Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on March 19, 2008

Click here to view bill details.

This new bill will require all homeschool parents to register their children with their local public school district. This would be a new requirement, but a small step down a slippery slope.

Why does the school district and the state need this information? This is a clear infringement on the rights of homeschoolers that were fought very hard for in the past. There is NO good reason for them to want or need this information.

Why is more government regulation needed for homeschooling? Is the information available as to why this oversight is needed? I called the sponsor, and they could not answer these questions. They said this is just an accounting mechanism. Why does the sponsor feel we need this accounting mechanism?

The laws are great just the way they are. We don't need a regression in the freedoms allowed by our state. I challenge this bill's sponsor and those in favor of the bill to talk to anyone who homeschooled in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s--in particular, those from families where one or both parents was jailed because they were homeschooling their children. After they hear about how hard we struggled to make homeschooling legal in this state, and what dedicated parents were willing to go through in order to provide the best they could for their children, I challenge them to think long and hard about exactly what they're trying to accomplish with this proposed legislation. There are a whole lot of better things they could focus their time and energies on (the economy, public safety, improving public education!) rather than picking on homeschoolers.

This is a good step in attempting to help the children who are not getting educated to the level of public schooling. Several famalies I know have children at the middle school ages and, cannot read or write as well as a 3rd grader in the public schools. Annual testing similar to Minnesota would be a great step to save these kids.

You will find that the VAST majority of Homeschooled students are educated better than those in Public Schools. IF you are aware of students and children who are in those circumstances.. there are clear legal methods of reporting that ALREADY EXIST. Why is this "registration" required for that? Government harrassment and infrigement on our rights again.

First, home educating parents who are neglecting their children can be prosecuted under existing laws. This is unnecessary legislation. Regarding your comment about testing, the biggest problem with mandating testing is that is creates burdens for the home educating family that do not exist for public schools. What will happen if a child tests below average? Will they be taken from the home and put in a public school? We don't remove children from public schools when they test below average, and indeed many do. I worry that students who may struggle to learn even at home will be taken from their parents and put into a situation that is not necessarily better and where they might actually fare worse. Some students will struggle no matter where they are. There is unfortunately no guarantee that a public school will properly educate a child. The right to home education simply cannot be tied to test results as long as public schools continue to fail huge numbers of students. I sympathize with the sentiment that we should not be afraid to register if we are doing our jobs and if we have nothing to hide. Please understand, however, that there are still a lot of people who are very suspicious of home education and we still experience harassment very frequently. The stigma isn't gone and we aren't excited to put our names on a list that leaves us vulnerable to those who would harass us without provocation.

I agree with the homeschooling parents on this issue, but I bet the schools don't want it either. What responsibility are they going to have for the students on this list? Will they receive another (unfunded) mandate to track, test, etc. these students? Homeschooling works well as it is. My son has homeschooled students in several of his classes. The school accounts for these students as partial students in the May/Sept count. So why is this needed?

NOBODY-including the government knows a child better then his/her parents! One restriction after another takes away our PARENTAL rights. These are or GOD-given duties to be responsible for our own children. Not to be responsible to some sign-up by the government. What use will that be to the schools? It will definitly lead to something more.

Does the government make sure all children are potty trained by age 2? Are there government rules that say a child must learn to ride a bike by the age of 5? NO! Everybody learns at different times/phases in their life. It doesn't make one kid smarter over another just because he/she learned to read before the other, etc. Teach a child when they are ready to learn-kids who are force fed standardized information grow to dislike learning and only learn to rebel against authority.

The requirement of parents to register their home schooled children with School Superintendents is shear Big Brother. Government already knows too much about everybody and should not be meddling in this important area of families in Michigan. There are other crucial areas that Michigan Legislators should focus on . . . namely unemployument. The Grandholm Administration has dropped the ball on this because of concentrating on green technologies that are mostly future rather than focusing on making Michigan a state with industrial might in just about every area. Massive union control of the auto industry has caused Michigan to be uncompetitive and therefore the auto industry has moved elsewhere to [places such as Alabama. We must recognize these facts and reckon with the realities rather than the pipe dreams. Lawyers somehow do not get economics! The economic realities are the issue of importance right now.

My concern with this bill is that how does a school district having a list of the names of children being homeschooled benefit children at all? If the school district does not follow up to find out if the children are actually being homeschooled - then how does this bill protect children - unless there is an additional agenda for those who are proposing this bill - to add additional regulations in the future once they have these lists. I would be very wary of this agenda because having lists just to have lists makes no sense - plus places an additional burden on our already overburdened and under funded public schools. I can't believe that the regulations will stop here is this is passed...it is probably only the tip of the iceberg.

registering handguns, which also makes no sense unless you want to know where they all are for future confiscation.

That's a funny statement since I know public school children who aren't well educated. I knew a football player who couldn't spell as well as a third grader, but boy could he play football! It's also funny that we look at public education as a whole, but it's not the case for homeschoolers. As a whole, homeschooler do better academically and socially (national statistics). Public schools, as a whole, has a graduation rate of about 70-80 percent. Save the children? Can you offer us something better?

I understand that the state feels the need to track children and know where they are or why they are not in school but testing is unheard of. Homeschooled children consistently test better than any other educated group. So, if the state wants test, bring them on!

This bill would add more work to an already overburdened school district, and for what purpose? Homeschooled kids do better on college entrance exams, are more likely to vote and be involved citizens, and 74% go to college. Kids who are being neglected are already covered by existing laws, which again, are not being enforced by overwhelmed, underfunded agencies. This isn't broken--what's the real motive?

Learning why those kids failed might save some of the ones who are struggling now.

This is a bureaucratic non-solution to an age-old problem. Money is better spent enforcing existing laws against irresponsible parents than registering responsible ones.

Please don't speak for all homeschoolers. Not all of us are interested in having our children participate in mandatory testing. For those who voluntarily test their kids, that is their right and their choice, and I support that. Test scores are not always an accurate assessment of ability or intelligence. Let's be careful what we wish for!

This does not benefit children at all. It doesn't benefit homeschooled children to have a list with their name on it in the superintendent's office, and it doesn't benefit the children at the public school to have someone in the superintendent's office taking time away from their issues to manage another stack of unnecessary bureaucratic paperwork. I agree, that it looks like another step in the wrong direction . . . following the amendment (f) debacle.

One of my homeschool grads is a public school teacher - is that an oxymoron? :-) He credits me with helping him to learn how he learned, which he now uses to reach his students. As a career-tech ed teacher, he teaches juniors and seniors, many of whom have been given up on by the more "paperwork" and visual-linguistic oriented teachers . . . the public schools in general do their students a disservice by having too little emphasis on hands-on learning and trying to college-track (one size fits all) everyone. With stricter graduation requirements in place, career-tech ed has had to spend tax dollars and their own time to prove that their students are getting the ed requirements embedded in the career-tech curriculum. Hey, we need those people who can fix our cars, appliances, and computer, do our hair, rescuscitate us when we have a heart attack, and I could go on and on. Homeschoolers are turning out a very amazing gross national product - - the numbers elude me, but I read some stats somewhere that showed that a higher percentage of homeschoolers are entrepeneurs than those educated otherwise. Homeschooling works, and we don't need more regulations to make it work better.

I had a nephew who went through the public schools year after year and by 10th grade couldn't read . . . no one wanted to hold him back because he was obviously bright, but no one could figure out how to teach him to read, so sure didn't want to keep him in their class another year. Finally, someone recommended a tutor and they used . . . how amazing . . . phonics and whole body movement to reach him and voila! One of my children had vision problems (not acuity, but tracking and other spatial difficulties) and was a late reader. He was held back, and by 4th grade had been in public school for six years, one in special ed. I started homeschooling him in 5th grade, and got my verbal, articulate little boy back with an "I can't" attitude. It took a while before he got his confidence back, and maybe it never has come back totally, but he is a hard-working capable contributing citizen today; a home-owner, holds down a full-time job and is putting himself through college. He is also head of the Planning Commission in his community. Let the homeschoolers save their kids; let the public school and those parents who choose that course take care of theirs.

Only a very small percentage of homeschoolers are of the "drop out" category. The majority of homeschooled children have never, ever attended a public school or a private school.

I received a response to my email to Rep Joan Bauer. In her email she claims that the requirements in HB5912 are already in place for all homeschooling children and they are just making it official. I hope this lie was just a mistake and not intentional plan to mislead the public.

Government exists to enforce laws that have been broken. Policemen can't pull you over until AFTER you break the law; they have to have "probable cause." House Bill 5912 assumes an attitude of suspicion regarding homeschooled children which is based on what? Public schools have failed again and again. Graduation rates just published (around 25 - 30% for Detroit, Chicago and others) should make administrators blush. Who can advocate best for a child if not their parents? Those parents who neglect their children are already provided for under the law. Stop chasing phantoms. Address the real problems in the public schools instead of hassling responsible parents. The end results speak for themselves. 75 % of homeschooled kids attend college. Have you heard of one who can't read? Homeschooling provides a superior education--that's the way it is. This law is sour grapes.

I thought the Democrats were supposed to honor individual liberties, protect those who are under-represented, and go up against big business. What is a school system but big business? Public schools have a monopoly on education, yet they graduate children who can't read. They protect this "public school" business, in the name of "child advocacy," but look at what happens to the children under their care.

This bill seems to be about tracking a population that is difficult to track. But why have the struggling school system do it? Why not work with universities to allow those who wish to be tracked to participate? Why make it mandatory?

They're not your kids. Now, bugger off.

government NEED to track them? we NEED to track criminals, not homeschooled students. the government has no vested interest in the whereabouts of these children, as the government has no 'expenses' put out to them. they cost the government nothing, so why do they need to be tracked? they don't use school facilities, they don't use up teacher's time. they don't ride public school busses, nothing. they stay at home and learn on their own. they are taught by their parents, or tutors, or private educators brought in at the parent's expense, not the state's. even the state equivelency test is paid for by the parents. a test, by the way, that homeschooled students pass by a much higher margin and with much better scores than our publicly educated students. i encounter dozens of publicly schooled graduates daily who can't read. why? aren't our public schools the finest educational facilities on the planet? i also encounter dozens of PRIVATELY EDUCATED graduates daily who are far better prepared for success in todays world than those educated by our public schools. why should the state discriminate against private education? to make money. if it weren't for the public schools, one quarter of our state spending would have to be spent on something else. imagine if those who wished to send their children to private schools COULD. the public schools would be virtually empty.

"I thought the Democrats were supposed to honor individual liberties.." Ha ha, I get it!! APRIL FOOLS!!!! Comedy gold right there!

"Policemen can't pull you over until AFTER you break the law" APRIL FOOLS!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

that the state was actually interested in educating instead of indoctrinating the children. Imagine that the schools were something more than a make work program for so called "educated" teachers that vote socialist every election. Imagine that the teachers always came from the top of their class and not the bottom. Imagine that the teachers unions were actually interested in "the children"

Why not just have the jack booted thugs sit in your home while you homeschool the kids, thats what we seem to be heading towards...Besides, if you have nothing to hide why do you care? This country will not survive the illiterate electorate that we have today.

Didn't you see the numbers published this week?

Registration is only needed if there's a reason to track the population. The end goal here is regulation, testing, and possibly state-mandated curriculum. In a free country, education must be free. The lack of competition in education has generated the system we have. We have already seen amazing things come from the homeschool community: bestselling authors, entrepreneurs, young people who are rising to the top in whatever position they try. Homeschooling works precisely because of the inherent freedom and the lessons that freedom teaches. Why would we discourage this system when it works--and costs the state absolutely nothing?

It amazes me that the school code attendance act is still the basic law from which we homeschoolers are "granted" our exemption (f) freedom to ensure the best most suitable education for our children. The school code and it's keepers will never get that the truly successful education derives from supporting the parent's role in providing for their kids all the available methods and resources for building stable, disciplined, educated "citizen" people out of our children. As long as the Compulsory Attendance requirement is the base law defining the bounds of our right to teach our children, then the State schools will never get that the priority is to actually educate all Michigan kids versus simply making certain they are in attendance (to get the funding).

This bill simply ensures that home schoolers have a level of accountability for educating their children that is comparable to that of parents who elect to educate their children through organized, structured institutions. Freedom to make the home schooling choice does not eliminate the responsibility to actually educate the child. And we all know that responsibility without accountability doesn't work at all.

" thought the Democrats were supposed to honor individual liberties," What planet have you been living on? The dems/socilaists want to control every aspect of your life from birth to death.

The homeschool parent bears sole responsibility and full accountability for that child's education. "Responsibility without accountability" is a great descriptive phrase for pubic education. Who pays when that child begins to hate to learn because of the way eucation is presented in the schools? Who pays when that child is socially maimed by bullying or peer pressure? Who pays if that child graduates and can't read? Who pays for the lost innocence when that child is sexually molested in school? The parents pay. The child pays. The school staff gets an annual raise with summers off. The illogical nature of this argument is astonishing. If a parent, who gave birth to that child, changed her diapers, taught her to walk and talk, nursed her through the flu, etc., can't be trusted to do what's best for their own flesh-and-blood child, then how can someone completely unrelated to the child, a paid civil servant, be trusted to do what's best for her? This bill is about power, about being able to control those who have embraced natural law and have determined to take their parental responsibilities seriously. We utterly reject the compliance training and mind control pushed in pubic schools. If we want to be leaders in the world again, we need to "give the horse it's head" and let those who have strengths be allowed to develop them without interference. If we don't believe in the individual, then we can't really say we believe in democracy, can we?