Truancy Masquerading as Homeschooling

In January of 2007, a bill was filed in the Oklahoma State Senate that would have required home educators to register with the State and have their local Board of Education review and approve their curriculum. The bill was not heard in committee and died, but the well meaning concern will not.

I wrote this response to the bill.

"This bill is Senator XXX’s attempt to answer the question, 'How do we stop parents who say they are home educating and are not doing so?' The following is an answer to why, in this instance, hard cases make bad laws. Parents have the constitutional right to direct the education of their children. The State does not have the right or responsibility to interfere with the education of children not in the public school system. Aside from the Oklahoma Constitution and Oklahoma Supreme Court decisions, as recently as the year 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court in Troxel v. Granville, stated: (”In a long line of cases, we have held that, in addition to specific freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights, the ‘liberty’ specifically protected by the Due Process Clause includes the right … to direct the education and upbringing of one’s children” (citing Myer and Pierce)). In light of this extensive precedent, it cannot now be doubted that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children."

"To give a practical example of how these rights would be infringed and why this law is not practical, consider the 'Meth Lab Example.' Substitute 'parents who are not homeschooling' for 'meth lab.' What do we do about the problem of meth labs being run illegally in homes in Oklahoma? True, most residents are law-abiding citizens. But, some have meth labs in their homes. We don’t even know how many there are out there. The answer is to have every citizen sign a document declaring that they are not running a meth lab in their home. To insure that there is no meth lab abuse in their home, each citizen will be required to allow government authorities access to their homes twice a year, so that the state can verify that their home is meth free. What are citizens trying to hide? If they are not running meth labs in their home, this should not be a problem."

"This is an obvious violation of our rights as citizens. This bill considers an entire class of citizens (home educating parents) as guilty until proven innocent. But, it is also impractical. Consider that criminals will not comply with laws that expose their criminal behavior. Scofflaws will continue to scoff at laws. Oklahoma has adequate laws against truancy and educational neglect. When necessary, with clear evidence, they need to be enforced. Unless there is clear evidence, as citizens, we are presumed innocent."

"This bill would be costly and burdensome to both parents and the public school districts. The public school districts do not have the funds or personnel to add registration duties or adequately access the progress of students not in the public school system. Increased regulation does not produce better students, only more impoverished parents forced to teach to a curriculum that may have little correlation to the actual educational abilities and levels of their children. It undermines our freedom and flexibility to direct the education of our children."