CHEWV

Tag: CHEWV legislative

  • Call for New Homeschool Regulations

    Call for New Homeschool Regulations

    CHEWV has been seeing news articles calling for new homeschool regulations in West Virginia nearly every week! Some information in them is legitimate but misplaced; other tidbits are downright frightening. Altogether, it’s evidence that there is a real and concentrated effort to further regulate homeschooling in the upcoming legislative session. Let’s start with one of the frightening quotes.

    “School provides much more these days than academics. It’s a place where kids get food, medical care and in some cases clothing, ” stated Kimberly Miller, president of the West Virginia Association of School Administrators and Ohio County Superintendent, on September 18th’s Metro News Talkline. Miller continued, “I feel that the school is all-encompassing, we are taking care of the whole child, not just academics…” That’s Miller’s reasoning for having eyes on homeschoolers each year.

    Surely parents assume that this role is theirs –  that parents make choices for their children including where they are schooled and how they are educated, as well as what they are fed, what they wear, and what medical care they receive and from whom.

    Who IS Accountable For The Care of Children?

    Think about the implications of Superintendent Miller’s statement. If one accepts the premise that the public school system, instead of the parents, takes “care of the whole child,” then it might follow that all children, including homeschoolers, private school students, IIP students and others, should be on the radar screen of the public school on a regular basis so that school administrators can make sure they are safe and well. If the school system sees itself as being responsible for ALL children, they see their role extending into the homes, regularly evaluating the fitness of parents and ensuring the wellbeing of the children. Accordingly, Miller concludes that if school districts are going to be held accountable for all students [including homeschoolers], then they need to have personal contact with those students.

    Unlike Miller and other school administrators, we do not believe that the school system is accountable for students who are not public school students. We don’t even believe that they are accountable for public school students beyond academics and safety during the time that they are at the school. Ultimately, whether attending public school or not, all parents remain accountable for their own children.

    Therefore, if parents don’t choose the public school for the educational component of their own child’s upbringing, the school system has little accountability for that child.

    Regulations for Privately-Homeschooled Children

    WV homeschools are legally required to provide certain documents to the public school system: notice of intent to provide home instruction, assurance that the child will receive instruction in certain general subjects, and roughly triennial submissions of academic assessment results.

    In turn, the superintendent (or a designee) necessarily must track whether homeschool parents/guardians are timely submitting required academic assessments. If assessment results are not submitted, county school officials can follow up to determine why.

    If the failure to timely submit the assessment is not excusable, then the county can request information to ensure that the homeschooled student is being academically assessed and instructed in the required subjects. Thereafter, when supported by a probable cause showing of educational neglect, the superintendent may petition a circuit court to deny home instruction. The circuit court may grant such a petition upon clear and convincing evidence that “the child will suffer neglect in his or her education” or “other compelling reasons to deny home instruction.”  [WV Code 18-8-1(c)(2)].

    Everything in the homeschool law is about ACADEMICS: instruction, academic progress, academic assessments, and educational neglect. The county’s interface with homeschoolers is legally intended to be all about academics – not an “all encompassing” in-person annual evaluation of child welfare.

    What About Abused Children?

    The recent news stories about children who have been abused are tragic. Thankfully, there is a state agency that ensures the protection of children. However, it is not the school system – it’s Child Protective Services (CPS). CPS received reports on, and did investigations in the homes of both Raylee Browning and Kynnedi Miller.

    If school administrators want to focus on the welfare of non-public school children, they should work to make CPS more effective at identifying and appropriately handling cases of child abuse. Certainly, abuse does happen – even within public schools by public school personnel. In fact, a frightening amount of abuse happens in the school system, both at the hands of school personnel as well as through peer bullying. Allegations of abuse of all sorts should be investigated – by the agency created and funded for that purpose.

    CHEWV is not advocating for ignoring abuse. We are saying that the public school system does not have – and should not have – a legal duty or right to conduct annual inspections of homeschoolers. Abuse claims should absolutely be investigated – with speed, diligence, and sensitivity – by CPS, the agency with the duty and training to do such work.

    It’s the responsibility of school system employees to report suspected abuse to CPS whenever they encounter it as part of their routine job regarding academics. However, situations of physical abuse should not be exploited to expand the role of an academic institution into an “all encompassing” caretaker.

    The Conclusion

    There has always been distrust of – and sometimes downright animosity toward – homeschoolers by public school system personnel. First, it was that parents aren’t really qualified to teach their own children at home. That fallacy has been disproved by many well-educated, successful homeschool students. However, now we face a new charge: parents can’t be trusted to take care of their own children.

    School systems should be held accountable for the safety of children while in their care. However, to say they should be responsible for the safety of every child is a grave mistake.

  • Does it Matter if Schooling at Home is “Homeschooling?”

    Does it Matter if Schooling at Home is “Homeschooling?”

    [et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.23.1″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]

    “The problem for us as home school leaders… is that in the minds of many, if you are at home with your kids, the distinction about whether you get state money or not is irrelevant,” lamented HSLDA President Jim Mason as reported in a 2023 Washington Examiner article.

    Certainly, “if you are at home with your kids,” everyone thinks of you as a homeschooler. During the pandemic it was claimed that everyone was homeschooling. But that wasn’t true. Most children were public school students doing their work at home. Because they were schooling at home, however, the public at large labeled them “homeschoolers.” Even homeschoolers themselves often made that leap when they were talking or writing.

    Why, then, does the “label” matter? It’s because when the public views all students at home as homeschoolers, then so do legislators. And legislators who categorize all children schooling at home in a single, indistinguishable group will begin to pass laws that affect all of them as if they are one homogenous population.

    Early in 2018, CHEWV wrote about the vast legal and philosophical differences between public-school-at-home students (a new concept at the time) and homeschoolers. Little did we know that public funding would move closer to home and the line would push toward less and less distinction in 2021. 

    More than ever before, it’s essential for homeschoolers, and especially homeschool leaders throughout our state, to understand what a legal WV homeschooler is and why each specific exemption from compulsory education stands clearly delineated in the law.

    If you are a co-op or support group leader in West Virginia but are not part of our WV Homeschool Leaders Facebook group, please contact Terri at community@chewv.org. That group is one way we try to get word out to homeschool leaders.

    [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

  • Legislative Heads Up

    Legislative Heads Up

    As we head quickly toward legislative season, it has become important to explain the stakes.

    Where Are We Now?

    The 1986 exemption from mandatory public school attendance that first allowed modern era homeschooling was a hard-won battle. Since then, we have continued to work diligently to remove unnecessary hurdles and maintain the legal recognition of the parents’ right to direct the education of their child with minimal government intrusion or entanglement.

    Exemption C2, the homeschooling exemption, is minimally entangled with the government. There is no overseeing committee, no application or approval process, and relatively little regulation. Those freedoms, too, have been extremely hard won over decades of effort working with (and often against) state legislatures and the educational bureaucracies.

    When West Virginia’s school choice legislation was passed in 2021, CHEWV worked hard to keep the Hope scholarship exemptions separated from the 1986 exemption for privately funded homeschooling – because we know that government funding means more regulation and less freedom.

    Currently, Hope students, learning pod students, microschool students, public school students, private school students, and homeschoolers are all separated in the law – in entirely different exemptions. Each option has its own requirements specified in the law. And that’s how it needs to stay.

    Where Are We Headed?

    Based on this past legislative session and the chatter since, we have reason to believe that private homeschooling freedom is threatened. Under the guise of a worthy cause – equal rights and privileges for Hope students –  we could all find ourselves being grouped together under the same regulations.

    That is unacceptable.

    It’s true that all students should have access to diploma equity, the PROMISE scholarship, and other benefits enjoyed by privately-funded homeschoolers. However, that equality needn’t come at the expense of private homeschooling. Assuring these benefits for Hope students can and should be accomplished by adding wording to the proper sections of law addressing those specific benefits – not by grouping everyone who does school at home under the same legal definition and requirements.

    It’s imperative to keep privately-funded options completely LEGALLY separate from government-funded options. Privately-funded homeschooling that is led by the parent is the ultimate safety net for every child because it brings the child fully back under the loving safety and authority of the parent. We know that government funding is a desirable perk for many families, and perhaps even necessary for some families for private school tuition. BUT we still need to maintain the separate legal category for the “safety net” – so that it will always be there when any family needs it – without government pre-approval, without stipulations on what curriculum can be used, without unnecessary government intrusion. 

    Both privately-funded homeschooling and Hope individualized instruction programs can be used by parents to effectively educate their child. We can form co-ops and learn together, we can take field trips together, we can be friends and play together.  But we cannot confuse the two legal exemptions. We can’t merge them together in the law and still maintain the integrity of that legal safety net for any family could one day need it.

    What’s the Next Step? 

    What is needed right now is three-fold.

    1. Pray. “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord protect the city, the watchmen watch in vain.” Pray for the Lord to go before us and protect that which we’ve gained by His grace over the past three decades. Pray that He would disarm those who work against us
    2. Become knowledgeable. We recommend our recent article explaining how the private homeschool exemption is the safety net for all parents. Read carefully for how privately-funded homeschooling is different at its core than any type of government funded option.
    3. Use discernment. Sometimes proposals are well intended but will have unintended negative consequences. Sometimes words may sound good and reasonable, but they may be purposefully designed by an enemy of homeschooling who is seeking to lay groundwork to limit our freedom. Things that sound good or are well intended can still be very dangerous.

    Please stay abreast of this issue throughout the coming months. It matters little whether you are a Hope recipient, a pod school student, or a private homeschooler. We all have a stake in maintaining separate legal exemptions. We can all be integrated in our educational activities, but maintaining this legal separation keeps us all safer as we move ahead.