Homeschoolers in New Hampshire have had a fight this year with their state legislature over a bill which would have required them to file a curriculum plan at the start of the year, a provision that had been in an earlier law but was dropped. The final bill which was signed into law by Governor Lynch this week did not contain such a provision. It just asked for homeschoolers to notify earlier. Not a big deal…sort of a pointless law, but I guess once you cut everything out of a bill, no one really thinks to ask whether what is left is even worth pursuing.
Except that final compromise yielded something else: a commission to examine homeschool laws.
I wonder how much that will cost? I think for about $20,000, I’d be willing to print off the applicable laws from each state, summarize them and provide a report. I might even be able to have it done by next week. It will save the state thousands of dollars.
And why does the legislature feel the need to examine homeschool laws, anyway? Are they gripped by a sudden need to “keep up with the Jones’” with regard to their legislation? I suspect they want to see just how much regulation other states have been able to get away with. More interesting than examining current legislation would be examining the trend toward libreralization of homeschool laws.
I have a feeling that the real purpose of this commission is something similar to the resolution introduced by Senator Schimek here in Nebraska:
To examine policy changes that should be pursued in order to provide further guidance and oversight of Nebraska’s home schools.
But maybe it’s just me.
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I suspect it’s a result of the demographic shift in the state over recent years. New Hampshire politics used to be dominated by libertarian “Live Free or Die” types (which has long been the official state motto). But as a result of the real estate boom of the late 1990’s through mid-2000’s, Southern NH has become part of suburban Boston. As of 2006, nearly 25% of NH residents had moved there from Massachusetts. I used to work in a town close to the border, and several of my colleagues moved from MA to NH during the 3 years I was at that job in order to get more house for their money.
IMO, this demographic shift does not bode well for the future of homeschooling in NH as MA has some of the most restrictive homeschooling laws in the nation. Parents have to have submit a formal educational plan to their local school district for approval each year, log a minimum number of instructional hours, and so on. As the NH population becomes less libertarian and more liberal, the legislature becomes increasingly likely to pass laws similar to those of its southern neighbor.
This is pure nonsense and you parents ought to screan bloody blue murder. They want the same Follow the Child laws to apply to you. You are going to have to unite or really have a fight on your hands.
These democrats are OUT OF CONTROL and need to be voted OUT in 08.
That’s why you all need to move to SC where we have some of the best homeschool laws in the Union. The local school system do not even know that my children exist.(nor do they have the right to any information unless I wish them to have it) EVERYTHING goes through my homeschool group OF MY CHOICE and each group here decides for itself what if any reporting of grades or curriculum we use.
This is the way it should be everywhere. I have known people move to this state for theis reason. As a matter of fact, my husband turned down a better paying transfer because it would put us in another state with not so friendly homeschool laws.
The reason they want to have a commission to examine homeschooling laws is because they need to figure out a way to maintain their computer system with information about the homeschooled “human assets”.
The Federal Dept. of Education and the Labor Dept. designed a “National Human Resource Management” system. That system is an integrated school-workforce system that will have records of the “human assets” from cradle-to-grave.
For more information, do some research on Marc Tucker, National Center for Education and the Economy.
I’m glad I’m an asset to someone.
Thank you, Vicky. I am familiar with Marc Tucker, his center and his “Hillary letter.” I don’t see a direct correlation between researching homeschool laws and figuring out how to record homeschoolers as a human asset. Can you explain more? Or are you saying this is a first step?
Just trying to figure it out.
LOTP, it is nice being an asset, isn’t? I’m afraid we’re an asset the state would just as soon freeze, however.