Good Aspects of the Current Law

from Howard Richman

Proponents of House Bill 2560 like to pretend that nothing good would be lost to homeschooling parents if House Bill 2560 replaces the current home education law in Pennsylvania. Actually, all of the following current benefits to parents would be wiped out if HB 2560 were to pass, unless it passed as an option:
  1. Recognition of home school organization diplomas.. HB 2560 would wipe out Department of Education policies that affect individual home education programs including their policy that recognizes homeschool organizations to give diplomas to graduates of individual home education programs. As I pointed out in my House Education Committee testimony, HB 2560 was designed to take away that option -- its proponents specifically rejected compromise language that would have both continued recognition of homeschool organization diplomas and at the same time recognized the parent-issued diplomas that they advocated. As the main person who has worked for over a dozen years to make recognition of homeschoolers diplomas a reality in Pennsylvania (it still is not a reality in any other state), I especially resent this nasty aspect of HB 2560. I do not believe the "benevolent bureaucrat" theory that somehow the Department of Education would find a way to make a new policy recognizing homeschool organization diplomas after HB 2560 would throw out the old policy.
  2. Due process protections. HB 2560 wipes out the due process protections which make Pennsylvania one of the safest states in the country to homeschool according to Scott Summerville of the HSLDA. As Rep. Mundy and Dr. Saylor pointed out at the hearings, Superintendents would still be required by the compulsory education laws to investigate whether homeschooled children are receiving an education. Since superintendents would no longer be able to investigate by looking at required documentation, they would probably send out truant officers to do so through home visits. And it is not only truant officers that visit homes -- social workers investigating child abuse complaints such as "neglect" charges would also do so. Recently, HLDA's Christopher J. Klicka testified in Washington that he has "legally represented nearly a thousand home school families who were harassed by social workers". Currently we are protected from such harassment because social workers in Pennsylvania pass on complaints of neglect to school superintendents who must follow the current law's due process procedures which tell them how to investigate such complaints.. I do not believe the "benevolent bureaucrat" theory that HB 2560 would prevent the school districts from investigating complaints that "Johnnie is out on the street during school hours."
  3. Access to public school sports in the districts that now include such access. Currently about half of the school districts have adopted policies that let homeschoolers participate on their sports teams. In order to comply with PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association) regulations, these policies provide for check-ups of whether individual homeschoolers are meeting academic requirements. Such school district policies would be wiped out by the part of HB 2560 which prevents school districts from making "policies" or even "suggestions" that would affect homeschooling families. I do not believe the "benevolent bureaucrat" theory that somehow the school districts would find a way to make a new policy allowing homeschool participation in school sports after HB 2560 throws out the old policy.
  4. Borrowing of textbooks. At the House Education Committee hearings, Ellen Kramer claimed that the part of HB 2560 which ends the requirement that school districts lend homeschoolers textbooks would not hurt poor people because Section 923 of the school code states that it is the intention of the Commonwealth to provide textbooks to all students. However, she neglected to point out that Section 923 includes a loophole that lending of textbooks by the Department of Education is subject to the “feasibility of making loans of particular instructional materials on an individual basis.” It is very unlikely that the Department of Education would step into the breech created when school districts are no longer required to make loans to individual families. I do not believe the "benevolent bureaucrat" theory that the school districts would continue to lend out textbooks when they no longer have to do so.
  5. Good reputation of homeschooling in Pennsylvania. Our good reputation is helping our graduates succeed in life. As Debra Bell pointed out in her position statement about House Bill 2560, the reputation of homeschooling is higher in Pennsylvania than it is in less-regulated states. She wrote:
    Friends of mine who have lived in both PA and less regulated states have also observed that homeschoolers are regarded with greater respect here in PA, than in the unregulated states where they lived. They credited this to the higher level of accountability and the diploma programs we have. Do we really need to risk losing this?
    The reputation of homeschool diplomas in Pennsylvania would take a huge dive if HB 2560 turns the homeschool diploma into a joke. As I pointed out in my House Education Committee testimony:
    This bill is a Statue of Liberty for delinquents. Under this bill, any parent prosecuted for truancy would have 30 days to begin a home education program in order to escape punishment. [Section (e) of HB 2560 at the bottom of page 11 and top of page 12 begins, “Each year, a parent, guardian or custodian who elects to supervise instruction in a home education program shall notify in writing the superintendent of the school district of residence within thirty (30) days of establishing the program.” Thus the parent can establish the program 30 days after being warned that the child is truant, and the truancy would be wiped out.] Then that parent would be able to graduate the delinquent at any age in order to make the delinquent exempt from further compulsory education. [Section (g) of HB 2560 at the bottom of page 13 begins, “(g) A student who has completed the graduation requirements set forth in subsection (f) shall no longer be subject to this section or to the compulsory attendance laws of this Commonwealth.”] Not only that but the parent of the delinquent could be a high school dropout [The requirement that the parent have a high school diploma or its equivalent appeared on page 3 line 8 in a section deleted by HB 2560.] and yet the diploma issued, based upon no accountability or standards whatsoever, would have to be recognized by the state as the equivalent to a high school diploma. [Section (g) of HB 2560 at the bottom of page 13 continues, “Such student shall for all purposes be considered a high school graduate and shall receive all the rights, benefits and privileges pertaining thereto.”] The diploma in this bill is a joke.
On the other hand, if House Bill 2560 were to pass as an option, homeschoolers who still want to take advantage of these five good aspects of the current law would still be able to do so. The bad aspects of HB 2560 would only affect those parents who would take advantage of the new option, the homeschooled children who would be taught under the new option, and the state's interest in an educated citizenry.

Click here to see how HB 2560 would look if it were made optional

Click here for more information about HB 2560

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