January 26, 2004

Home-Schooling Under Attack in Tennessee

Homeschooling is under attack in Tennessee, via what looks to be a very simple proposed change in the law. But the proposed change is not so simple - it actually would put Tennessee in violation of the federal No Child Left Behind act.

The Home School Legal Defense Association comments:

House Bill 2163, recently introduced by Representative Mike Turner, would require all non-public high school students to take the Gateway end-of-course tests in order to graduate from high school. This bill would not only mandate testing of all homeschool and church-related high school students but would also effectively require them to conform their curriculum to match that of the public schools.

Currently, only eight states require testing as the only means of evaluating a home instruction program, and no state requires homeschool students to be tested on state content standards. Furthermore, studies have shown that increased state oversight of homeschooling does not result in higher academic achievement.

Another problem with enactment of this legislation is that it will result in a violation of federal law, since it will require homeschool students to take the same tests by which the state complies with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Among other things, this federal law requires states to test public school students in the areas of mathematics, reading or language arts, and science at certain grade levels in order to measure their achievement of state academic content and achievement standards. However, HSLDA added into this federal law a provision which specifically excludes homeschools from the testing
requirement:

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to affect a home school, whether or not a home school is treated as a home school or a private school under State law, nor shall any student schooled at home be
required to participate in any assessment referenced in this chapter.

If you'd prefer to call or write Rep. Turner, his contact info - and that of the rest of the Tennessee legislature - can be found here. Tell 'em you saw at it HobbsOnline.