Tag Archives: parental rights

Educational, Legislation

Missouri Education Legislative Updates 2/17/11

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Here are some updates and some additional bills to watch, as of this week.

HB179 Raises the compulsory school attendance age to 18 in all school districts unless the student has successfully completed 16 credits towards high school graduation. This bill also takes authority away from metropolitan school districts to adopt resolutions to the contrary of this legislation as is now allowed by law. Introduced on 1/12/11 with two readings and recommended to the Elementary and Education committee on 2/8/11

(2) Seventeen] eighteen years of age or having successfully completed sixteen credits 73 towards high school graduation [in all other cases. The school board of a metropolitan school district for which the compulsory attendance age is seventeen years may adopt a resolution to lower the compulsory attendance age to sixteen years; provided that such resolution shall take effect no earlier than the school year next following the school year during which the resolution  is adopted].

HB463 This bill is all about funding virtual schools. Homeschoolers need to watch this one if they plan to be part of virtual schools because this bill is heavily focused on federal funding for students of virtual schools and expanding charter schools. It could have the potential for identifying homeschoolers or mandating curriculum.

Such nonresident students shall be defined as virtual resident students.

For now we are just red flagging this one. We don’t want it to grow into issues of registration for homeschooling or mandating curriculum since the push is to have Common Core Standards be the rule throughout Missouri. Introduced on 2/9/11 and has had two readings to then be recommended to the Elementary and Secondary Education committee. It seems to be on the fast track.

SB20 was heard in committee on 2/9/11. To date there is no action listed on the General Assembly website, which means it is not dead, but has not advanced. It is still possible for this bill to advance on its own or be hidden in an omnibus bill before the end of the legislative session.

SB21 While scheduled to be heard in the 2/9/11 hearing it was not debated. Again, we are not out of the woods on these bills. They could end up being resurrected and voted through before the end of the session.

SB124 This bill was heard in the 2/9/11 committee hearing and holds the same status as SB20 and SB21.

Thank you to all who sent in testimonial forms for last week’s hearings. Being informed and engaged is the best way to ensure freedom and influence your representation. We hope the legislators understand that homeschooling must remain free from extraneous mandates and restrictions. It is preferable to see these bills that threaten parental rights and homeschooling freedoms to die as soon as possible, this legislative session.

Head Scratcher of the Week – SB222, introduced by Senator Jane Cunningham, basically eliminates restrictions on the child labor laws. Read it for yourself, folks. I can’t even imagine what she was thinking when she introduced this one. It has received two readings and has been referred to General Laws on 2/10/11.

Legislation

Call To Action For Illinois Homeschoolers

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A bill is advancing (SB136) through the Illinois legislature that would require homeschoolers in that state to register with their department of education. Additionally, this bill would give Illinois DESE unlimited power to request any kind of information as part of the registration process. Most homeschoolers see this as an enormous breach of parental rights and educational choice freedom.

Missouri homeschool networks are watching this legislation very closely and some may join them at a rally on February 15th at the Illinois State capitol. In fact, many states are facing sweeping education reforms initiated by the federal government and President Obama’s Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, formerly the Illinois Education Secretary. It is important, in the opinion of many homeschoolers that this bill be defeated because if restrictive mandates fall upon private and homeschoolers in Illinois, it will also happen in other states across the country.

Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is requesting that Illinois homeschoolers attend hearings on February 15 at the state capitol in Springfield and to contact their legislators.

1. Please attend the hearing on February 15 at 10:45 a.m. in Room 212 in the state Capitol, Springfield, Ill. Feel free to bring well-behaved children. Please consider taking a day of vacation from work to protect your freedom. A big crowd will send a powerful message. Fill out a witness slip as you enter the room if you wish to speak. We are hoping for a very big crowd! Could you car pool and bring more people?

2. Prior to the hearing, call your senator if he or she is a committee member (see list below). Use our Legislative Toolbox to find out who your senator is. Even senators whom you think already oppose the bill need to hear from you!

3. If your senator is not on the committee, call the chairperson, the vice chairperson and the minority spokesman (see below).

4. Your message can be as simple as: “Please vote NO on SB 136.
Studies show that homeschooling prepares students for college better than other types of education. There is no need for government to expand into an area that is already so successful. A new registration mandate will require taxes to go up to pay for it.”

5. Attend the rally before the hearing! ICHE is holding a rally in the auditorium of the Howlett Building, 501 South 2d St., Springfield, Il before the hearing. Details will follow!

6. Pass this message on to others!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Chairperson : James T. Meeks
Springfield Office: (217) 782-8066
District Office: (708) 862-1515

Vice-Chairperson : Kimberly A. Lightford
Springfield Office: (217) 782-8505
District Office: (708) 343-7444

Member: Gary Forby
Springfield Office: (217) 782-5509
District Office: (618) 439-2504

Member: Susan Garrett
Springfield Office: (217) 782-3650
District Office: (847) 433-2002

Member: Iris Y. Martinez
Springfield Office: (217) 782-8191
District Office: (773) 463-0720

Member: John G. Mulroe
Springfield Office: (217) 782-1035
District Office: (773) 763-3810

Minority Spokesperson : David Luechtefeld
Springfield Office: (217) 782-8137
District Office: (618) 243-9014

Member: J. Bradley Burzynski
Springfield Office: (217) 782-1977
District Office: (815) 895-6318

Member: Kyle McCarter
Springfield Office: (217) 782-5755
District Office: (217) 428-4068

Member: Suzi Schmidt
Springfield Office: (217) 782-7353
District Office: (224) 372-7465

 

Legislation

Tying Up All The Loose Ends And Connecting The Dots: RT3/Educated Citizenry 2020

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Representative Scott Dieckhaus responded to a previous post on this blog with some accusations as to the validity of the information presented here regarding Race To The Top and Educated Citizenry 2020.

To tie Educated Citizenry 2020, Race to the Top, and the Common Core Standards together as one movement is erroneous.  To assume that they are being hatched from the same group of people is laughable. To jump to the conclusion on a previous post that just because someone (myself) listens to Arne Duncan speak somehow indicates that the person supports everything that Arne Duncan does is irresponsible.  I do hope that facts and responsibility find their way onto this blog soon – otherwise I am sure that the main stream, left-wing media could use a few more reporters similar to these.

–Scott Dieckhaus

Homeschooling United stands by the information we provide to you and appreciates your attention to monitoring legislation and legislators to ensure educational freedoms and parental rights.

As there is some disagreement between Representative Dieckhaus and Homeschooling United, as it relates to the erroneous tying together of RTTT/Common Core Standards/Educated Citizenry 2020, I would like to present some facts that will put this issue to rest. I would also mention that it is very important for all citizens to understand how this is not just an issue related to the public education sector. Educated Citizenry 2020/RT3 (Race To The Top)/Common Core Standards will affect all forms of  education, and that does include the homeschooling community.

In January of 2010 Missouri applied for RT3 Initial Funding. The application was removed from the internet, but I can provide you with screen shots from the PDF file that was saved before it was removed. The applications show, very clearly, that Missouri was seriously pursuing RT3, its funding, and all of the requirements and mandates that went with it. In my opinion, Missourians have been calling for real educational reform for quite some time, before RT3 came on to the scene, but why does the legislature and DESE feel we need to be “nudged” (or led by the nose) to adopt a plan that may create more problems than it solves? And is there a plan to include parents in the decision-making process? RT3 and Educated Citizenry 2020, at this point, provide less local control and parental input than previously held philosophies that were previously the cornerstones of educational success.

Our vision for reform embraces the notion advanced in the book, Nudge, where Thaler and Sunstein outline the need for “choice architects” to subtly steer choices toward positive results while leaving people, districts and schools “free to choose.” We know that if Missouri’s public schools are to be the best choice for our citizens, they must produce the best results. This Race to the Top competition has provided the “nudge” Missouri needed to pick up the pace.

The foundations for RT3 and Educated Citizenry 2020 are Common Core Standards and Charter Schools.

RT3 states that common curriculums will be developed and across the states, by a consortium of states. DESE has made it clear, and promised in their RT3 application they would proceed with the adoption of these standards and has already done so, regardless of receiving approved federal RT3 funding or approval/funding from the Missouri legislature. Also see page 5 of Educated Citizenry 2020 which states that Missouri has already adopted Common Core Standards.

Implementation of the reform plan described in this proposal will not stop if the State does not win Race to the Top funding.

Terminology such as P20 Pipeline and P20 System are referring to coordinating common core curriculums through Pre-K through college.

RT3:

Participating agencies will agree upon a core of data elements to contribute to the common P-20 system. These will comprise a significant resource for decision making. Analyses of the factors that contribute to success from pre-school through postsecondary education and into the workforce will be included. Common definitions and standards will not only support the comparability of the data within the P-20 system, but also the quality and integrity of the data within the individual data systems of the participating agencies.

Across the P-20 community, a major challenge has been to provide access to the longitudinal data being consolidated for decision making. Individual agencies have websites and unique reporting tools, but users need a single site to access the information that the P- 20 Council and the individual agencies have provided. The Show-Me Portal will fill this role. It will be designed and built to enable all users to access relevant and permitted data.

EC2020:

Individual members offered ideas affecting early childhood through higher education, including the need to strengthen the P-20 pipeline and cooperation among stakeholders.

EC2020 promotes Charter Schools by recommending on page 6:

Provide access to high-quality charter schools to all Missouri students. Allow any public school district to sponsor a charter school within the district.

RT3:

Demonstrating and sustaining education reform, by promoting collaborations between business leaders, educators, and other stakeholders to raise student achievement and close achievement gaps, and by expanding support for high-performing public charter schools, reinvigorating math and science education, and promoting other conditions favorable to innovation and reform.

The Missouri legislature has yet to pen a bill fully addressing this, but I fully expect it to be buried in an omnibus bill at the end of the session where it will be harder to follow and garner much less attention. SB 14 was introduced, by Senator Pearce, to address open enrollment issues, however.

Addressing merit pay and teacher tenure are common threads through RT3 and Educated Citizenry 2020. On page 6 of EC2020 it states:

Develop a statewide system for evaluating teacher effectiveness to be used in performance-based compensation. Charge the Joint Committee on Education with leading a taskforce to discuss, review, and develop a statewide system for identifying and rewarding effective teaching. The taskforce will review models used in cities and states throughout the country and frame their work around current research and best practices. Considerations shall include revision of tenure laws that will empower school districts to support the retention of effective teachers and the removal of ineffective teachers. The taskforce may use the Teachers Choice Compensation Plan for St. Louis Public Schools (§168.745-168.750, RSMo.) as a foundation for their discussions. The taskforce will present a comprehensive, cohesive model with specific proposals for legislative action to the General Assembly no later than December 31, 2011.

RT3 states:

Attracting and keeping great teachers and leaders in America’s classrooms, by expanding effective support to teachers and principals; reforming and improving teacher preparation; revising teacher evaluation, compensation, and retention policies to encourage and reward effectiveness; and working to ensure that our most talented teachers are placed in the schools and subjects where they are needed the most.

The legislature must have thought this issue was worth pursuing because SB13 has been introduced to address this very issue. Senate Education Chairman David Pearce filed this bill and it has advance through its second reading as of this posting.

Technology is the answer in underperforming schools in both RT3 and EC2020.

RT3:

Supporting data systems that inform decisions and improve instruction, by fully implementing a statewide longitudinal data system, assessing and using data to drive instruction, and making data more accessible to key stakeholders.

Using innovation and effective approaches to turn-around struggling schools, by asking states to prioritize and transform persistently low-performing schools.

EC2020, on page i of the executive summary:

Technology in the delivery of education at all levels.

School Readiness, also in both documents.

EC2020: P. 6 and 7

Provide parents and early childhood educators with the information they need to see that all children enter kindergarten on par with their peers and ready to learn. Formalize DESE’s existing school readiness standards by requiring that standards be distributed to parents, early childhood educators, and school districts. School readiness assessment data and information on prekindergarten experiences for all kindergartners shall be included in core data reporting requirements.

Advance efforts to support voluntary, universal prekindergarten. Explore potential funding sources for prekindergarten education including federal funding. The Committee would like to note that there was not unanimous support for the prekindergarten recommendations.

RT3:

2. Provide quality, universal early childhood educational opportunities to all three and four-year olds;


SB 20 and SB 21 were introduced in Missouri’s legislature, at the beginning of the session, by Robin Wright-Jones. Each bill addresses early childhood education and mandates lowering of the compulsory school age and kindergarten enrollment.

Be it noted that not all the proposed education reform is bad, but there are many concerns that we all should be looking at as Missourians and parents. We need to make sure the solution aren’t worse than the problems.

This week has seen some highly reactive responses from Jefferson City as it relates to information circulating on blogs and testimony given at committee hearings concerning education reform proposed by the 96th general assembly. If the leadership isn’t confident in the vehicle they are driving, to bring quality education to the children of Missouri, perhaps they should rethink the proposed plans or just not put their signatures on the documents.

So, if  Representative Dieckhaus would still like to dispute any erroneous to ties to the afore-mentioned items, we will be happy to provide more comparisons. As for any future career with the “main-stream, left-wing media”, I think I’ll pass, but if Brietbart or FOX is reading this post, I am happy to consider any offers.

Legislation

Educated Citizenry 2020, More Ways To Chip Away At Parental Rights

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The legislature released its report on education late last Friday, and, as promised, we have the results of Educated Citizenry 2020. No surprises. Just lots of Race To The Top, repackaged and renamed. While the report states what the legislature has for the vision of Missouri education reform, in the next ten years, it is clear they have been cooking up their plan for quite sometime in the past. Past and current attempts to pass legislation, which could have or will impose new and stifling regulation, is written all over it.

The report clearly outlines the intention of the state to have its hand in every aspect of education from early childhood education, pre-school through college. They also address the expansion of Charter and virtual schools.

Committee members’ ideas for early childhood education included expansion of opportunities and assurances of quality. The Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education concurred with this priority and in a written statement noted their suggestion that “Missouri fund voluntary, universal preschool for three- and four-year-olds…This would be a transformational policy that would pay long-term benefits— educationally, economically, and socially—for our state.”5 ….

…. For higher education reform, Committee members emphasized reducing tuition costs to keep higher education accessible to all students so as to ultimately increase the number of young adults who earn a postsecondary degree.

A study of how teachers are compensated is a subject of review, as it is in RTTT. Current RTTT recommendations are to introduce merit pay and eliminate teacher tenure. The same sentiments are reflected in the Educated Citizenry 2020 Report. The St. Louis Beacon reports, among other things, that State Senator, David Pearce, a Republican from Warrensburg, intends to use this report to shape further legislation.

On specific issues, Pearce said that he has filed legislation to study how teachers are compensated. Specifically, he said, it might be time to ask teachers if they are willing to be paid on a merit basis if they would give up the protections of tenure at the same time.

While Charter schools and the re-structure of teacher compensation are a major emphasis of Race To The Top, most interesting to note is that the report does stress an emphasis in preparing pre kindergarten age children for school. If you will remember, Homeschooling United reported that Robin Wright-Jones, a member of the E-C 2020 committee, has already filed legislation, before this report was released to the public, which mandates full day kindergarten and lowers the compulsory school age to 4 years of age in SB21. It seems that the fix is already in for an agenda to wrest control of decisions from parents regarding when their children begin their educations.

This report, while full of a great deal of educational-ease, doesn’t address funding for plan implementation when the state is faced with serious budget cuts in the face of mandatory of Common Core Standards. Obviously they are also not concerned with any backlash from parents who consider some of these mandates are an infringement of parental rights. Senator Jane Cunningham, another member of this committee, has pledged to uphold educational freedom. As far as I see, from reading this report, there is no true attempt by the legislature to bring any meaningful reform to education in Missouri. In fact, there are even more intrusive restrictions that keep parent’s in the driver’s seats of their children’s education.

Homeschooling, Legislation

Is Homeschooling Under Attack In Missouri?

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Homeschoolers in Missouri have long enjoyed reasonable freedom to educate their children at home without much government interference, but the last several years have brought subversive attacks to chip away at those freedoms. The upcoming session proves to be no different. Culture Vigilante reported that the 96th general assembly will once again consider placing more restrictions on the citizenry as it relates to a parent’s right to make educational decisions for their children. Robin Wright-Jones pre-filed a bill, SB 20, in early December which would lower compulsory school age for students in metropolitan school districts to 5 years of age. While the present compulsory age is 7 to 17, (18 in metropolitan school districts and 16 under certain credit hour parameters) this bill mandates that children start school at age 5. While it does address, specifically, students of metropolitan school districts, and exclude homeschoolers, here’s where it gets sticky.

SB 21, also filed by Wright-Jones, pretty much negates the exclusions in the previous bill. And it also plays fast and loose with the definitions of calendar year and school year so that not only will your children be mandated to begin schooling at age 5, some of them will actually be 4 years old, if the bill is adopted as written. And remember, these are mandates, not suggestions.

… ANY child whose fifth birthday occurs at any time during the calendar year shall be deemed to have attained the age of five years at the commencement of the school year beginning that calendar year.  The parent, {guardian, or other person having charge} of ANY child who has attained the age of five years in accordance with this section shall be responsible for enrolling the child in kindergarten.

So, that means if your child is 4 years old and does not turn 5 until after the beginning of the school year, he is 5 years old in the eyes of the state and must go to kindergarten. Present laws would postpone admittance to school until the following year. Also, there is no exclusion for children outside of a metropolitan school district or homeschoolers in this bill. And just incase your child misses the age mandate of the first part of this bill there is a provision to allow the school system to evaluate your young geniuses and admit them even earlier to school.

If passed, SB 20 will also raise the compulsory school age in metropolitan school districts to 18, and firms up the upward adjustment to 17 years of age in other (seven director) school districts, and takes away the ability of those districts to adopt a lower compulsory age via their school board.

Now, anyone who has ever had any involvement with public education knows that there is, in Missouri, a provision in the law for schools to collect funding for any warm body who inhabits a school building. So, perhaps that is where some of the motivation comes from in these two bills. Culture Vigilante also outlines resolutions from the NEA lobby and their influences in this area of legislation.

What ever the motivation, for the reoccurring attempts to mandate that a government school have more and more control of your children, it is important to communicate, with your representation, that you will accept no regulation that takes away your rights to choose how and when you educate your children.

In 2009, Republicans in the House and Senate introduced and passed legislation, SB 291, that tightened the noose around the neck of parents by raising the compulsory school age for all students, including homeschoolers, in the state from 16 to 17 and changed the requirements for graduation. Because the homeschool community, as a whole, has no directed lobby or representation in the capitol, the legislation was not flagged early during the session, and was slipped through and voted on the at nearly the last possible moment in the 2009 legislative assembly. This unfortunate circumstance gave very little opportunity for constituents to be educated on and voice their displeasure with its intrusive constraints. Well, hopefully, we have learned our lesson about how important it is to be proactive and educated about our rights and freedoms, or they will be taken away. Maybe not all at once, but they will be taken away, and when our children have children they may be living in a very different world with a lot fewer choices for themselves or their progeny.

It seems that each year there is an effort to chip away at your rights to educate your children in the manner you, as a parent, deem appropriate. While we still have the choice, perhaps it is important to teach your children about their freedoms and which actions and laws ensure those liberties, so that we strengthen the liberty loving culture and maintain it for the future. That education also includes watching your representation and letting them know how you feel about maintaining your freedoms.