Tag Archives: Educational Freedom Pledge

Educational, Homeschooling

Homeschoolers Taking Action Against The Threat Of Further Mandates In Missouri

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Missouri homeschooling freedoms are under a very stealth like attack by a variety of sweeping educational reforms introduced into the legislature in 2010/2011 and some lawmakers who have been less than forthcoming with their views about educational choice/freedom. Homeschoolers are trying to absolutely identify just who is and isn’t a champion of their freedoms. Some legislators are expressing an interest in putting methods into place that would require more scrutiny into the homeschooling family’s process. The following email was circulated in the St. Louis Region as a call to action, so to speak.


The following is from, Kathie Zuroweste, a homeschooling mom in the Franklin County area.  This is the third conservative legislator that has voiced similar concerns about homeschoolers this session.   As you may recall there have been other homeschoolers in the Franklin County area that have addressed this issue this session with different legislators.

Kathie has removed the legislator’s name, but she did want other homeschoolers outside her area to be aware of the fact that questions are being raised about how legislators can ensure that all homeschoolers are receiving a quality education.  She is also asking  for people to send her ideas on how she can respond to this legislator, and others, with similar concerns about what we are doing.

From Kathie Zuroweste:

This is for both Public School families and teachers and Home Educating families.
Would you please help me out in this mini poll?

I have included;
1-letter  The Educational Freedom Pledge
2 & 4 -letters   From Home Educator to MO Representative
3-letter   From MO Representative to Home Educator

We find this quite interesting and would like to let not only this Representative know how we feel, but the other Representatives and Senators as well.

Please forward your responses to:   kathiecurt@hotmail.com, also, please put “educ freedom pledge request” as the topic in the subject line so it is correctly routed.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Kathie Zuroweste kathiecurt@hotmail.com

p.s. read from the bottom to the top on the following posts, they are in order of most recent to first.

4 Dear Representative,

I am going to answer your question with a polling of both fellow home educators and public school parents and educators. I have already begun and I believeyou may find the results quite informative.  I will try and get that done this week.

Kathie

3 Dear Home Educator,

I have not been approached about signing this petition and while I am sitting on the House Floor listening to debate on redistricting I also sit right behind another Representative who is on this list and stated that it needs to be updated. With all that being said I do support the Home Schoolers and I think that we have talked about this before but I do have some concerns that there are some out there that do not provide the quality of education that the majority of home schoolers provide. I would like to know how you think we can make sure that children in this environment get a quality education?

2 Dear Representative,

I just received this and noticed that your name is not on here.Have you not been approached? Or is there a reason why not?I am interested in knowing.

Thanks,Home Educating Mother

1 From: * To: ;Subject: The Educational Freedom PledgeDate: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 22:57:03 -0500

Went to this site to read the oposing view and spotted this on the right hand side of their blog… note the section in red.

Homeschooling United | Parents standing united to protect their right to home educate

http://homeschoolingunited.wordpress.com:80/ The Educational Freedom PledgeI, _________________________________, hereby pledge, to the ___________________________ homeschool community, to support a parent’s right to freedom of educational choice for their children and their ability to exercise that right. In doing so, I also agree to oppose any federal, state or local mandates that impose regulation of educational standards, curriculum, testing and/or registration. Name and Date Copyright 2010 Homeschooling Unitied

The following legislators have pledged to uphold educational freedom

MISSOURI

Brian Nieves – State Senator, District 26
James W. Lembke – State Senator, District 1
Jane Cunningham – Senator, District 7
Chuck Purguson – State Senate, District 33
Tim Jones – State Representative, Dist 88
Scott Rupp – State Senate, District 2
Kurt Bahr – State Representative District 19
Kathie Conway – State Representative District 14
Gary B. Fuhr – State Representative District 97
Chuck Gatschenberger – State Representative District 13
Doug Funerburk – State Representative District 12
Rick Stream – Sate Representative District 94
Paul Curtman – Representative – District 105
Mark Parkinson – Representative – District 16
Anne Zerr – Representative – District 18

FORMER STATE REPRESENTATIVES IN MISSOURI

Ed Emery – District

Icet – District 86
Cynthia Davis – District 19
Joe Smith, – Dist 14

CANDIDATES IN THE 2010 ELECTIONS WHO SUPPORTED EDUCATIONAL FREEDOM

Dave Evans – Candidate State Representative District 19
Cynthia L. McGee – Candidate State Representative, Dist 109
Edward M. Crim – Candidate State Representative District 97
Curtis Farber – Candidate State Representative District 67
Richard Blowers – Candidate State Representative District 102
Jack Jackson – Candidate State Senate, District 26

FEDERAL CANDIDATES

Kristi Nichols – Candidate US Senate
Tony Laszacs – Candidate US Senate
Martin Baker – Candidate US Representative District 1
John Wayne Tucker – Candidate US Representative District 3

The following legislators have been asked, but declined to support the Educational Freedom Pledge:

MISSOURI

Don Gosen – Representative – 84th Dist.
Ryan Silvey – Representative – 38th district.
Kevin Wilson – Representative – 130th District.
Scott Dieckhaus – Representative – 109th District
Steven Tilley – Representative – 106 District

As an update, please add Rep. Jay Barnes (District 114) to the list of declined legislators.

Please contact Kathie at the above email address with your comments and concerns and, please comment here on this post. Homeschooling United would like to share the thoughts of homeschoolers across the state/country as we know this blog is read by many of the state legislators in Missouri as well as others nation wide.

Homeschooling, Legislation

More Legislators Sign On To Support Educational Freedom

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Today, two more Missouri State Representatives signed on to fight for your rights to make educational choices for your children. Chuck Gatschenberger; District 13 and Doug Funderburk; District 12 wholeheartedly signed the Educational Freedom Pledge and expressed their fervent support for homeschooling in general. Representative Scott Dieckhaus, District 109, declined to sign, stating his voting record reflected his views and support for homeschooling and educational choice.

Pledges were left at the offices of the following legislators:

Jason Barnes, District 114
Paul Curtman, District 105
Mark Parkinson, District 16
Rick Stream, District 94
Mike Thompson, District 4
Steven Tilley, District 106
Anne Zerr, District 18

We hope to hear from them soon with their support of the pledge. Check back to see if their names have been added to the field of supporters of educational freedom.

In my conversations with all of the representatives, I also expressed how important it is to the homeschooling community for them to monitor SB 20 and SB 21, the most recent attempts to impose more legislative mandates on compulsory school age. These two pieces of legislation are closely tied to the educational reform of Educated Citizenry 2020 and Race To The Top/Common Core Standards. It is important for all legislators to know that homeschoolers do not want to be engulfed in and absorbed by the sweeping and restrictive mandates planned for public educational reform and the promotion of Charter Schools in this legislative session. As in 2009, when SB 291 changed compulsory school age and imposed more restrictions on high school graduation requirements, this legislation could potentially encroach on homeschooling freedoms by mandating early compulsory kindergarten attendance to all students, due to the fact there is no language in these bills excluding private or homeschoolers. It is very important to be in front of the issue and not wait until the end of the legislative session to express your views to your representatives. In 2009, SB 291 was passed in the last week of the session and most homeschoolers were totally unaware of the issue until that time. Unfortunately there was no time for them to express their concerns or outline how it would restrict homeschooling freedoms to their representatives.

Please contact Representatives Gatschenberger and Funderburk and thank them for their enthusiastic support and all of the others, listed here, to encourage their backing of educational freedom.

Additionally, Representative Barnes introduced HJR 10 which repeals the Blaine Amendment,  introduces a voucher system and the ability for students to attend schools outside their geographic area. The resolution was  co-sponsored by Scott Dieckhaus and is, again, connected to advancing Educated Citizenry 2020 – Race To The Top/Common Core Standards. This will no doubt spark a debate about vouchers and tax credits for all education in Missouri. We will examine this issue and report on it as it develops.