Category Archives: Elections

Educational, Elections, Homeschooling

Can You Trust Them To Support It If They Won’t Sign Their Name To It?

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Educational choice is the new buzz word/phrase in the great educational reform debate. How quickly politicians learn just the right thing to say when trying to woo voters. But do their words line up with their actions? That’s the great conundrum of politics. How do you tell when a candidate or elected official is really dedicated to a cause? Well, you can consider it a huge red flag when they are reluctant to put their name on something, something like the Educational Freedom Pledge.

For the last few years, Homeschooling United has been following the “trends” in “Educational Reform” and watching how the federal government has been closing the gap on parental and educational freedoms, not only in public education, but in the private and homeschooling realms, as well. And we have also been watching the attitudes of politicians waffle between falling into line to follow “establishment” directives and fighting for the rights and independence of individual educational choice and freedoms. When Homeschooling United first introduced The Pledge, candidates were all too happy to be associated with educational freedom and homeschooling. Recent developments within establishment politics and educational reform trends have found it more difficult to locate character within potentially elected who are willing to sign their names on pledges to fight for basic and fundamental rights of parents to make educational choices for their own children. Choices that were once rudimentary to our culture as Americans.

As we look to the August primary we will update the list of candidates who choose to defend educational freedom and those who do not. Please take a look at the platforms of all the potential candidates and make your choices based on facts. But please don’t be swayed by excuses. Candidates who make it a policy to not sign pledges, but tell you they support your cause need to be more thoroughly vetted before you give them your support.

Among the candidates who have the courage to stand openly for educational freedom are:

Ed Martin, candidate for Missouri Attorney General, Bill Randles and Fred Saeur, candidates for Missouri Governor, Martin Baker, candidate for the 1st congressional district, Tom Martz, candidate for state representative in district 131, Terry Varner, candidate for state senate in district 3, Cynthia Davis, candidate for Missouri Lt. Governor, and Eva Guest, committee woman candidate in St. Charles County.

Dave Spence, candidate for Missouri Governor, John Brunner, candidate for US Senate, and Ann Wagner candidate for the 2nd congressional district have all declined to support Educational Freedom.

Look for more updates soon, as we add to the list before the primary.

UPDATE: Fred Saeur, previously listed as in non support of the Pledge, has contacted Homeschooling United and supports the Educational Freedom Pledge. Edits have been made to this post to reflect that change. 4:00 PM Wednesday June 27, 2012

Educational, Elections, Homeschooling, Legislation, parenting

Compulsory School Age Mandates On Steroids?

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Every year, in Missouri, homeschoolers face legislation that threatens their parental rights and educational freedoms. Each year, lawmakers present bills, in some form, that mandates compulsory school age. The heavy hand of big government attempts to mandate compulsory school attendance because they know the more time they can mandate children spend in government schools, the more influence they can have on your children. Homeschoolers must always be vigilant in monitoring these attempts encroach on compulsory education requirements because these regulations will, without fail, reach over into homeschooling regulations, and parental rights to direct the education of our children will be forever lost.

On Tuesday evening, in his State of the Union Address, the president stated it was his intention to propose that every state mandate a raise in compulsory school age to 18. As homeschoolers, this flies in the face of all parental authority in deciding what is best for our children in the educational realm we choose appropriate.

Michel P. Farris, of Home School Legal Defense, issued a statement yesterday, urging all members of the homeschooling community to make their voices heard regarding the potential intrusion on educational freedom and parental rights proposed by the Obama administration.

Call Now!

Right now, please call the White House and your members of Congress, and give them this message:

“Last night, President Obama called for the government to mandate that all children stay in school until they graduate or turn age 18. This is not the federal government’s responsibility. Leave education decisions to parents, not federal bureaucrats. Tell President Obama to withdraw his compulsory attendance mandate immediately.”

  • The White House: 202-456-1414, or send an online message.
  • Your U.S. representative and two U.S. senators: 202-224-3121 (Capitol Switchboard) or use HSLDA’s Legislative Toolbox to find their names and contact info.

There appears to be no limit to this president’s desire for power. Car companies, banks, doctors, and now schools and the family. But this time he’s gone way too far, and homeschoolers and freedom-loving Americans need to make sure that he hears our message.

Thank you for standing with us for freedom.

Sincerely,

Michael P. Farris, JD, LLM
Chairman, HSLDA
Elections, Homeschooling

Ed Martin, Candiate For U.S. Congress, Promotes Educational Freedom!

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Several months ago, Ed Martin signed on to Homeschooling United’s pledge for Educational Freedom. Mr. Martin is running for Missouri’s second congressional district’s seat. His enthusiastic support of homeschooling and less regulation in education is very much appreciated by those of us who value our parental rights and smaller government as it relates to choosing the right educational situations for our children. You can see Mr. Martin’s signed pledge here.

Check out his website and learn more about his plans for bringing more sovereignty to the people of Missouri.

Homeschooling United has contacted Ann Wagner’s campaign, but has not received confirmation of support for the Educational Freedom Pledge as of this posting. We will keep you posted as we look forward to hearing from her campaign soon, relating to the Ambassador’s stance on homeschooling, parental rights and less regulation in education.

Educational, Elections, Homeschooling

Time To Vet Candidates Who Support Educational Freedom, And Those Who Don’t

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/user/SplashLPN?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/SC9fscufcJI]

Missouri is a hot bed of anticipated educational reform. Not much different than the rest of the country, actually. Since the inception of the Obama administration and its trend to nationalize “everything,” Arne Duncan, his education secretary, has been instrumental in pushing for the same in education. In Missouri, the legislature has struggled with finding a way to solve the problems of its abysmally poor performing public education system by way of various “school choice” and “educational reform” initiatives.

Why should homeschooling families be worried about what goes on in the public education realm? With Arne Duncan at the helm of the department of education, it may not be long before private schools and homeschooling will fall under the same mandates as public education. Common core standards have been adopted by most states in the country and Missouri has fallen in line with the trend. The promotion of Charter Schools is the latest school reform, flavor of the month in Missouri, but they promise nothing in the betterment of education as they are sure to fall under the same common core mandates as the rest of public education.

So, what’s a parent to do about the education of the nation’s future generations? Well, perhaps it is time to think outside the traditional education reform box, elect some non-establishment leaders and consider giving the decisions and responsibility of education back to the people. Bill Randles, candidate for governor in Missouri spoke to a group of concerned voters, recently, and thinks the people should make educational decisions for their children and their tax dollars should be directed as they see fit, for educational purposes, not the government. He proposes a voucher system for Missouri in addition to amending the Missouri Constitution to change how the budget addresses education.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC9fscufcJI]

Homeschoolers have always been wary of vouchers and HSLDA has issued a statement on their stance regarding the issue. Strings attached has always been a major stumbling block in wide spread acceptance of vouchers. Randles feels he can devise a system that will be free of the ‘strings attached’ problem and just give taxpayers their money back, to spend as they see fit.

Homeschoolers need to engage, int he current election cycle, and educate themselves about who will best represent them, and advocate for the freedom to choose the appropriate education for their own children.

Elections

Which National Candidates Will Support Educational Freedom?

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As campaign season starts, we remind you to be engaged and informed about the candidates running for elected office in 2012. The people we put put in office have a lot of power to influence educational freedom and parental rights across the state and nation.

We, at Homeschooling United, have contacted several candidates running for US Congress and Senate, and asked them to sign the Educational Freedom Pledge as well as submit a “guest-post” so that they can tell you, first hand, about their views regarding education. So far, Ed Martin, candidate for the 2nd congressional district, has signed The Pledge. We have also contacted Ann Wagner, a candidate for that district, as well. U.S Senate candidates, Congressman Todd Akin, Sarah Steelman, and Senator Claire McCaskill have also been been offered the opportunity to advocate for parental rights and educational freedom. If anyone else jumps into the fray, we will also give them the same opportunity to communicate with the homeschooling community, here. We hope to hear from all of these candidates soon and look forward to their support for educational choice.

UPDATE: 5/18/2011 – Congressman Russ Carnahan was left off the list of contacts. He also received and invitation to support educational freedom. Sorry for the oversight.