on break
from his first semester of college, where everything has been
going well for him, thanks to his hard work, Anna’s persistence,
and the timely help of HSLDA.
WHAT IS HOME
DISCRIMINATIO
A
few decades ago, we’d just have assumed that
stories like these happened because the officials
involved had never heard of homeschooling. But
homeschooling has come a long way in the past
40 years. Once unrecognized by most states and often harshly
prosecuted, homeschooling families now enjoy legal recognition
in all 50 states and U.S. territories. They are accepted by their
families and neighbors, have strong support networks, and can
access a host of resources to match every family’s priorities and
every child’s unique needs and learning style.
Homeschooling families are still a small segment of the
population, but their numbers are growing fast. Their shared
commitment to providing the best individual education for
their children transcends all socioeconomic barriers. Today,
it’s statistically probable that most people know someone who
homeschools.
Given all this legal and social progress, and the good reputation homeschool graduates have earned in higher education,
the workforce, and their communities, it’s surprising that many
public school officials, employers, military recruiters, and
educational institutions continue to show ignorance or hostility
toward homeschool graduates.
This is where HSLDA comes in. Since our founding in
1983, HSLDA HAS BEEN AN ADVOCATE FOR HOMESCHOOLING FAMILIES. Our work falls into three major
categories. The first is legal protection and advocacy.
Over the past 33 years HSLDA has worked to improve the legal
climate for homeschooling through strategic legislation, litigation, and defending our members’ individual rights whenever
threatened.
Our second focus of service is the rich array of guidance
and resources we provide for homeschooling parents,
including free educational consultants for our members, a
FIGURE 1 HSLDA LEGAL INQUIRIES IN 2015
plethora of online resources, and discounts on products and
Discrimination
services that homeschooling families often find useful.
9%
Social services
School district
Since our founding, we’ve successfully established the legal
or truancy
10%
foundations for homeschooling, winning valuable precedents in
5%
Legislation
high-profile court cases. Bureaucrats fear us. A politely worded
3%
letter from HSLDA is usually enough to stop government
harassment of our members. But over the past few years, we’ve
heard from more and more homeschool families and graduates
10%
who are experiencing a different kind of opposition.
Other
In recent years, a third focus has emerged in our work—
16,000+
TOTAL
fighting discrimination
against homeschool
graduates. Now it’s not a
63%
question of whether parents
will be allowed to teach
General legal
questions
their children at home, but,
more frequently than we
would like, it's a question
of whether their well-qualified graduates will be able to attend
the college of their choice, get a job, or enlist in the military.
Additionally, homeschooling families are often treated with sus- FIGURE 2 DISCRIMINATION INQUIRIES
picion or stonewalled when they apply for public benefits they
REQUIRING HSLDA'S INTERVENTION
are entitled to, such as Social Security or veterans’ survivorship
Employment & professional
and disability benefits.
54
Benefits
In the past year alone, HSLDA assisted our members with
Military & law
withheld
132
enforcement
512 instances of discrimination, and provided thousands
50
more with assistance and information related to homeschool
discrimination.
Public
FIGURE 1 represents every time a member contacted HSLDA
school
about a legal issue in 2015—over 16,000 contacts in all! The larg44
access
est category, as always, is simple legal inquiries, which can range
512
from general questions about what paperwork to file to specific
TOTAL
questions having to do with a family’s particular educational
needs.
The second-largest category deals with situations where
232
school districts or police are questioning or interfering with a
Higher
family’s right to homeschool.
education
The third most common category is homeschool discrimination. We’ve broken down this category further by the most common types of discrimination in FIGURE 2.
Two hundred thirty-two instances of discrimination involved
post-secondary education—mostly instances in which a parentarmed forces, as well as a handful seeking careers in law enforceissued diploma was challenged by a college admissions officer.
ment. Discrimination against homeschool graduates is a major
Other homeschool graduates faced difficulty when applying to
problem in a number of state police agencies across the nation.
technical institutes or cosmetology school.
We also assisted 44 families who were legally entitled to
Social Security and other public benefits were threatened or
public school programs—from educational evaluations to sports
withheld from 132 families because they were homeschooling
participation.
their children and the students were not enrolled in a traditional
These problems don’t seem to be going away, and despite our
school.
victories in state and federal legislatures, most of these issues are
We helped 44 graduates who wanted to enlist in our nation’s
local and require specific local intervention in each case.
ESCHOOL
ON?
9
WHEN BENEFITS ARE WITHHELD
A major category of discrimination that HSLDA members
encounter on a regular basis is the withdrawal of benefits—
Social Security, veterans benefits, or child support—to which
a child is entitled until he or she graduates from high school.
These benefits are sometimes withdrawn from homeschooled
teens, either after the teen reaches age 12—the compulsory
school attendance limit in many states—or age 18, the age of
majority. In both of these cases, a teen who is enrolled in high
school is still eligible to receive benefits. But because the teen is
not enrolled in a public school, officials often assume that he or
she is not attending school at all. HSLDA is involved in dozens
of ongoing lawsuits against the Social Security Administration,
the Department of Veterans Affairs, and various state agencies
to restore benefits due homeschooled teens.
These cases often take a while to resolve, even when our client
finally prevails, and even then it may take months or even years
for the benefits to be restored. As you can imagine, this often
creates difficult and unexpected financial strain on families who
already struggle due to the disability or loss of a parent.
DEENA MOONEY is the mother of one such teen. When her
daughter’s father died in an accident, the young woman became
eligible to receive Social Security benefits. But because the Texas
teen was homeschooled, the benefits were discontinued when
© TH OB UR
NI LL US TR
AT IO NS .CO
M
she turned 18, even though she was still in school.
“When I sent them the document showing my daughter was
still in school, they tried to say our umbrella school was not an
accredited school, even though we had documents proving it
was,” Deena says. (Even if the umbrella school was not accredited, all homeschools are considered valid private schools under
Texas law, and documentation of this fact should have been
enough to prove eligibility.)
Most of HSLDA’s Social Security benefits cases are a matter of filing the right paperwork and patiently waiting for the
benefits to be restored. The Mooneys’ case was more difficult
to resolve. Their initial appeal was denied, and attorney Peter
Kamakawiwoole had to fly to Texas for an appeal hearing with
an administrative law judge. The judge agreed with the family
and ordered the benefits restored in a hearing that lasted less
than five minutes.
“While we appreciate that the judge found for the family so
quickly, it’s unfortunate that it took the Social Security Administration 16 months of deliberation, three rounds of paperwork filings, and finally the decision from the administrative law judge,
——————————
Continued on page 31
In 2015,
HSLDA assisted
members with
512
instances of
discrimination.
10
{ From the Heart }
Hard times
made easier
by Ricci Black
A Home School Foundation grant
recipient family recently wrote, “We
were unable to afford curriculum. The van
needed new wipers, the driver’s door
wouldn’t close, the tires were
unsafe; we needed groceries,
and a tree was ready to fall
on our house. Our state
HSF ambassador learned
about us and arranged for
assistance. . . . We are so
grateful.”
Established in 2008 to bring
aid to hard-pressed homeschooling families through community involvement, the
HSF Ambassador Program now has over
70 ambassadors in 37 states. These caring
volunteers identify and interview struggling families, raise funds, and implement
service projects to help them.
A North Carolina family writes: “This
past year was the hardest year our family
has ever experienced. Curriculum
costs seemed insurmountable. A
kind friend told our state ambassador about us. Our children are
now in their third week of school and
excited about the year to come.”
The Avilez family is grateful, too. “Five
years ago I broke my neck, and my wife
and 3 children visited me in ICU for
months. We continued to homeschool,
but it’s been so tough. Ambassadors from
California and Florida worked together
to help with medical bills. God is getting glory from our story.”
The Blackstones in
Massachusetts are excited
that their son Jordan will
soon get a “seizure dog”
after receiving financial
assistance through the
Ambassador Program. The
service animal “will be continually at Jordan’s side and warn us when
he is about to have a seizure, helping
us keep him safer,” they write. “Thanks
to HSF and community generosity, we
plan to meet our new canine friend
sooner than later, perhaps in time for
Christmas!”
Another family in Massachusetts
thanked us for helping them through
{GET / GIVE SUPPORT }
>> For more details on how you can help,
please call HSF at 540-338-8688, visit
homeschoolfoundation.org, or email
[email protected].
>> If you are a federal
®
employee or a member
of the military, make
HSF the beneficiary of
your Combined Federal Campaign
donation. HSF’s CFC number is 10535.
For more details, visit opm.gov/cfc.
The Blackstone family
will soon receive a
service dog who can
provide an early alert
for their son’s seizures.
their hard times. “Our 16-year old daughter has a suspicious lump in her breast.
My four children were diagnosed with
Celiac disease. We had no money for curriculum, but our ambassador arranged
for help with medical bills and pointed us
to HSF curriculum grants. We know the
Lord is faithful.”
In order to meet needs like these, we
need many more ambassadors. To learn
more about becoming an HSF Ambassador, visit homeschoolfoundation.org/
volunteer. n
Ricci Black coordinates the Home School
Foundation Ambassador program.
FROM THE DIRECTOR
“Blessed is the one who considers
the poor! In the day of trouble the
LORD delivers him; the LORD protects
him and keeps him alive; he is called
blessed in the land.” (Psalm 41:1–2 ESV)
HSF’s Ambassador Program
focuses on
helping the
poor, specifically on the
poor within the
homeschool
community. We
HSF Director
attend to their
Chuck Hurst
pressing needs
with two goals in mind: to help them
continue homeschooling, and to help
them see God’s gracious care for
their families.
It’s extremely gratifying
when those we help recognize
God’s provision behind our
assistance. We don’t want our
work to be the focus.
Thank you to each one of
you who has given, prayed,
or volunteered to help HSF
as we reach out to show
God’s love. May you also be
“blessed in the land.”
© HSLDA / ART COX
THE HOME SCHOOL FOUNDATION
11
LEGAL & LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
{ Across the States }
ARIZONA
Leveling the path
into law
enforcement
CALIFORNIA
Homeschool
graduate’s dream
restored
by Thomas J. Schmidt
by J. Michael Smith
Over the summer, Arizona Fami lies for Home Education (AFHE)
and Home School Legal Defense Association learned that homeschool graduates
applying to work in
law enforcement
were being told they
must have an
accredited diploma
or a GED. But AriArizona
zona law doesn’t
actually say that the
diploma must be accredited. All that is
required is that the applicant “be a high
school graduate or have successfully completed a General Education Development
(G.E.D.) examination.”
With the help of a past AFHE Board
member who now works in the Arizona
Peace Officer Standards and Training
Board (POST), HSLDA Staff Attorney Tj
Schmidt contacted an assistant attorney
general at Arizona POST. Schmidt argued
that homeschooling is a legal option under
Arizona law, and that there was nothing
in the law that compelled POST to require
an accredited diploma.
In later conversations with POST, Tj provided examples of what other states have
done when homeschool graduates apply for
civil service jobs. At this time there is talk
of a new policy being proposed in Arizona
by the state department of education. Both
HSLDA and AFHE are following this situation closely to ensure that homeschool
students are treated fairly. We hope that we
will soon be able to report more positive
treatment of homeschool graduates seeking
law enforcement jobs.
Imagine a homeschool graduate’s
disappointment when, after
dreaming for years of attending a college
and finally being accepted, she was told
that she would be
denied enrollment
because of her transcript! This recently
happened to one
homeschool graduCalifornia
ate when she was
accepted to the
University of California at Santa Cruz.
The University reversed its admission
decision and insisted that the applicant
12
{ A CONTRARIO SENSU }
provide an official high school transcript
from the California Board of Education.
However, the California Board of
Education does not have the authority
to issue transcripts for homeschooled
students. In California, homeschools
operate as private schools. Private school
personnel—including homeschooling
parents—are authorized to issue transcripts for all students enrolled in their
private school. Public schools do not
have any authority over the activities of
private schools—including the issuance
of transcripts.
A member of Home School Legal
Defense Association, the graduate’s
mother called our legal department right
away. Mike Smith, our contact attorney
for California, wrote a letter to the
school to explain that no such transcript
was needed under state or federal law.
In addition, the graduate sent her own
letter appealing the university’s decision.
Upon receiving these letters, the university reinstated her.
Fighting discrimination against homeschool graduates is an important part
of HSLDA’s mission. We encourage our
members to call us if they encounter similar difficulties. (See cover story, page 6.)
on the other hand
Send us your story about why
homeschooling is the best!
We are always looking for warm
anecdotes and true stories to
illustrate homeschooling’s humorous
or poignant moments.
All material printed in the Court
Report will be credited, and the
contributor will receive a $10 coupon
for the HSLDA Store. Submissions may
be edited for space. Please be aware
that we cannot return photographs.
Mail submissions to:
Stories, HSLDA
P.O. Box 3000
Or email us (include “Stories” in the
subject line) at:
[email protected]
FLORIDA
False report leads
to DCF investigation
A Home School Legal Defense
Association member family in
southern Florida received a knock at
their door from a caseworker with the
Department of
Children and Families (DCF), who
said she had
received a report
that the mother was
Florida
a hoarder and had
locked her son in
her van for over five hours. The mother,
who had two daughters—and no son—
immediately contacted HSLDA’s legal
department for assistance.
HSLDA Staff Attorney Peter Kamakawiwoole informed our member of
her rights at the door and coached her
through the situation. She let the caseworker see her two daughters from the
front step and verify that she was not a
hoarder. Even though the caseworker
commented on the beautiful yard and
exterior of the house, she insisted that she
must come in to investigate the report.
After discussing this situation with
Kamakawiwoole, our member decided
not to let the caseworker into her home.
The caseworker said that DCF would have
to come back.
A few days later, our member contacted us for more help in getting this
matter resolved. She informed us that
the report was likely due to complications with recent repairs on her home.
The subcontractor doing the work had
incorrectly installed the air conditioning
unit. The family had to have the general
contractor send a different subcontractor
to repair all of the issues from the original installation. The mother suspected
that the first subcontractor, resenting
being forced to pay for all of these follow
up repair visits, had retaliated by making a false report to DCF.
When another caseworker came to the
family’s home several days later, HSLDA
Staff Attorney Tj Schmidt was able to
help our member explain what was probably behind the situation. Although the
caseworker wasn’t happy about not being
allowed in the home, he eventually left.
He later informed the mother that he
would be closing the case.
When the family heard nothing for
over a month, the mother contacted us
again. Schmidt contacted the regional
DCF client service manager about her
case. Shortly afterwards, the mother
finally received written confirmation
that her case had been closed.
* See “HSLDA social services contact
policy,” page 25.
GEORGIA
HSLDA sorts out
tech school
admission snag
by Dewitt T. Black
Home School Legal Defense
Association recently assisted an
applicant to the phlebotomy program at
Savannah Technical College after the
school refused her
admission as a
homeschool graduate. The school’s
published policy
for homeschool
Georgia
graduates states
that they must submit a certificate of attendance from the
local public school superintendent, verifying that their parents filed a declaration of intent to homeschool and submitted the required attendance records
each month. Although the law in effect
Support homeschooling
when you shop online.
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2
VISIT hslda.org/clicks4hs
PICK a
retailer
3
4
CLICK
the link
SHOP as usual
Online retailers give a portion of your purchase
to the Home School Foundation, helping homeschoolers in need.
13
study program, the student’s full-time
at the time that the applicant was being
or part-time status, the student’s grades,
taught in a home study program
or any other required educational
required her parents to file this docuinformation.” The applicant’s parents
mentation with the local superintenhad already submitted all of the records
dent, the superintendent’s office
from her home study program to the
informed her that these records were no
tech school, including her high school
longer available. That’s when she sought
diploma.
help from HSLDA.
Within a week of receiving HSLDA’s
HSLDA Senior Counsel Dewitt Black
letter, the director of admissions at the
sent a letter to the director of admisªTechnical College
tech school called the applicant and
sions at Savannah
advised her that she could be admitted
and told her that, during the time of
to the phlebotomy program.
the applicant’s homeschooling, state
States
represented
in
law did not require local boards of
current enrollment
education to retain records from a home
HAWAII
study program for any length of time.
In the absence of such records, it was
impossible for the applicant to obtain
Student–Faculty ratio
a certificate of attendance from the
local board. Further, Black pointed out
that the homeschool law, as changed
by Peter K. Kamakawiwoole
in 2013, now states that “[t]he parent
As a general rule, when homeor guardian shall have the authority to
schooling families in Hawaii receive
execute any document required by law,
a letter from their school district over the
rule, regulation, or policy to evidence
summer, it means one of two things: their
the enrollment of a child in a home
notice of intentPHC.EDU
has been received, or the
school wants more
information so that
their notice of intent
can be marked as
received.
Hawaii
But there are
exceptions to every
rule. Last summer, one homeschooling
family received a letter notifying them
that the public school’s registrar had unilaterally reassigned their child to a higher
grade than indicated on the family’s
notice of intent.
of The
students
receive
school claimed that “homeschooling
scholarships
guidelines” required that students of a
certain age be placed in 8th grade.
When the family contacted Home
SchoolBooks
Legal Defense
Association for
Great
read in
assistance,
we
clarified
the core curriculumthat state law not
only asks parents to supply their child’s
grade on their notice of intent, but also
recognizes that parents are responsible for
their child’s “total educational program.”
HSLDA then worked with the family
to craft a response to the school district,
which explained the law and challenged
classical Christian liberal arts
47
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91%
Registrar reassigns
student to
higher grade
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the school district to identify the “homeschooling guidelines” they were relying
on. Upon receiving this response, the registrar corrected the student’s grade level
to reflect the parents’ choice, as stated in
their letter of intent.
ILLINOIS
Officer gives
family intrusive
questionnaire
by Scott A. Woodruff
Before the 2014–2015 school year
began, a Quincy area Home
School Legal Defense Association member family withdrew their child from
public school in
order to homeschool him. Not
long afterward, a
truant officer came
to their house. He
Illinois
said he was just
checking on the
child since the family’s homeschool program was not registered with the state.
The family explained that homeschooling
families are not required to register, and
the truant officer said he knew that.
The officer then handed the family
a questionnaire to answer. Its selfdescribed purpose was to determine
whether the family’s program was “at
least commensurate with the standards
of public schools.” It asked what the
parents’ education level was, whether
their child had been classified as a special
education student, how many minutes of
instruction they provided daily, and what
subjects they were teaching their child.
It also asked for any other information
that might be helpful “in determining
the success of your child.” And the end
of the form stated, “After reviewing your
response, or lack thereof, to this inquiry,
a determination will be made as to
whether or not your child is in compliance with the compulsory attendance
laws.”
Concerned that the form demanded
far more information and asserted much
more authority than allowed under the
state law, the family asked HSLDA for
help. After discussing the situation with
HSLDA Senior Counsel Scott Woodruff,
they decided to ignore the form.
In a letter to the truant officer,
Woodruff explained that public schools
have no jurisdiction over private schools,
and that private schools are not required
to provide education “commensurate”
with public schools. (Illinois regards
homeschools as a species of private
school.) He noted that “the success of the
child” is not a legally relevant question
in determining whether the child’s atten-
dance at a public or private school satisfies compulsory attendance. Woodruff
pointed out that it would violate due
process principles for the agency to take
action against the family merely because
they chose to ignore the questionnaire.
He suggested that the officer close his file.
The family heard nothing further from
the truant officer.
* See “A plethora of forms,” page 25.
Homeschooled teen
immigrants denied
work permits
on the other hand
Our little Dr. Dolittle
While visiting the Atlanta Zoo with
another homeschooling family, our
group came upon a new animal that we
hadn’t seen at the zoo before. The other
mom and I were discussing what the
animal was, since we couldn’t see any
sign on the fence to identify it. My son,
6 years old at the time, walked up and
politely told us the name of the animal
and all about it. When we walked around
the corner, we discovered a sign with all
the information on the animal, confirming my son’s description. He told me if I
needed any more information about any
of the animals to just let him know! I’m
happy to say that my animal-loving son is
graduating from high school this year.
Kim S. / Ringgold, GA
If only we were . . .
My 5-year-old daughter was working
on her memory verse, Ephesians 6:1. She
recited not-quite-correctly, “Children,
obey your parents in the Lord, for they
are right.”
I laughed and asked her, “Am I always
right?”
She replied, “No. I wondered why it
would say that!”
Jessica T. / Appleton, WI
An Illinois member family who
had emigrated from India encountered unusual difficulties when their
teenage daughters tried to get work permits under the federal “Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals” program.
In order to obtain a work permit under
this program, a student must prove that
he or she is enrolled in school. But when
these homeschooled teens applied for
work permits, the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (CIS) questioned
whether they were really enrolled in
school.
CIS told the family that the application
they had submitted failed to prove that
their homeschool curriculum was equivalent to the public school curriculum and
that they would not be entitled to a high
school diploma from the State of Illinois.
CIS asked for proof of the qualifications
of the instructors in the homeschool program, a list of the textbooks they used,
and proof that the homeschool program
was in full compliance with Illinois law
relating to business licenses, fire and
safety inspections, taxes, and similar
regulations.
While none of these requests had any
connection with whether the teens were
legitimately enrolled in school, the CIS
has broad power to investigate. It was
therefore important to respond.
15
The family had already retained an
immigration attorney to provide legal
representation, but they also asked Home
School Legal Defense Association for help.
As an expert on the homeschool
law, HSLDA Senior Counsel Scott A.
Woodruff wrote a 4-page letter to CIS,
responding to every one of the agency’s
concerns. Six weeks later, CIS granted
work permits to the teens.
Indiana legal team for assistance. Thankfully, LEGOLAND accepts proof of membership with HSLDA as sufficient verification that a parent is homeschooling, and
we were able to remotely help the mother
obtain a copy of her membership ID card
from hslda.org. With her HSLDA card in
hand, the mother and her children were
assured that an anticipated highlight of
their vacation would be realized. Indeed,
everything was awesome!
INDIANA
HSLDA helps
make family
vacation a success
Although Home School Legal
Defense Association’s legal team is
often tasked with serious legal matters, we
occasionally get the opportunity to perform services of a
lighter nature for
members.
Such was the case
when a distraught
Indiana member
Indiana
contacted HSLDA
while on vacation
with her children in Florida. The family
had planned a fun and exciting trip, including a visit to the place that every Lego
aficionado dreams about: LEGOLAND!
The mother had planned on getting the
substantial admission discount that LEGOLAND offers to homeschoolers during its
Homeschool Days. In order to obtain the
discount, LEGOLAND requires the parent
to “show Home School verification . . .”
Unfortunately, the mother did not have
anything with her to verify that she was
a homeschooling parent. Homeschooling
families in Indiana are not required to
report to their local school district, but
must only keep attendance records. Thus,
they do not have any kind of paperwork
from their local school officials verifying
their home education programs.
With her family’s trip to LEGOLAND in
jeopardy, the mother contacted HSLDA’s
16
KENTUCKY
School officials
threaten home visits
Homeschooling families in Galla tin County, Kentucky, received an
unwelcome packet this summer from
on the other hand
The rest of the story
Our 4-year-old granddaughter Norah
was recently taken to a “Walk through
Bethlehem” event. An empty tomb
scene was included, and a girl portraying
Mary Magdalene ran up to Norah, crying, “Have you seen Jesus? They’ve killed
him and I can’t find him anywhere!”
“Well, I know He’s alive again,” Norah
calmly replied, “but I don’t know what
story you have here.”
Susan C. / Poplar, WI
A new kind
of math manipulative
Our 7-year old-son was in the middle
of doing his math lesson when he
jumped up and went upstairs. Curious, I
waited. After a short time he came back
down ready to go outside with his coat
on and a big smile on his face.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“My math paper says I need to get a
‘yard stick,’ so I’m going outside to get
a stick out of the yard.” He was quite
disappointed when I explained to him
what a yardstick was.
Sarah S. / Layton, UT
Gallatin County Schools. The packet
included a letter
from the county’s
director of pupil
personnel (DPP),
informing parents
that county offiKentucky
cials would visit
the home of every
homeschool program in the coming
year.
The packet also contained forms
requesting detailed information not
required by state law. Homeschool parents were asked to provide not just the
ages of the children they were teaching
at home, but also the date of birth of
each child. The district further asked
parents to provide their telephone numbers as a point of contact. Both of these
requests exceeded the school’s authority
under Kentucky law.
Even more troubling was a demand
for information about school schedules
and methods of recordkeeping, neither
of which are required by Kentucky law.
When Home School Legal Defense
Association Staff Attorney Tj Schmidt
learned about the demands in the
packet, he wrote a letter to the DPP on
behalf of all of HSLDA member families
in the county. Schmidt informed the
DPP that the forms asked for information well beyond what Kentucky law
required. He also informed her that
home visits would violate each homeschooling individual’s privacy rights,
and that HSLDA would challenge
any attempt to carry out these visits.
Schmidt requested that the county
notify all homeschooling families that
they would be dropping these extralegal
requirements.
Within two weeks, every homeschooling family received a follow-up
letter from the DPP. She asked the
families to disregard the packet she
had previously sent, and apologized for
demanding additional information and
challenging the legitimacy of their homeschool programs.
LOUISIANA
Coast Guard
reverses course,
accepts graduate
Over the years, Home School
Legal Defense Association has
helped countless homeschool graduates
get into various branches of the military.
The family of one
such young man
contacted us after
their son had a hard
time with a Coast
Guard recruiter.
Louisiana
The homeschool
graduate had completed all of the necessary requirements
and evaluations, and had even gotten a
ship date. However, when the recruiter
finally realized that he had been homeschooled as a home study student, the
recruit’s file was flagged and he was told
he had to get a waiver as a GED student.
Knowing that the military is supposed
to treat a homeschool graduate like any
other high school graduate, this member
family reached out to HSLDA for help.
Staff attorney Tj Schmidt spoke with
the recruiter and informed him that state
law required home study students to be
treated just like other approved nonpublic school students. Schmidt also pointed
out the United States military’s policy on
homeschooled students (see hslda.org/
military). The recruiter had heard of the
policy but misstated it. When Schmidt
told him that HSLDA could have an
official with the Department of Defense
get in touch with the educational specialist who was reviewing the young man’s
documents, the recruiter replied that
the Coast Guard was under Homeland
Security and wasn’t subject to the DOD.
Schmidt politely ended the call and
immediately reached out to our military
contacts within the DOD.
A few days later we received word from
our DOD contact that the Coast Guard
was accepting the homeschool graduate. When we confirmed the good news
with the family, they reported that the
recruiter said he didn’t know who they
had contacted or what they had done, but
their son was in. The young man shipped
out in December.
MICHIGAN
Overbearing officials
drop neglect charge
by Michael P. Donnelly
Michigan law does not require a
homeschooling parent to make
any report to the school district, but Flint
Community Schools refused to leave one
mother alone.
School officials
dropped by her
home on multiple
occasions asking
her about her
Michigan
homeschool curriculum and why she
had not notified them that she was homeschooling her three children.
Unsatisfied with the information the
mother provided, the school filed an
educational neglect petition in court,
claiming she had “failed to partner” with
the school to “improve” her children’s
education. Faced with a court summons
in the next few days, the mother turned
to Home School Legal Defense Association.
HSLDA’s contact attorney for Michigan, Mike Donnelly, reviewed the documentation and spoke with our member
about her homeschool program. Then he
arranged for local counsel to appear with
her at the preliminary hearing.
After the hearing, Donnelly spoke
with the school’s attendance officer and
sent him a letter explaining Michigan
law and providing a brief description of
the member’s organized home education
program, which demonstrated compliance with homeschool law. At this point,
the school official agreed to drop the case
against our member.
If you are ever contacted by a school
official contesting the validity of your
homeschool program, please contact
our legal department right away. When
we are informed immediately, we can
help resolve these challenges and usually
prevent them from reaching the level of a
court proceeding.
MISSISSIPPI
Attendance
officer demands
curriculum receipts
by Dewitt T. Black
Home School Legal Defense Asso ciation recently assisted a member
family experiencing difficulty in obtaining a certificate of enrollment form for
their home instruction program from
the local attendance
officer in Adams
County.
Mississippi
Mississippi
requires parents to
complete this form
and return it to the attendance officer on
or before September 15 of each year. In
this case, when the mother went to the
office of the attendance officer in Natchez
to get the form, the attendance officer
demanded that she first produce receipts
indicating that she had purchased curriculum materials for her son’s instruction.
The attendance officer said, “I want proof
so I know that you’re homeschooling.
Some people say they’re going to homeschool and then don’t.”
sent a letter to the attendance officer and
informed her that Mississippi law does
not require parents conducting home
instruction programs to furnish school
attendance officers with receipts or any
other evidence of purchase of curriculum materials under any circumstances.
Further, Black said, “should you refuse
to provide [our member] with the
17
enrollment form and thereby prevent
her from complying with the law, you
will have waived the requirement that
this form be completed and submitted
to you.” Black also sent a copy of the
letter to the attendance officer’s supervisor at the Office of Compulsory School
Attendance Enforcement at the state
department of education.
A few days later, the attendance officer
called Black and offered to deliver the
enrollment form to the parent at her home.
After Black spoke with the parent and
confirmed that this was acceptable, the
attendance officer delivered the form the
next morning and waited until the parent
completed the form and gave it to her.
HSLDA member families encountering
the same or similar difficulties in obtaining a certificate of enrollment form from
their local attendance officer should
contact us for assistance.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Quick peek at 2016
legislative activity
Home School Legal Defense Asso ciation is looking forward to more
positive legislative activity for the New
Hampshire homeschooling community
in the upcoming
2016 legislative session. Representatives Greg Hill, J.R.
Hoell, and Dan Itse
have initiated sevNew Hampshire
eral legislative service requests, indicating that bills are being drafted which
will affect the homeschooling community. The subjects of the legislation
address the continued existence of the
home education advisory council, the age
of compulsory attendance, a parental
rights statute or constitutional amendment, and the issuance of youth employment certificates.
18
Current youth employment law
requires that a superintendent or designated official issue work papers for a
minor. But the law also requires that the
person issuing the certificate be able to
attest that the youth is making academic
progress in their education. Since the
person who knows the most about a
homeschooled child’s academic progress
is the parent, HSLDA supports changing the law to empower homeschooling
parents to issue a youth employment certificate. We have encountered a few cases
involving questions about this issue and
we applaud Rep. Hill’s efforts to clarify
and improve this area of the law.
NEW YORK
Demand to review
curriculum
At the end of August, more than a
dozen homeschooling families in
New York received a letter from the
Greater Southern Tier Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES). The
letter asked parents
to copy and provide
from their textbooks
“the table of conNew York
tents for history and
geography so that
the curriculum content can be verified.”
BOCES is a regional educational entity
formed by the New York Legislature to
serve individual public school districts.
It provides shared educational programs
and services that individual districts
are not able to offer on their own. A
growing number of districts contract
with their local BOCES to oversee and
manage homeschool paperwork, including reviewing the individualized home
instruction plans New York law requires.
The families who received the unexpected letter from BOCES were all part
of a local Classical Conversations group
and had notified their local public school
district that they were going to use the
group’s Foundations curriculum for
grades K4–6. After the families received
the letter, the group leader contacted
Home School Legal Defense Association.
Staff Attorney Tj Schmidt asked BOCES
for clarification.
Schmidt was told that school officials
needed to verify that homeschooled children were being taught the appropriate
subject at the right grade level. The initial
BOCES staffer he spoke to implied that
homeschooled students needed to study
world history at the same grade level that
public school students did, and that they
needed to cover similar content.
Schmidt informed this staffer that
nothing in New York law required homeschooling parents to cover the same content or follow the same schedule as the
public schools. New York school officials
are only permitted to verify that homeschooling parents are teaching English,
math, social studies, science, and other
required subjects—they cannot evaluate
the substance of the curricula.
At this point Schmidt was referred to
the BOCES home school coordinator.
Schmidt pointed out to the coordinator
that the BOCES letter demanded more
information than was legally required
and that state law permitted no subjective review of the actual content. She
quickly agreed that the letter went too far
and explained that their intention was to
verify that the curriculum covered both
history and geography. Schmidt pointed
out that all of the families who received
the letter had already indicated that they
intended to teach these subjects.
Finally, BOCES confirmed that all of
the families were in compliance with
New York law and that they would have
no further problems using the Foundations curriculum.
{
}
A CONTRARIO
on theSENSU
other hand
On a roll . . .
My 6-year-old was recently poring
over his favorite page in a Walmart
wishbook: the electric vehicles. “But,”
he explained to me, “they only go backwards.”
“No, that doesn’t sound right . . . ”
I hesitated, wondering why he had said
that.
“Then why does it say rollback there?”
he asked.
Elisabeth B. / Urbana, OH
Personalized instruction
Our oldest son, Alva, began learning
his alphabet at age 4. When his younger
brother Jesse came along, Alva asked,
“When Jesse starts school, will he learn
his Jesse-bet?” (Apparently, our oldest
thought all along that he had been learning his “Alva-bet.”)
Jeanine P. / West Hills, CA
OHIO
HSLDA straightens
out new district staff
Homeschooling families in
Columbus discovered an unpleasant surprise in the mail at the beginning
of this school year. Several Home School
Legal Defense
Association members told us that
they had received
letters stating their
children were not
Ohio
excused from compulsory attendance
for the year.
New administration in the Columbus
School District’s Office of Accountability
had stopped accepting what families had
been submitting for years—a blended
textbook list and a brief curriculum
outline. Instead, the district informed
the parents that they needed to submit
additional curriculum information, and
suggested that their preferred documentation was a table of contents for each
subject’s curriculum.
19
Mike Donnelly, HSLDA’s contact
attorney for Ohio, began writing letters
to the district on behalf of individual
member families, explaining that a table
of contents is much more than the brief
outline required by the Ohio homeschooling regulation. Furthermore, the
regulation specifies that both the outline
and the textbook list are for information
purposes only.
However, it soon became clear that this
problem was not isolated to a few families.
As more and more families contacted
HSLDA, Donnelly reached out to the
district’s senior legal counsel to share the
concerns of HSLDA and the homeschool
community in Columbus. If a homeschooling family submitted a minimum
amount of information for both a textbook list and a brief outline, Donnelly
argued, they had met the requirements
of the regulation, and the specifics of the
outline should not be used to impede the
issuance of a letter of excuse.
The district’s counsel agreed that the
first outline submitted was sufficient,
and the member family who initially
contacted us about this problem has
since received their letter of excuse. After
much back-and-forth between HSLDA,
homeschooling families, and district
staff, most families have now received
their excuse letters.
Often when school district staff
changes, new procedures or expectations
create confusion for homeschooling
families. HSLDA is here to help resolve
any difficulties you may face with school
district personnel, new or seasoned.
OREGON
ESD misinforms
and hassles homeschool family
A member family contacted Home
School Legal Defense Association
20
after the Lane Education Service District rejected their son’s California
Achievement Test 5
(CAT5) Survey test
results, “due to the
fact that the CAT5
version of the test is
too old according to
Oregon
state law.” The ESD
told the member
family to provide new test results to their
office by September 30.
Oregon homeschooling families are
required to test their children in grades
3, 5, 8, and 10. The testing is to occur
by August 15. Homeschooling families
do not have to submit a student’s test
on the other hand
It sounds easier
My son was getting a book he
was reading for school while I turned
on an instrumental playlist in the
next room. Trying to spark an appreciation for the music, I told him, “I just
read a study that found that listening
to classical music or playing an instrument can build your brain as much as
reading!”
He seemed very impressed and
promptly shot back a witty reply, “Can I
just come in here and listen then?”
Deborah S. / Mobile, AL
The force is strong
with this one
When my two children were
young, we started each homeschooling
day by reading a short Bible story.
Of course such moments were not
complete without asking questions.
Having discussed who Jews and Gentiles
were on previous occasions, I asked,
“Now, what do we call a person who is
not a Jew?”
Obviously my preschool-age daughter
had heard more than just Bible stories,
because she piped up, “I know, I know—
Jedi!”
Rhonda G. / Fresno, CA
results unless the superintendent of
their ESD specifically requests them
to do so. Oregon’s administrative code
lists the tests that have been “approved
for assessment of satisfactory progress
by home school students”—and that
list includes the California Achievement Test. The regulations stipulate
that a test must be one of the “two most
recent versions” of the test in order to be
acceptable.
The member family had their son
tested this past June by a Lane ESD–
approved test administrator. They specifically chose the CAT5 Survey because
the Lane ESD website, in an online
document designed to answer questions
about homeschooling, listed it as an
approved exam for homeschool testing
purposes.
In a letter on behalf of the family
to the ESD, HSLDA Staff Attorney Tj
Schmidt pointed out that the family
had fully relied on the information the
ESD provided in its online guide when
determining what test to use, and that
this document still listed the CAT5 as
an acceptable test. He also informed
the ESD that the publisher of the CAT5,
McGraw-Hill, published only one more
version of the CAT, the CAT6, and that
the CAT5 was therefore still one of the
two most recent versions of the California Achievement Test.
Lane ESD admitted that the CAT5
had been “erroneously” listed on the
ESD website as an acceptable test, and
that “an exception can be made” to
accept it. However, the ESD continued
to insist that the CAT5 is not one of the
two most recent versions of the CAT,
and that the family would have to provide a written statement from the test
administrator before their test results
would be accepted.
While HSLDA is working to correct
the ESD’s misunderstanding of Oregon
homeschool law, it is probably prudent
for homeschooling families in the Beaver
State to choose a test other than the
CAT5 for evaluating their children.
PENNSYLVANIA
Public school
wants homeschool
transcripts
by Dewitt T. Black
After a Home School Legal
Defense Association member family filed their affidavit to begin a home
education program in August in the
Otto-Eldred School District in Duke
Center (McKean
County), they
received a letter
from the superintendent seeking
Pennsylvania
transcript information for each of
their children. The
superintendent stated that the school district was required to maintain a transcript of courses completed for each
homeschool student. Accordingly, the
school official asked the parent to provide
transcripts for all of the children, including from the time they were being homeschooled in a different school district or
state.
While state law requires the supervisor of a home education program
(parent) to attach to the affidavit a list
of required courses to be taught, along
with course objectives, the law does
not require the supervisor to submit a
transcript of courses completed. HSLDA
Senior Counsel Dewitt Black sent a letter to this effect to the superintendent.
The superintendent replied and cited
a document appearing on the website
for the Pennsylvania Department of
Education that supported his position. In fact, this document, entitled
“Overview of Homeschooling,” states
that to ensure that course requirements
are met, “transcripts should be kept by
the parent and by the school district.”
The problem with this is that the law for
homeschooling enacted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly contains no
such requirement, and the department
of education has no authority to change
or add to the law.
HSLDA has always recommended
that parents, especially during the high
school years, maintain a transcript of
courses taken. This becomes important
to justify the issuance of a high school
diploma needed for subsequent employment or admission to a post-secondary
institution. But homeschoolers should
resist any effort by the local school
district or department of education to
impose requirements that have no legal
basis. That’s what our member family is
doing.
“Admission form”
required to begin
homeschooling
by Dewitt T. Black
In order to comply with state law
in beginning their home education program for the 2015–2016 school
year, a Home School Legal Defense
Association member family filed the
required affidavit with course objectives
and immunization records with Seneca
Valley School District by August 1,
using HSLDA’s affidavit form. So they
were surprised when a school official
insisted that they also complete and submit an “Admission Form” before the
school district would acknowledge their
son’s enrollment in a home education
program.
sent a letter to the school official on
behalf of our members and informed
her that state law does not require
completion of the “Admission Form,”
particularly in light of the nature of the
information sought in the form. For
the student, the form sought the date of
birth, gender, state of birth, date moved
into the school district, ethnicity, name,
address of previous school attended and
last grade completed there, reason for
withdrawal, and whether the student
had been involved in any previous
disciplinary action or expelled. The
parent was also expected to provide a
cell phone number, email address, work
phone number, and authorization for
the school district to receive records
from a previous school, including IQ
and aptitude test scores for the student.
Additionally, the parent was to respond
to a question on the form: “Are there
custody concerns concerning your
child?”
Students in a home education program are not public school students,
so they do not register with the school
district or complete any forms for public
school students. The form used by Seneca Valley School District is the same
type of form used by school districts
to count student enrollment for the
purpose of receiving state funds, which
are not authorized for students in a
home education program. Other school
districts have used similar forms to
obtain unauthorized information about
homeschooling families.
On Black’s advice, the family decided
not to submit the inappropriate form.
Unauthorized
regulation
of private tutors
by Dewitt T. Black
For years, Home School Legal
Defense Association has been
contending with public school superintendents who have been attempting to
enforce an unauthorized and unconstitutional regulation against parents serving as private tutors to their children.
The most recent instance involved
the Pocono Mountain School District,
where one of our members had submitted the necessary documentation to the
superintendent to begin this educational
option. The parent had complied fully
with the statutory requirements enacted
by the Pennsylvania General Assembly
by providing the superintendent with
21
a copy of her teaching certificate and
criminal background check. But the
superintendent insisted that she also
comply with the administrative regulation for private tutors promulgated by the
state board of education.
intervened on behalf of our member and
explained in a letter to the superintendent
why the regulation is unenforceable.
First, Black said, no state agency is
authorized to issue any regulation without the express authority of the legislature
as found in the statutes it has enacted.
Black observed that although there are
statutes cited at the bottom of the private
tutor regulation purportedly granting the
needed authority, none of them authorizes the state board to create regulations
for private tutors.
Second, in the 1973 case of Uniontown
Area School District v. Pennsylvania
Human Relations Commission, the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled
that an administrative regulation is
binding law only if, among other things,
22
it is reasonable. HSLDA’s position is that
the administrative regulation for private
tutors is unreasonable because it adds to
and contradicts the requirements of the
law enacted by the legislature. Specifically,
the regulation prescribes course requirements for private tutors to teach, whereas
the statutes contain no such requirements.
Additionally, the statutory language
prescribes a different time of instruction
from what the regulation prescribes.
Further, the regulation requires that the
parent provide written assurance that the
instructional requirements have been met
(to whom it does not say), whereas there is
no such requirement in the statutory language. And if the superintendent receives
a complaint about the program, the regulation authorizes the superintendent to
require a demonstration that the pupil is
making “satisfactory progress,” despite the
fact that the statute contains no provision
for any such evaluation.
After Black sent the letter, the family
heard nothing further from the school
district.
SOUTH CAROLINA
School district
wrongly denies
archery participation
by Dewitt T. Black
Home School Legal Defense Asso ciation recently helped a member
family whose son had been denied participation in the archery program at a
middle school in
the Fort Mill
School DistrictYork 4. In accordance with state
law, the parents of
South Carolina
the 7th grader had
given the superintendent timely notice of their intent to
have their son participate in the archery
program, but the individual in charge of
the program replied by email that their
son was not permitted to do so. The
school official gave two reasons for the
denial: that the archery program was
only open to public school students, and
that the National Archery in the Schools
Program (NASP), which sanctioned the
instruction, prohibited participation by
homeschooled students. The school official was wrong on both counts.
In 2012, the South Carolina General
Assembly enacted the Equal Access to
Interscholastic Activities Act, which
granted students receiving home instruction the right to participate in extracurricular activities in public schools. Further, the law included language expressly
prohibiting a school district from
contracting with any private entity that
supervises interscholastic activities if the
private entity prohibits participation by
homeschooled students. After researching
the rules of the NASP, HSLDA determined that, contrary to the assertion of
the school official, NASP does not prohibit
homeschooled students from participating
in its archery programs in public school.
sent a letter to the superintendent on the
family’s behalf. A week later, the school
district notified the parents that their son
was allowed to participate.
homeschool program through a churchrelated school. In other words, the previous bylaws prohibited any type of dual
enrollment by a homeschool student
desiring to participate in extracurricular
sports. By virtue of the recent amendments, the bylaws continue to require
that students be homeschooled through
the LEA but also permit a student to be
enrolled in a church-related school at the
same time. Students whose parents make
this election must comply with state law
for both homeschool options.
Most homeschooling parents in Tennessee choose one of the church-related
school options because of the support
provided by the school and reduced
interference from the state. These parents have been reluctant to sever their
relationships with church-related schools
and homeschool only through the LEA
in order to meet the previous eligibility
requirements of the TSSAA. The newlyenacted bylaws provide some measure
of accommodation to these parents by
permitting dual enrollment, the down-
on the other hand
TENNESSEE
Eligibility for sports
marginally improved
by Dewitt T. Black
On March 11, 2015, the Tennessee
Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA), the organization that
determines eligibility of homeschool students to participate
in sports in public
and private schools,
amended its bylaws
to slightly improve
the requirements.
Tennessee
Formerly, only students being homeschooled through the local education
agency (LEA) were permitted to participate, and these students were prohibited
from also being enrolled in another
“How much less man,
that is a worm?”
One day I heard my 9-year-old son call
his younger brother a “maggot,” but
upon questioning, he didn’t know what
a maggot was or why it would be insulting to call someone that. It turned out
he had heard the term watching a drill
sergeant encourage (ahem) his recruits
to greater efforts. I didn’t pass judgment on the military’s training methods,
although I did take this “teachable
moment” to explain the metamorphosis
of insects in general and the housefly in
particular.
That evening during prayers, as I was
describing the Transfiguration, when
the voice of God the Father was heard
saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased,” my son added, “So
listen up, maggots!”
Christine L. / Sparta, NJ
side being that they will have to comply
with the legal requirements of two homeschool options instead of just one.
The eligibility provisions of the TSSAA
Bylaws as set forth in Article II, Section
25 (Home School Rule) and Frequently
Asked Questions appear at tssaa.org/
compliance-publications/tssaa-homeschool-rule. Of note is the deadline of
August 1 for a homeschool student to be
registered with the director of schools of
a LEA or the head of school for a private
school. By August 15 of the school year,
the parent or guardian must make
application for participation in athletics
to the principal of the school in which
the homeschool student wishes to try out
and possibly participate.
TEXAS
Background check
throws wrench in
manufacturing job
by Darren A. Jones
Home School Legal Defense Asso ciation’s advocacy on behalf of a
Texas homeschool graduate helped
reverse hiring discrimination by a manufacturing company.
When a 2003
Texas homeschool
graduate applied for
a job with a manufacturing company,
Texas
the company
offered him a job
with full benefits.
Before starting, however, the applicant
had to undergo a background investigation. The investigation firm was unfamiliar with homeschooling and reported
that it was unable to verify that the applicant was a high school graduate, despite
having reviewed his homeschool diploma
and transcript. In response, the manufacturing company reversed its decision
to hire the prospective employee.
The graduate called HSLDA immediately. Staff Attorney Darren Jones wrote
23
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a letter to the manufacturing company
explaining Texas homeschool law and
pointing out that the United States
military, U.S. Department of Education,
and Texas colleges and universities all
recognize homeschool graduates on an
equal basis with other graduates.
After receiving our letter, the
manufacturing company again reversed
course and scheduled the graduate’s job
orientation. The homeschool graduate wrote to HSLDA, “Now I can look
forward to a bright career and future
to better support my family. If there is
anything I can do to show my gratitude
please let me know and thank you again.
God bless.”
UTAH
P.O. Box 882
Moline, IL 61266-0882
www.greeknstuff.com
®
24
District retracts
truancy threats
by Peter K. Kamakawiwoole
Utah’s home education law is writ ten by the state legislature, but that
has not stopped local school districts
from trying to get in on the action.
This summer,
one district began
asking families to
provide information not required by
state law. Although
Utah
the district said
the information was “optional,” it threatened to
withhold exemption certificates from
homeschooling families—which is
illegal under state law—and to “enforce”
compulsory attendance laws against any
families who did not comply.
When a member family brought this
to the attention of Home School Legal
Defense Association, we immediately
advised all our local member families
that the request constituted a blatant
and illegal power grab by the district,
and that it violated clear provisions of
state law. We also brought the issue to
the attention of state homeschool group
leaders in Utah and began preparing
potential litigation strategies in the event
that the district decided to prosecute
homeschoolers over this “optional” form.
Shortly thereafter, the school district
sent out a retraction letter to homeschooling families, clarifying that
the requested information was truly
“optional,” and that no excuse letters
would be withheld from families who did
not comply.
VIRGINIA
Yikes! Is that
online? Law fixes
privacy gaps
A Home School Legal Defense
Association member was recently
shocked to find that all the religious
exemption papers she had filed with the
Hampton school
board were publicly
posted on their
website. She asked
HSLDA for help.
Virginia
HSLDA Senior
Counsel Scott A.
Woodruff looked
into the situation. He found that the school
usually does not publicly post religious
exemption paperwork—this appeared to
be a case where they did not follow their
own policy. Woodruff called the school
board attorney. As a result, soon the private information was taken down.
Upon further investigation, Woodruff
found about a dozen other cases from
the past several years where families’
religious exemption paperwork was
publicly available on the school board
website. We brought this to the school
board’s attention and they promptly took
down the paperwork. We appreciate their
willingness to work with us.
Thanks to a new state law, families
who homeschool under the notice of
intent statute or the religious exemption
statute now have solid privacy protection.
HSLDA and Home Educators Association of Virginia worked together for the
enactment of Senate Bill 1383, sponsored
by Senator Dick Black, which became
effective July 1, 2015.
The bill created a new section of the
Virginia Code: § 22.1-254.1.G (hslda.
org/Q415newVAlaw). It forbids school
systems from disclosing any information
parents submit for their notice of intent
or religious exemption to anyone outside
of the local school system. This will not
only protect families like the one involved
here, but will also prevent personal information about homeschool students from
being collected into a state database.
HSLDA has updated the forms and
samples on our website and added a
reference to the new law. School systems
tend to be somewhat slow to respond to
changes in the homeschool laws, however—so families should stay alert and
let us know immediately if they think a
school district is violating the new law.
* See “A plethora of forms” at right.
PSAT registration
problem solved
Millbrook High School in Freder ick County recently posted a policy stating that public school juniors
could register for the PSAT by October 2,
but homeschool students and students in
all other grades could only register
later—if there was still room for them.
After HSLDA corresponded with the
principal, she promptly corrected the
policy to respect homeschool students’
right to take the PSAT. Homeschool
students in grades 9–11 could now be
guaranteed a seat to take the test if they
registered by September 24 in the Millbrook High School guidance office and
paid the $15 fee.
Under a law enacted during the last
legislative session (hslda.org/Q415PSAT),
Virginia homeschool families now have
a right to use the PSAT as a year-end
assessment. It can also open the door to
many scholarship opportunities.
WEST VIRGINIA
Working together
to improve homeschool law
In the 2016 legislative session,
homeschooling families will have
important opportunities to advance freedom as we work together to reintroduce
and pass legislation
that was vetoed by
the governor last
year.
Home School
Legal Defense
West Virginia
Association has
been working
with Christian Home Educators of West
Virginia (CHEWV), Heritage Communications, and West Virginia Home
Educators Association (WVHEA) to
support the reintroduction of legislation
that would modernize West Virginia’s
homeschool law. The bills aim to reduce
unnecessary burdens on homeschooling
families and clarify that homeschool
students can qualify for the PROMISE
Scholarship without being forced to take
a GED test. HSLDA has also suggested
a change to the driver’s license laws to
allow parent of homeschooled children
to be able to provide documentation
sufficient for the issuance of permits and
licenses without unnecessary board of
education involvement. HSLDA is also
working with several legislators to introduce an education tax credit bill. In addition to benefiting homeschool families,
we hope these changes will improve what
has been a hostile climate toward home
education in West Virginia.
This year’s West Virginia Capitol Day
will be one of the most important ever
for homeschooling families in West
Virginia. Please plan to join me and hundreds of other homeschoolers on January
25, 2016, for an educational and civic
opportunity that will benefit generations
of West Virginia families. Register at
chewv.org.
{GOOD TO KNOW }
HSLDA social services
contact policy
We desire to advise our members
in every contact with a social worker
and/or police officer in investigations
resulting from allegations of abuse
or neglect. If homeschooling is an
issue, we will represent our member
families until the
issue is resolved.
On 4th Amendment unreasonable
search and seizure
issues, HSLDA will
advise our members
whenever the privacy of their home
is violated by forced
or coerced entry for the purpose of an
unsubstantiated investigation. HSLDA
membership benefits do not extend
to court actions resulting from nonhomeschooling matters. However, in
circumstances where there is a clear
violation of the 4th Amendment,
HSLDA may choose, as we have done
in the past, to take the case in an effort
to establish legal precedent.
A plethora of forms
As an added benefit to our members,
HSLDA has posted a number of sample
forms on our website, including letters
for withdrawing from public school,
forms for submitting required notices
of intent to homeschool, and memos
describing the legal
issues involved in
homeschooling. To
see the forms for
your state, go to
members.hslda.org,
log in, and select
your state. By creating these forms, HSLDA did
not intend to burden its members with
more paperwork. Rather, the forms are
designed for our members’ convenience
and to protect them from inadvertently
giving more information than their
state’s law requires. Members are free
to prepare their own documents to
comply with the law.
25
{ HSLDA LEGAL INQUIRIES }
JULY 2015
MEMBER INQUIRIES
TOP
10
Public
Social
School Services
Contact Contact
Legislation
WYOMING
General
Discrimi- Legal
nation Question TOTAL
VIRGINIA
10 4 0 12192218
PENNSYLVANIA
2110 0 5145181
CALIFORNIA
1 6 251498144
NEW YORK
405 1 4 71121
OHIO
181 3 56996
FLORIDA
143 0 24362
ALABAMA
1 5 0 73952
TENNESSEE
2 1 0 64251
MASSACHUSETTS17 1 0 6 2650
GEORGIA
1 2 0 73141
ALL U.S. STATES
&
TERRITORIES
157 77 39 142 1,1721,587
AUGUST 2015
MEMBER INQUIRIES
TOP
10
General
Discrimi- Legal
25 1 0 14210250
CALIFORNIA
2 4 15 13195229
OHIO
37 0 1 11130179
NEW YORK
43 7 0 11107168
PENNSYLVANIA
2010 0 5 89124
GEORGIA
1 0 0 106475
MASSACHUSETTS22 0 1 3 3864
FLORIDA
101 1 54663
TEXAS
6 2 0 144163
TENNESSEE
22025258
SEPTEMBER 2015
MEMBER INQUIRIES
10
Legislation
VIRGINIA
ALL U.S. STATES
&
TERRITORIES
TOP
Public
Social
School Services
Contact Contact
245 74
Public
Social
School Services
Contact Contact
22 218 1,5782,137
Legislation
General
Discrimi- Legal
CALIFORNIA
6 5 9 6174
200
VIRGINIA
7 5 0 9117138
OHIO
563 1 566131
NEW YORK
384 0 369114
PENNSYLVANIA 8 7 1 66284
MINNESOTA
95 0 24561
MICHIGAN
5 6 0 93858
MASSACHUSETTS22 6 0 2 26 56
ALABAMA
1 4 0 73951
GEORGIA
40 1 53949
ALL U.S. STATES
& TERRITORIES
26
240 101
21 140 1,0911,593
Fremont #2 goes
above and beyond
(its legal duty)
The Fremont school district went
“above and beyond” at the beginning of the school year in seeking out students who were not enrolled in school.
The district took
out an advertisement
alerting members of
the community that it
was taking action on its
comprehensive “child
Wyoming
find” plan to ensure an
appropriate education
for all children ages 3–21 within Fremont
County School District #2. The ad called
on all members of the community to
report to the district on any children that
were not enrolled in the schools.
This advertisement was the result of a
misinterpretation of federal law which
requires that school districts make an
attempt to locate all children within the
district who may have special needs.
Since the Fremont school district accepts
federal funds under the Individuals with
Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), it is
required to participate in this “child find”
activity. But the district zealously misinterpreted this duty, leading to an excessive sweep for all students not enrolled in
its public schools.
This incident shows how local school
officials can easily misunderstand education laws, especially when the federal government’s often complex and confusing
requirements are involved.
The school district’s aggressive and
poorly worded “child find” activity caused
alarm and concern among homeschooling
families in the district. Home School Legal
Defense Association has corresponded
with the district, pointing out their error
and encouraging them to take corrective
action. HSLDA is prepared to defend your
liberty from unwarranted interference—
whether local, state, or federal. n
FEDERAL RELATIONS REPORTS
{ Freedom Watch }
Federal student
tracking defeated
by William Estrada
Strategic decision
At this point, HSLDA had a choice to
make. The NDAA was rapidly moving to a
vote by the full House of Representatives.
A victory
for student
privacy and
homeschool
freedom
© PHOTODISC
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
© HSLDA / RACHEL ESTRADA
Imagine if the federal government
tried to track every student in
America based on whether they were
private-schooled,
public-schooled,
or homeschooled.
Congress recently
attempted to do just
that for all children
of Department of
Defense civilian and
Federal Relations
military employees.
Director Will Estrada
Every year,
Congress passes the National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA). This bill sets
the priorities for the U.S. Armed Forces.
It establishes what military equipment
will be purchased, sets policy for military
personnel, and (in a nutshell) guides the
military for the next year. Some NDAAs
are very controversial while others fly
under the radar. In recent years, HSLDA
has attached crucial language to the
NDAA that allows homeschoolers to
enlist in the military, and we’re grateful
to our friends in Congress for helping us
with these victories.
Earlier this year, the
House of Representatives
Armed Services Committee, which is chaired
by Representative Mac
Thornberry (TX), began
its marathon “markup”
of the NDAA. During
the markup, the bill gets
discussed in committee
and various sections are
U.S. Rep. Mac
often added. Markups can
Thornberry
last all day or even stretch
across multiple days.
A not-so-subtle change
During one of these markup sessions,
Representative Mark Takai (HI) quietly
inserted an amendment, § 574, into
the NDAA. This section would have
allowed the military to study whether
or not the Pentagon should “maintain
records of where students who are dependents of members of the Armed Forces
or Department of Defense civilian
employees are enrolled in elementary or
secondary education, be it private, public,
or home-schooled.”
Takai’s amendment could have slipped
in under the radar, except for one thing:
the vigilance of your HSLDA Federal
Relations department. We have a cuttingedge system that tracks every bill that is
introduced, amended, or even changes its
punctuation on Capitol Hill. Our program
flagged the mention of student tracking
and homeschooling—and as we read this
language, we realized that this section
needed to be taken out of the NDAA.
We immediately reached out
to committee chairman Mac
Thornberry’s staff and told them
that homeschooling families
(and many others) are strongly
opposed to any tracking of
their children by a federal
government agency. We
explained that there was no good reason
for this tracking. If the military wants to
help children when their parents deploy,
the Pentagon should offer support to all
parents (and there are currently many
such programs available to our war fighters and their families). There is absolutely
no need to have a Big Brother–style tracking system for children whose parents
defend our nation.
We’d love to say that our stirring words
fixed the problem—but alas, that was not
the case. In a tense conversation, Chairman Thornberry’s staffer indicated that
they were resistant to the idea of eliminating § 574.
HSLDA instantly sprang into action.
We reached out to House leadership,
including senior staff for House Speaker
John Boehner (OH), House Majority
Whip Steve Scalise (LA), and House Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers
(WA). Speaker Boehner’s staff in particular quickly assured us that they would
work with us to make sure this language
was stripped out of the final bill.
27
Should we send out a nationwide action
alert and try to stop the entire bill on the
House floor over this section—a plan
unlikely to succeed? Or should we make
a strategic retreat in the House, focus on
preventing this clause from appearing in
the Senate’s version of the NDAA, and
then defeat § 574 in the conference committee when the two differing bills were
on the table?
We chose the strategic retreat. We told
House leadership that we wouldn’t oppose
the NDAA on the House floor, but that
we would hold them to their promise of
helping us eliminate this language in the
final bill.
HSLDA then met with senior staff for
members of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, including Lindsey Graham
(SC), Mike Lee (UT), and Ted Cruz (TX).
We also made sure that the staffs for Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman
John McCain (AZ) and Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) were aware
of our concerns. All of the staff on the
28
Senate side were very favorable to HSLDA’s
concerns. They assured us that they shared
our concerns with student tracking. We
were very pleased when the Senate’s version of the NDAA bill passed without this
student tracking language ever even being
introduced.
We began circulating a coalition letter
for signatures. We have long-standing
relationships with many privacy-focused
organizations, and were able to get 20
organizations from across the political
spectrum to sign our letter, which we
sent to representatives on the conference
committee. We also sent out action alerts
to HSLDA members who are constituents
of the chairmen and ranking members on
the Armed Services committees, asking
them to encourage their representatives to
follow the Senate’s example and reject the
House bill’s student tracking language.
Reaching out
At the same time, we reached out again
to House Armed Services Committee
Chairman Mac Thornberry. This time we
met with a senior staffer who was very
sympathetic to our concerns. We believe
that the attention brought to this issue,
including by other members of the House
leadership, made the difference. A senior
House staffer told us later, “Many thanks
to the due diligence [HSLDA] did to draw
awareness to this issue. It really helped us
in negotiations.”
Homeschoolers have won many public
victories—most recently against the UN
Disabilities Treaty, where your overwhelming phone calls and emails carried the day.
But homeschoolers also win many other
victories which are not as public. Your
membership in HSLDA allows us to serve
you as the only homeschool organization
with a constant presence on Capitol Hill.
Our relationships with members of Congress and their staffs, and our constant
tracking of legislation, allows us to defeat
dangerous bills—sometimes even before
they become public. And we couldn’t do
this without your ongoing support. n
GENERATION JOSHUA
{ Liberty’s Call }
stepping down from the position
of leadership he was accustomed to,
handing the reins over to younger
members, and adjusting to less leaderoriented participation in the club. It
seems to me that transitions of leadership are a hard but necessary part
of any organization’s life cycle, and it
is encouraging to see students learning
this lesson early on.
In his spare time, Aaron enjoys playing
the violin and reading. He graduated
from high school this past spring, and
now attends the University of Kentucky,
where he is double-majoring in psychology and neuroscience with a minor in
violin performance.
I am excited to see where the Lord will
lead this young man in the next few years.
He has a bright future ahead of him.
Congratulations, Aaron! n
Generation Joshua
student wins
distinguished award
by Joel Grewe
Joel Grewe is the director of HSLDA’s
Generation Joshua.
>> NCHEA Conference
April 1–2, 2016 / Lincoln, NE
Diane Kummer
Contact Nebraska Christian Home
Educators Association: nchea.org
>> TPA Homeschool Convention
April 8–9, 2016 / Wichita, KS
Michael Farris
Contact Teaching Parents Association:
teachingparents.org
>> San Diego Homeschool Convention
April 15–16, 2016 / San Diego, CA
Michael Farris
Contact Heritage Christian School:
hcssd.org
>> UTCH Homeschool Convention
April 15–16, 2016
Mike Smith
Contact Utah Christian Home School
Association: utch.org
>> APACHE Homeschool Convention
April 15–16, 2016 / Peoria, IL
Scott Woodruff
Contact Association of Peoria
Area Christian Home Educators:
apachecentralillinois.org
>> MACHE Conference
April 22–23, 2016 / Duluth, MN
Scott Woodruff
Contact Minnesota Association of
Christian Home Educators: mache.org
>> IAHE Home Educators’ Convention
April 28–30, 2016 / Indianapolis, IN
Faith Berens and Darren Jones
Contact Indiana Association of
Home Educators: iahe.net
>> Oklahoma Homeschool Convention
April 29–30, 2016 / Oklahoma City, OK
Tj Schmidt
Contact Oklahoma Central Home
Educators’ Consociation: ochec.com
>> CHAP Convention
COURTESY OF AARON SILVERSTEIN
I want to extend my congratulations
to Aaron Silverstein, a 19-year-old
GenJ member from Paducah, Kentucky.
He is the newest winner of Generation
Joshua’s prestigious Benjamin Rush
Statesman Award.
The Statesman Award is the highest
award given to a student participant
in Generation Joshua’s Benjamin Rush
Scholarship program. Recipients of the
award must be active members of their
communities. Requirements include
completing 200 hours of community
service, getting 50 friends to register
to vote, writing numerous critiques of
politics and reviews of culture, making
an issue analysis video, and writing multiple essays.
Aaron completed
the
all of these requirements and more.
He commented
that since he is a
musician, the music
reviews were his favorite of all of the
assignments because “people had to read
my opinion about music.” And despite his
lack of experience in videography, Aaron
loved creating his issue video for the
award. (Inspired by that process, he enjoys
continuing to make videos to this day.)
While completing these activities, Aaron
was actively involved in several political
campaigns, most notably in Ohio in 2013.
As part of his work for the award,
Aaron wrote about his struggles with
passing the torch to the next generation
of leaders in his local Generation Joshua
club. He remembers the difficulty in
{HSLDA SPEAKING LIST}
May 13–14, 2016 / Harrisburg, PA
Daniel Beasley, Vicki Bentley,
and Darren Jones
Contact Christian Homeschool
Association of Pennsylvania:
chaponline.com
Aaron Silverstein
received the
Benjamin Rush award
for his work in the
GenJ program.
For HSLDA’s complete list of
conferences and speakers, visit
hslda.org/calendar.
29
LITIGATION SUMMARIES
{ PENDING CASES }
30
MISSOURI
HSLDA files amicus
in anti-Common
Core case
by Darren A. Jones
In September 2014, a group of
concerned citizens in Missouri
filed a lawsuit against Governor Jeremiah
Nixon, challenging the Smarter Balanced
Assessment Consortium (SBAC) as an
unconstitutional
state compact. SBAC
CASE
is a Common Core–
Nixon v. Sauer
aligned test develop(Amicus brief)
ment group.
FILED
July 2015
In February 2015,
a state circuit court
agreed that Missouri’s
SBAC fees were unconstitutional and permanently
banned the state from
Missouri
paying taxpayer dollars
to SBAC. The court held
that “Missouri’s participation in the
Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium as a member is unlawful under state
and federal law.” The state appealed that
decision in March.
This past summer, HSLDA joined the
legal battle by filing an amicus curiae
(friend of the court) brief urging the
Court of Appeals to confirm that SBAC
is unconstitutional. You can see the
full text of the brief online at hslda.org/
Q415amicus.
Our brief urges the judges to recognize SBAC for what it is: a key component in a larger strategy, enticing states
to act as federal proxies in the development of top-down national standards
and assessments. (The United States
Department of Education is banned
from directly imposing national curricula or tests.)
Our brief also points out that man-
© BIGSTOCK
AK D Family v. Social Security
Administration
AK J Family v. Social Security
Administration
AR R Family v. Department of
Veterans Affairs
AR S Family v. Social Security
Administration
AR State of Arkansas v. W Family
AR In re: W Family
CA Wilson et al. v. Russo et al.
GA C Family v. Social Security
Administration
GA D Family v. Social Security
Administration
GA K Family v. Social Security
Administration
MI D Family v. Social Security
Administration
MI D Family v. Social Security
Administration
MI S Family v. Social Security
Administration
MN M Family v. Social Security
Administration
MO Hagan v. Glidden et al.
MO K Family v. Social Security
Administration
NY Batt v. Buccilli
OH State of Ohio v. B Family
OR W Family v. Social Security
Administration
PA Ferris v. Hershey Medical
Center et al.
PA H Family v. Social Security
Administration
SC C Family v. River Bluff High School
SC M Family v. School District Five of
Lexington and Richland Counties;
Dutch Fork High School
SC S Family v. Social Security
Administration
TX W Family v. Social Security
Administration
VA B Family v. Social Security
Administration
VA D Family v. Social Security
Administration
VA In re: F Family
VA Parker v. Austin et al.
VA R Family v. Social Security
Administration
WA In re: S Family
{ Active Cases }
dates tied to federal funding for Common Core-related initiatives essentially
require the creation of an invasive
nationwide student tracking system.
Such a system would be capable of
following every student from preschool through college and even into
the workplace.
The designers of these systems fully
intend for homeschool and private
school students to be included in
their massive data collection. At the
National Conference on Student Assessment in 2011, officials from Oklahoma
discussed how the challenge of meeting
the data requirements of federal and
state education policies is motivating
them to “include student groups not now
included (e.g., home-schooled) in the
data system.”
The Missouri ruling has tremendous
potential to influence the battle over
Common Core. Prior to the ruling, the
Missouri legislature had already begun to
tap the brakes on Common Core. When
the court decision was handed down,
lawmakers promptly shut down all future
funding for SBAC. A similar lawsuit has
already been filed in North Dakota. If
other states follow the example of Missouri and North Dakota, we expect to see
more suits challenging these top-down
curriculum standards, databases, and
testing regimes. n
——————————
Continued from page 10
just to arrive at the simple conclusion that the student was homeschooled in compliance with state law,” Kamakawiwoole says.
Even after the favorable judgment, Deena’s daughter’s benefits
were not disbursed until nearly a year later.
The Mooney family knows from experience that HSLDA is
a valuable ally. But local allies are important too. Working as a
special needs diagnostician for a public school district, and active
in her church and community, Deena has found herself wellpositioned to be a mentor and advocate for other homeschooling
parents.
In Texas, homeschooling parents are entitled to the same evaluation and testing services provided by the public school districts.
However, as Deena told us, this fact is not advertised, and she often
finds that her colleagues are hostile to providing these services to
homeschoolers. “My co-workers’ attitude is very ugly—like ‘those
parents ought to have their kids in school,’” Deena says. She went
to bat for one friend and even experienced retaliation at work.
“A friend’s child has a low IQ and needed speech therapy,”
Deena says. “She was up against the system. The law in Texas
requires them to offer these services, but they were giving her
a hard time because she wanted to homeschool him. I told her
she needed to join HSLDA. I helped her write a letter, where we
said she was an HSLDA member and knew what the law
said, and I went to a meeting with her as an advocate. Her
school district called my department and tried to get me in
trouble.”
“Another friend pulled her child out of the public
school system because they wouldn’t address his learning problems—he couldn’t get an education,” Deena adds.
“My lifelong goal is to be an advocate for these people who want
to help their children.”
Deena hopes one day to work as an independent evaluator
serving the homeschool community. Meanwhile, her daughter
has graduated and is now married and expecting a baby.
WHAT WE’RE DOING ABOUT IT
What these and dozens of similar stories show is that discrimination is a real problem for people who choose an alternative
educational path. Having a diploma and transcript did not prevent these graduates from facing obnoxious and unfair treatment
from colleges, government agencies, employers, and others on
the basis of their homeschool education.
“The experiences of our clients underscore the fact that any
homeschooling family, however experienced, can run into trouble,” HSLDA Staff Attorney Peter Kamakawiwoole says. “While
homeschooling has made tremendous strides over the past 30
years, there is still work to be done when it comes to educating
the public—including government bureaucrats and others—
about what it entails. They need to learn that homeschooling is
HSLDA is wellpositioned to
answer the
challenge that
discrimination
poses to homeschool graduates.
an equal educational option with more ‘traditional’ public and
private schools.”
How is HSLDA working to overcome homeschool discrimination? First, we serve as a primary line of defense when individuals face unfair treatment for being homeschooled.
We also undertake strategic litigation and support appropriate
legislation to make sure that homeschool graduates have a level
playing field in higher education, the workforce, and elsewhere.
And finally, through telling stories like these, we raise awareness in the homeschool community and beyond, so that parents,
graduates, officials, and employers alike can be empowered to
understand and avoid the pitfalls of discrimination.
“With our 33-year history of victory for homeschooling
families, HSLDA is well-positioned to answer the challenge that
discrimination poses to homeschool graduates,” says HSLDA
president Mike Smith. “Our exceptional legal team doesn’t just
defend your right to homeschool. We are on the front lines to
overcome discrimination wherever it appears. Every day we are
working to make a difference for homeschool graduates and setting a positive course for the future of homeschooling.”
31
{ SPECIAL FEATURE}
Senior Counsel
Dee Black Retires
In December 2015, HSLDA Senior
Counsel Dewitt “Dee” Black became
HSLDA’s first attorney to retire. We
thank and honor Dee for his faithful service to our members from 1990 to 2015.
A quiet, soft-spoken Southerner
whose legal skills were already honed
by 17 years in practice, Dee met HSLDA
cofounders Michael Farris and Michael
Smith at a homeschool conference in
1989. Soon after, the two asked Dee
to assist with South Carolina’s infamous “Triple E” (EEE or Educational
Entrance Examination) cases, and he
began serving as HSLDA’s local counsel
for the state.
With one of the worst homeschooling
laws in the nation at the time, South
Carolina required a parent to have a
bachelor’s degree—or to have a high
school diploma (or GED) and pass
a qualifying examination for public
school teachers. HSLDA filed a class
action suit and the South Carolina State
Supreme Court ruled in favor of homeschoolers in 1991, sending a message to
the rest of the country that public school
teacher exams could not be required for
homeschooling parents.
By the fall of 1990, HSLDA needed
an additional staff attorney and Farris
and Smith invited Dee to join the legal
team. At the time, he and his wife Ricci
were homeschooling their two oldest
children, had a toddler in tow, and were
eagerly anticipating the birth of their
youngest child. Six weeks later, the
32
© HSLDA / CHARITY KLICKA
by Grace Matte
Arkansas natives
Mike Smith and Dee
Black share a love
of homeschooling
and the University of
Arkansas Razorbacks.
No nonsense
delivered
in a soft
Southern
drawl
Blacks moved to Virginia.
“Dee and I had an immediate connection because we both had attended the
University of Arkansas and were raised
in Arkansas,” HSLDA President Mike
Smith said. “Dee’s letters to social workers, public school officials, and police
departments were classics in terms of
masterfully letting the governmental
officials know that they were wrong
in their position. The final paragraph,
however, usually sealed his argument:
‘If you don’t change your position, you
can expect to be in court and your personal assets could be at stake.’ Needless
to say, Dee’s legendary letters got great
results for our members.”
HSLDA Chairman Michael Farris,
head of our litigation team, also praised
Dee’s precise and effective methods. “I
work on the problems that bubble up
from the contact attorneys,” he said.
“Dee is so careful and thorough that
rarely has anything from one of his
states bubbled up to me.”
Through the years, Dee has trained at
least a dozen legal assistants. Seven went
on to become attorneys themselves, and
two of these now work at HSLDA.
“Dee trained me to see details in our
members’ situations that I would have
overlooked, and he was meticulous in
analyzing legislation,” said HSLDA Staff
Attorney Darren Jones, who worked
for Dee from 1996 to 2000. “When I
became an attorney and started assisting members, I frequently would ask
myself how Dee would have approached
a problem. I will miss my friend.”
HSLDA Staff Attorney Thomas “Tj”
Schmidt was one of Dee’s assistants
from 2002 through 2004. “At the time,
Dee was covering 21 states with the help
of two legal assistants,” Tj said. “Dee has
a wonderful South Carolina/Arkansas
the grassroots lobbying of their legislators to get better laws enacted.”
As Dee enters retirement, he and
Ricci are excited about being grandparents, spending more time with family,
and continuing to participate in The
Gideons International.
Dee’s parting message to all of you,
our members: “It has been an honor to
help you with legal problems over the
past 25 years. Looking back, I can see
that God had His hand on my life even
before I knew Him. I have no doubt
that it was God’s blessing to bring me to
HSLDA and permit me to spend my last
years in law practice in such a meaningful way. Thanks to all of you for supporting HSLDA and making this possible.”
We bid Dee Black a fond farewell and
wish him the best! n
NOTE: Look for an introduction of our
new staff attorney Dan Beasley in the
next issue of the Court Report.
© HSLDA / CHARITY KLICKA
accent, but my northern ears were not
always attuned to his southern drawl.”
“I could not have asked for a better
person to train me as a soon-to-be
lawyer,” Tj continued. “Dee was always
very thorough in addressing each
member’s needs. He laid a good foundation for everything that I have done at
HSLDA.”
When asked to reflect on his biggest
accomplishment at HSLDA, Dee said,
“In my time at HSLDA, none of the laws
in my states became more restrictive,
and almost all of them were made more
favorable to home educators.” But, in his
soft-spoken way, he refused to take sole
credit. “Every improvement in the legal
climate in the states assigned to me was
the result of a team effort,” he said. “Our
legal team won victories that made the
law better, and state leaders worked with
us to get bills through the legislatures to
secure more freedom for homeschoolers.
And, of course, our member families did
“
It has been an
honor to help
you with legal
problems over the
past 25 years . . .
Thanks to all of
you for supporting
HSLDA and making
this possible.
”
Retiring HSLDA Senior
Counsel Dewitt Black
looks forward to spending more time with his
wife Ricci, their four
children (Witt, Susannah,
Christina, and Brian), and
their grandson, Bennett.
33
MEMBERSHIP NOTES
{ the Inside Scoop }
Anunciando:
¡Uno, dos, tres!
by Chuck Hurst
Navigating the legal and
academic aspects of
homeschooling is challenging
enough for most families. Now
try doing that in a language
other than your own mother
tongue! As HSLDA’s Spanishspeaking contacts increase,
HSLDA is finding ways to
inform, support, and encourage Hispanic homeschoolers.
Here are three ways we
are reaching out to this
part of our HSLDA family:
Three ways
we are reaching
out to a growing part of our
HSLDA family.
A bilingual HSLDA
representative
A Hispanic homeschool
graduate herself, HSLDA’s membership
representative Sindy Quiñónez responds
to calls and emails from Spanish-
>>UNO:
speaking parents
considering
homeschooling
or requiring help
during the school
year. Sindy also
serves as a translator
for member contacts
with our legal staff and educational consultants. Questions we have
answered include:
>> Muchas gracias por la información que me
mandaste; me ha sido de mucha ayuda. Ayer
me la pasé revisando en el Internet todos los
sitios que amablemente me proporcionaste.
También me siento muy feliz al saber que tengo
a mi alrededor personas que están dando
escuela en casa a sus hijos. Eso me alienta más.
[Thank you for the information you sent me;
it has been of great help. I spent the day online
yesterday reviewing all the sites you kindly gave
me. I also feel happy knowing that I have other
people around me who are homeschooling
their children. That encourages me more.]
Alejandra L. / California
>> Muchas gracias por la información. Fue usted
>> Muchas gracias por la información. Eres excelente y muy
amable. Muchas gracias y que Dios
te bendiga. Nos mantendremos en
contacto.
[Thank you very much for the
information. You are excellent and
very friendly. Thank you and God
bless you. We will stay in contact.]
Ramón C. / Puerto Rico
{
muy amable. Dios le bendiga,
[Thank you for the information. You were very
kind. God bless you,]
Sodiver C. / Puerto Rico
34
Member
Thoughts
}
• My child is having trouble in school
and someone told me about homeschooling. How does it work? Is it
even a possibility for my family?
• I must file paperwork in my state,
but I don’t understand some of the
legal terms in English. Will you
explain what information I must
provide?
• I live in Puerto Rico and would
like my child to receive a bilingual
homeschool education. How can I
do this?
Information in Spanish on
how to start homeschooling
While we are still in the process of producing more Spanish-language resources,
we want to make sure that our website
contains the most essential information
on how to start homeschooling. Hslda.org/
espanol explains the basics of what homeschooling is, how to get started, and how
to apply for HSLDA membership in order
to contact our legal assistants and educational consultants for help throughout
the school year. Parents may also contact
HSLDA through our email address for
Spanish-speakers, [email protected].
>>DOS:
— continued on page 36
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the United States and other countries.
Emails regarding pressing
legislative information for Puerto
Rican homeschoolers
With a large percentage of our Spanishspeaking contacts coming from Puerto
Rico, HSLDA is committed to helping
preserve homeschooling freedom in this
territory. In the past year, this freedom
was threatened twice by proposed legislation. Each time, HSLDA sent out a
Spanish-language email informing Puerto
Rican homeschoolers about the threat,
and explaining what action they could
take. With the help of our Puerto Rican
members and friends, we will continue
to monitor legislation and keep residents
informed.
>>TRES:
This is just the beginning of our
efforts to make homeschooling easier for
Spanish-speaking families. As we work
on developing more bilingual resources
for homeschooling parents, these items
can be starting points for families who are
interested in homeschooling but hesitant
to begin because of the language barrier.
Do you know a Spanish-speaking
family who could benefit from homeschooling? Encourage them to contact
HSLDA for information and support!
Or perhaps you are a member who
has hesitated to contact us because of the
language barrier? We hope that with our
expanded Spanish-language services, you
will agree with what Lourdes, one of our
Puerto Rico members, told us recently:
“Gracias por contestar mis preguntas
acerca de enseñarle en casa a mi hijo con
necesidades especiales. Aprender acerca de
los recursos disponibles y tenerte como traductora para ayudarme a entender me hace
sentir que tú eres mi amiga.” [Thank you
for answering my questions about homeschooling my special needs child. Finding
out what resources are available and having
you to translate and help me understand
makes me feel as if you are my friend.] n
Chuck Hurst is HSLDA’s vice president
of administration.
36
PATRICK HENRY COLLEGE
{ About Campus }
Jack Haye: New
president of Patrick
Henry College
by Aphrodite Kishi
of Trustees. Now, midway through the
college’s 16th year, Haye is stepping into
a new role as its third president.
Haye is no stranger to big transitions.
The son of a preacher, he graduated
from high school at 16 and went off to
study at the University of Louisiana at
Monroe. During that time, Haye, a pianist, joined 15 other musicians to travel
to Eastern Europe as part of a cultural
détente program, where they covertly
supported underground freedom movements in the Soviet bloc.
“It was a life-transforming event for
In 1990, when their oldest child
turned 4 years old, Carol Haye
began to research homeschooling. Her
husband, Jack, was reluctant.
The first time Carol invited him to
attend a homeschool support group in
their neighborhood, Jack got to the host
house and drove right past it. “What are
you doing?” Carol asked.
“Well, I don’t want to park in front
of this house in case someone is writing down license plate numbers,” Jack
replied.
Later that year, Home School Legal
Defense Association sponsored a
conference in Houston, and Carol
convinced Jack to go. That changed
everything.
“I heard such credible
people talk about the homeschooling movement, the
basis of this movement, and
the awesome responsibility
we have as parents,” Jack says.
At the time, the Hayes knew
very few other homeschooling
families—but they were convinced that homeschooling
was the best option for their
family.
“HSLDA has encouraged
so many families, including
ours, by helping us to understand the promise and hope of
homeschooling,” Haye says.
Ten years later, in 2000,
Jack Haye became a founding
Jack Haye became
member and chairman of
PHC’s new president
in September 2015.
Patrick Henry College’s Board
HSLDA has
encouraged so many
families, including
ours, by helping
us to understand the
promise and hope
of homeschooling.
© PATRICK HENRY COLLEGE
— continued from page 34
me,” he says. “I realized that my real
love was music.”
Haye switched his major from the
sciences to music and transferred to
Baylor University, where he completed
his undergraduate degree in music and
pedagogy.
“At this point, I had become a big
believer in the liberal arts,” he says.
“Studying both philosophy and music
opened my mind to a very different
world.”
Upon graduation, Haye pursued an
opera career for a year, then decided to
get a Master of International Management in Finance and Accounting from
Arizona State University. Looking
beyond graduate school, Haye says,
he expected that his undergraduate
liberal arts focus would put him at a
disadvantage compared to others with
undergraduate degrees in business.
Within the next couple of years, however, his liberal arts degree proved to
be a distinct advantage.
For 10 years, Haye held a corporate
position with Bank of America while
serving as a worship pastor at a small
church in Houston, Texas. He then
spent 20 years with Wells Fargo Bank,
where he held senior leadership positions including the role of Executive
Vice President.
Throughout his 30 years in the
corporate banking world, Haye interviewed young MBA students from
top schools in the U.S. who wanted to
enter the leadership pipeline in
the banking industry. Many
of them lacked writing
skills. Some were
stumped when asked
which books they
had read in the last
year—or shocked
when told that Sports
Illustrated didn’t
count.
Liberal arts degrees are
prime targets for corporate
hiring, Haye says. “In the liberal arts,
you’re trained to think about and
interact with ideas and thought. It’s
more than just applying a formula—it’s
stepping back and looking at high-level
problem solving,” he explains. “You
wouldn’t think it’s such a great advantage, but it’s amazing.”
At PHC, all students study a robust
core curriculum that requires them
to read expansively, interact openly
with ideas, and write well. “We’re
training the next generation of classical
teachers and professors through our
CLA major, while our Economics and
Business Analytics program focuses on
training gifted students to serve at the
highest levels of corporate leadership,”
Haye says.
In 2012, Haye’s openness to unexpected callings led him to leave his
corporate banking career of 30 years
to become executive pastor of First
Baptist Church of McKinney, near
Dallas, Texas. And this year, while
participating in a wide-ranging executive search for PHC’s new president,
Haye, to his surprise, was approached
by fellow members of the search committee, who asked him to consider step-
ping into the role himself. This was
an unexpected call, and the Hayes
were happily settled in Texas. But after
days of prayer, Haye felt that God was
leading him once again to step out in
faith and apply for the position—a
decision that met with enthusiastic
agreement from his fellow board members, as well as students, faculty, and
alumni of the college.
“Jack Haye doesn’t
merely understand the
mission and vision
of PHC—he helped
create, shape, and
mold it,” said Michael
Farris at Haye’s presidential investiture in
September.
For Jack and Carol,
living with open hands has
guided them throughout life’s seasons.
They met at Baylor, and in their 34
years of marriage they’ve raised eight
children, including a young man who
entered their lives as a foster son at 20
years old. “We always thought we’d be
open to adoption,” Haye said, “but we
never thought he’d be covered in heavy
beards and tattoos. Matthew has taught
us so much about the unexpected joys
in life.”
Now Haye is embarking on a new
era with PHC. He plans to increase
the student body to 1,000 in 10 years,
and spends his days meeting with
donors, developing inbound marketing
campaigns, and managing the college’s day-to-day operations—all with
a strong commitment to the college’s
distinctive Christian classical liberal
arts emphasis.
“PHC offers a unique classical liberal
arts experience at the university level,”
Haye says. “But it’s more than that. It’s
about spiritual formation as well. God is
the Lord of all. He is Lord of our intellect as well as our actions.” n
Aphrodite Kishi is a senior in Journalism
at Patrick Henry College.
37
THOUGHTS FROM MIKE SMITH
{ the Last Word }
important in this country where every
citizen has a vote. As our children grow
up, they need to learn to value their freedom and to appreciate the foundation of
that freedom.
America’s concept of freedom is built
into our Constitution. It treats the government as the protector and servant of
the people, not as their master. Government bodies—whether federal, state, or
local—only have the power to do what
is specifically delegated to them through
Why teach
government?
One of our goals as parents is to help
our children become responsible
adults. We want our homeschool graduates to be able to comprehend what they
see, hear, and read. We want them to
be able to find the truth—especially the
truth that comes from the word of God—
and to apply the wisdom that they gain to
their lives.
Becoming a responsible adult also
means becoming a responsible citizen.
Responsible citizens vote intelligently
and carefully. They obey the laws, so
long as they do not violate God-given,
fundamental rights. They are selfsupporting and reliable neighbors. And
they make sure that anyone under their
care is properly supported, educated, and
provided for.
I’m glad to say that homeschool graduates are well prepared to be responsible
citizens. For instance, in “Homeschooling
Grows Up,” a 2003 voluntary study of
homeschool graduates, only 4.2% of
the participants considered politics and
government too complicated to understand—compared to 35% of the general
population. So it doesn’t surprise me that
today’s homeschool graduates are working
for candidates, contributing to campaigns,
and voting in higher percentages than the
general population. That’s a remarkable
testimony to the hard work of countless
homeschooling moms and dads!
Freedom takes work
Good citizenship doesn’t just happen
by itself—it takes a lot of education. And
teaching our children about their citizenship and their government is especially
38
© HSLDA / ART COX
by J. Michael Smith
countries that do not follow this recipe
for freedom.
Our children also need to understand
the judicial system. Our courts were
designed to play a crucial role in preserving our constitutional form of government. So when the U.S. Supreme Court
hands down a decision, our children need
to understand the reasoning and philosophy that led to that decision. They should
be familiar with concepts like “original
intent,” which tells judges to try to figure
out what the Constitution’s authors
meant in light of the historical context,
and to treat case precedent as binding law.
They should also study the competing
philosophy, which views the Constitution
as a nice starting point, but treats it as a
Good citizenship
doesn’t just happen
by itself—it takes
a lot of education.
J. Michael Smith, president
of Home School Legal Defense Association
their respective legislatures. Citizens, on
the other hand, are free to do anything
that is not specifically restricted by our
laws.
This limited form of government is
a valuable heritage, and one that isn’t
shared by many other countries. But it
can only exist through the hard work
of literate and active citizens, who elect
government officials and politicians committed to upholding this form of government. We have seen what can happen to
“living document” that must adjust itself
to the times.
So with a proper understanding of the
American concept of liberty, our limited
form of government, and our country’s
constitutional makeup, homeschool
graduates can help hold our government
accountable. They will recognize when
the courts overstep their authority and
will be able to use the American system
of checks and balances to rein them in.
By understanding their own history and
political system, they can fulfill their
responsibility to seek justice for the
oppressed, restrain the government from
unlawful actions, and preserve our civil
rights as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.
Learning to be a good neighbor
We also want to educate and encourage our children to be civic-minded.
Civic life is more than simply being
involved in politics. A good citizen
should be involved in the community,
volunteering to make a better place for
all of us to live. I believe we all have a
duty to give back to our community out
of thanksgiving for the freedom and
prosperity we enjoy in America. All of
us should stay involved in organizations like community groups, churches,
synagogues, unions, and professional
organizations.
Homeschooling creates an effective
environment for nuturing community
involvement. In “Home Schooling Grows
Up,” 83% of homeschool graduates
reported that they were participating
in a civic organization, 96.5% said they
could make a comment or statement at
a public meeting, and 98.4% said they
could write a letter to a government official that clearly stated their opinion.
We also want our graduates to be
able to impart their understanding and
knowledge to others. America is a nation
of immigrants. It is therefore vital for
us to come alongside recent immigrants
who may have come from very different
political environments and help them
understand the American way. For
instance, someone from a country
where democracy and communism are
the only two political positions may
be misled when American politicians
invoke the language of “democracy” in
support of socialism. Education is the
key to helping these folks understand
how they can protect the freedom they
now enjoy in this country.
Three keys to teaching government
Homeschooling gives us the opportunity to choose the very best resources
and opportunities for learning about
government. So how do we teach this
subject? Here are three broad areas that
you should consider covering:
>>Overview of the history and
structure of our government. This
should be part of any student’s
government curriculum. There
are many good textbooks and
resources available on this topic.
And in fact, HSLDA Online Academy provides honorslevel courses in
U.S. history,
government,
and politics
(academy.hslda.
org). I also highly
recommend the
Constitutional
Literacy course
designed by
Michael Farris,
HSLDA Chairman
and founder and
a talented Constitutional scholar
(hslda.org/conlit).
>>Original sources.
Your student will
benefit from reading
contemporary works like
the Federalist Papers, collected
political speeches and sermons,
George Washington’s farewell
address, and the Lincoln-Douglas
debates.
>>Biographies and commentaries.
Good historical biographies and
commentaries can bring history
to life and help your student
synthesize historical facts into a
coherent understanding of history. Two classic commentaries
that I would recommend are
Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy
in America and Russell Kirk’s The
Roots of American Order.
The fact is, I know you are already
doing a great job of teaching your children to be good citizens. But let us never
forget what John Adams said about
the system of government set up in the
Constitution: that it would only survive
if its citizens were a moral and religious
people. Thank you all for teaching your
children about our unique form of
government, and for teaching them to
be the kind of citizens who can sustain
it, too. n
>>Order your
copy at hslda.org/
Q415store.
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does not imply recommendation
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Legal Defense Association, and the
opinions expressed by advertisers do
not necessarily reflect the views of
HSLDA. Use of any information,
product, or service herein advertised
is voluntary, and reliance upon it
should only be undertaken after
independent review.
Advertisers in this issue
Apologia Educational Ministries............2
Building the Machine..............................18
Greek ’n’ Stuff....................................... 24
Home School Foundation..................... 13
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PHC Teen Leadership Camps................14
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39
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senior counsel dee black retires federal student tracking

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