Here is Abbey Lawrence's "Report of the Home Education Advisory Council" (HEAC) that was just published in the New Hampshire Homeschooling Coalition News. Because many people wanted to know how she felt about the proposed legislative changes, she included some of her opinions in the report.
She writes:
The opinions expressed in the following are mine alone, not necessarily those of any other Council member.
I will present the Council's annual report to the State Board of Education in April, and preparing for it always prompts a lot of musing on the history of the Council, and its purpose. The Home Education Advisory Council was created with 193-A in 1990, and was modeled in part after the Non-Public Schools Advisory Council, as a forum for discussions "between home educators and those public, and nonpublic schools, and state and local agencies involved in home education" [Ed. 315.10(b)(1)]. For sixteen years before I was a member of the Council I attended meetings only occasionally, but I always felt its existence was a good thing. I still do; I believe it to be one of the intermediary institutions which help to protect freedom and insulate families from the power of the state.
From time to time the Council has intervened in a disagreement between a homeschooling family and the district, usually with satisfactory results; often all that is needed is a phone call, and information. The rules in Ed. 315 also provide for a grievance conference which is available to anyone who is party to a dispute over homeschooling, and which provides a means of resolution, short of a due process hearing or court proceedings. In the Council's history there have been three grievance conferences; there have been none for many years.
Years ago I received a phone call from a woman in Texas who, having looked at our law, told me, "We don't have to do any of that," 'that' being the notification and evaluation requirements in 193-A. I told her what I've said innumerable times, that although on paper the requirements are certainly more demanding than those of many states, in practice complying with them has not been overly burdensome, certainly not an "ordeal," as one overheated bit of rhetoric described it. I would, of course, prefer more freedom and flexibility rather than less, and I've often wondered how to get there from here. Those who would at a stroke cut down every law that offends them forget that law, like an ecosystem, is the product of complex interactions, and actions taken in one part of it can have significant unintended consequences in other parts. One of those unintended consequences can be the backlash from people aggrieved by a change; what one legislature does, a future legislature can undo.
For the first time in several years we are not facing bills that seek more stringently to regulate homeschoolers, proposals, it must be pointed out, that the previous legislatures rejected; the argument was made, and accepted, that 193-A wasn't broken, and didn't need fixing. We now have a legislature favorable to relaxing the state's requirements, and substantial changes to the 20-year old homeschooling law, or outright repeal of it, are being discussed.
HB 545 proposes to repeal the Department of Education's authority for rulemaking over home education, and to eliminate the Home Education Advisory Council. Sponsor David Bates told me that repealing the HEAC was not his intent, but doing so was advised by lawyers at Legislative Services who drafted his bill. HB301 amends the home education statute, and HB595 repeals it entirely, replacing it with "parent-directed instruction" as an alternative in the compulsory attendance law; both bills eliminate the HEAC. Some think merely that the Council will not be necessary, while others think, apparently, that the Council is a creature of the DOE and an obstacle to homeschoolers' freedom.
The House Education Committee voted on February 24 to study all three bills; notices of subcommittee meetings will be provided at the Coalition website. I urge everyone to become familiar with the bills, and to do some thinking about what, if anything, should be changed in the current law. There does not seem to be an overwhelming demand among homeschoolers for an overhaul of 193-A, but change seems probable, and that change should be the result of many homeschoolers, not just a few, taking an active part in the discussion.
Feel free to contact me, or any Council member, at any time. We meet from 3:30 until 5 on the second Tuesday of the month in the basement of the Department of Education; I am happy to offer a time for public input if you would like to speak.
I will present the Council's annual report to the State Board of Education in April, and preparing for it always prompts a lot of musing on the history of the Council, and its purpose. The Home Education Advisory Council was created with 193-A in 1990, and was modeled in part after the Non-Public Schools Advisory Council, as a forum for discussions "between home educators and those public, and nonpublic schools, and state and local agencies involved in home education" [Ed. 315.10(b)(1)]. For sixteen years before I was a member of the Council I attended meetings only occasionally, but I always felt its existence was a good thing. I still do; I believe it to be one of the intermediary institutions which help to protect freedom and insulate families from the power of the state.
From time to time the Council has intervened in a disagreement between a homeschooling family and the district, usually with satisfactory results; often all that is needed is a phone call, and information. The rules in Ed. 315 also provide for a grievance conference which is available to anyone who is party to a dispute over homeschooling, and which provides a means of resolution, short of a due process hearing or court proceedings. In the Council's history there have been three grievance conferences; there have been none for many years.
Years ago I received a phone call from a woman in Texas who, having looked at our law, told me, "We don't have to do any of that," 'that' being the notification and evaluation requirements in 193-A. I told her what I've said innumerable times, that although on paper the requirements are certainly more demanding than those of many states, in practice complying with them has not been overly burdensome, certainly not an "ordeal," as one overheated bit of rhetoric described it. I would, of course, prefer more freedom and flexibility rather than less, and I've often wondered how to get there from here. Those who would at a stroke cut down every law that offends them forget that law, like an ecosystem, is the product of complex interactions, and actions taken in one part of it can have significant unintended consequences in other parts. One of those unintended consequences can be the backlash from people aggrieved by a change; what one legislature does, a future legislature can undo.
For the first time in several years we are not facing bills that seek more stringently to regulate homeschoolers, proposals, it must be pointed out, that the previous legislatures rejected; the argument was made, and accepted, that 193-A wasn't broken, and didn't need fixing. We now have a legislature favorable to relaxing the state's requirements, and substantial changes to the 20-year old homeschooling law, or outright repeal of it, are being discussed.
HB 545 proposes to repeal the Department of Education's authority for rulemaking over home education, and to eliminate the Home Education Advisory Council. Sponsor David Bates told me that repealing the HEAC was not his intent, but doing so was advised by lawyers at Legislative Services who drafted his bill. HB301 amends the home education statute, and HB595 repeals it entirely, replacing it with "parent-directed instruction" as an alternative in the compulsory attendance law; both bills eliminate the HEAC. Some think merely that the Council will not be necessary, while others think, apparently, that the Council is a creature of the DOE and an obstacle to homeschoolers' freedom.
The House Education Committee voted on February 24 to study all three bills; notices of subcommittee meetings will be provided at the Coalition website. I urge everyone to become familiar with the bills, and to do some thinking about what, if anything, should be changed in the current law. There does not seem to be an overwhelming demand among homeschoolers for an overhaul of 193-A, but change seems probable, and that change should be the result of many homeschoolers, not just a few, taking an active part in the discussion.
Feel free to contact me, or any Council member, at any time. We meet from 3:30 until 5 on the second Tuesday of the month in the basement of the Department of Education; I am happy to offer a time for public input if you would like to speak.
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