Home Schoolers: Here is an Opportunity to Amend S.B. 810

Home School

IMG_6796Yesterday Governor Asa Hutchinson announced a special session of the Arkansas Legislature will convene in two weeks.

The scope of the special session will be very narrow; however, this session is an opportunity for the legislature to address some of the concerns home schoolers have raised about the recently-passed S.B. 810, which deals with educational neglect reports made to the Child Maltreatment Hotline.

While we believe this law poses relatively little threat to home schoolers, many families have expressed concerns about S.B. 810, and we are committed to seeing those concerns addressed.

Governor Hutchinson has promised to work with DHS and the Child Maltreatment Hotline to ensure S.B. 810 does not adversely affect home schoolers. However, the Arkansas Legislature has an opportunity to address those concerns more permanently at the special session later this month, if Governor Hutchinson includes S.B. 810 on the agenda for the session.

If you would like to ask Governor Hutchinson to include S.B. 810 on the agenda for the special session, you can call his office in Little Rock at (501) 682-2345.

If you have any questions, feel free to call our office at (501) 375-7000.

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Addressing Concerns About SB 810

3 CommentsHome School

Several of our home school friends around the state have contacted us this week about SB 810 which directs the Child Maltreatment Hotline to resume accepting calls regarding educational neglect.

Many of our friends are understandably concerned this bill might inadvertently open home schoolers to harassment from public school officials or state employees.

Here is a fundamental question I believe we have to ask about SB 810:

Would a veto of SB 810 by Governor Hutchinson reduce the possibility that an innocent home school family would be reported to DHS?

Here is the answer: No. An adversary of home schooling already has several ways to report a home school family to DHS or the police. They don’t need SB 810 in order to harass home schoolers.

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Arkansas’ New “Tim Tebow” Law is About School Choice

6 CommentsHome School,

Beginning this year, Arkansas home schoolers will be able to participate in interscholastic, extracurricular activities at their local public school.  Rep. Gunner Delay first introduced this concept in the Arkansas Legislature back in 2001.  It only took 12 years for this law to pass.

Why did it take so long?  Some in the education establishment seem to think it is their mission to preserve the status quo at all costs—even the education of our children.  That’s why they oppose anything that looks or smells like school choice.  The worst thing some of these folks can imagine is allowing parents the freedom to choose how to educate their children.  They don’t even want kids to be able to choose a different public school.

Thankfully, not everyone wants to build a “Berlin Wall” around the public schools.   In fact, some superintendents are viewing this new law as a way to roll out the red carpet and recruit some new students for their school.  They know that school choice is a two-way street and that some home schoolers just might choose to return to public school.

When all is said and done, this new law is about empowering parents to choose how their children are educated and that’s how it should be.

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