Out of a purity of intent, no doubt, there is a bill in the Michigan legislature that would keep track of kids being homeschooled. From the Detroit News...
As more homeschool, state could track kids
LAKE ORION -- School is just at the bottom of the stairs every morning for Haley Gernet.
The 15-year-old Lake Orion girl is among an increasing number of students nationwide and in Metro Detroit who are being taught at home, a trend that has some state lawmakers interested in knowing more about exactly how many Michigan families are choosing homeschooling and why.
A bill pending in the state House would require Michigan families, for the first time, to register their homeschooled children with their local school district superintendent by name, age and grade level. Backers say it's the only way to get an accurate picture of the number of students being educated in Michigan.
What would possibly be the point here? To know how many kids are in Michigan being homeschooled? Why in the world is that relevant, and why is it the business of the state? The excuse from the bill's sponsor sounds quite hollow to my ears...
Rep. Brenda Clack, D-Flint, said she introduced the bill earlier this year to allow for a complete picture of the number of students being educated in Michigan. Clack taught in the Flint school district for 32 years.
The bill is not meant to intrude on parents and the way they teach their children, Clack said.
"There's this fear out there from especially those that are homeschooling that there is going to be an infringement, that this will lead to something else," she said.
"As a former educator, all I need is accountability in terms of numbers of students being educated."
Many children who are homeschooled in their elementary years transfer to public schools in middle or high school "because they want to be mainstreamed with everyone else," Clack said. But without any accountability as to the "number of students that are being homeschooled, it could pose a problem in the future. (Registering) gives information for districts to plan in the future, even the building of new schools."
Clack said the bill, which has 23 co-sponsors, is awaiting discussion in the House Education Policy Committee. It is not clear whether the bill will get attention this session, because the committee is focused on schools that aren't meeting federal academic standards, said Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, committee chairman.
"We're fully focused on the schools that are failing," he said. The bill will need to be reintroduced if it's not acted on by the end of the year, but Clack -- who is term-limited -- said she believes her co-sponsors will carry on.
They need a warning for the hordes of homeschool kids that are suddenly going to show up at public schools? Really? To me this sounds more like the proverbial camels nose under the tent, a preparation for more serious intrusion. Even if every kid being homeschooled suddenly showed up at school, those schools that their parents already pay taxes to support even though their kids don't attend, the impact would be negligible. On the other hand, if the goal is to progressively make it more difficult to homeschool and thus drive these children back into the public school, the first step would be to find the families that are homeschooling and register their kids. Am I being alarmist? I don't think so. The education establishment is openly hostile to homeschooling because anything that challenges the public school status quo threatens union jobs for teachers and staff at those schools. Those of us who choose to homeschool our own children (a key point, our kids aren't wards of the state, they are OUR children and the default should always be to our decision making) are concerned with the education and well-being of our children, first and foremost, and the ultimate decision making for our child's education starts and stops with their parents.
Maybe the education establishment should be concerned about the schools that are a trainwreck from the UP to Pellston to Grand Rapids to Detroit. How many thousands of kids are stuck in failing schools, yet the legislature is concerned about registering homeschool kids like they are handguns? I guess that would be the case if the education establishment were concerned with educating children instead of protecting jobs. If you are a homeschooler in Michigan, let your state representatives know that you oppose registration of homeschool kids, and if you are a homeschooler or care about real choice in education for kids, keep this in mind when you go to vote in November...
The deplorable status of preparation for our children, particularly in comparison with the rest of the industrialized world, does not allow us the luxury of eliminating options in our educational repertoire. John McCain will fight for the ability of all students to have access to all schools of demonstrated excellence, including their own homes.
From JohnMcCain.com on education
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