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Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV)

To: Home Educators of Virginia
From: Joe Guarino, Director of Government Affairs

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Last opportunity to gain the Governor’s support!

HB 675, the Homeschool High School Diploma bill, is now in Governor Warner’s office. His staff will be writing a report with a recommendation by April 5. The governor must then decide by April 15, if he will sign, amend, veto the bill, or do nothing, effectively allowing the bill to become law without his support. If we are to affect the governor’s decision on this bill, we must contact his office NOW.

On March 2, an article in the Virginian Pilot included a quote from the governor’s spokesperson, Ellen Qualls, saying the governor “strongly opposes” the bill. I learned from the governor’s special assistant on education policy, Anna Healy, that Quall’s quote was based on opposition from the Secretary of Education Belle Wheelan. Ms. Healy also shared that the governor is actually “open-minded” about this bill, that he is “studying the issue,” and that he “has not made up his mind yet.”

Since our meeting on March 8, Ms. Healy has been researching this issue to provide a rationale for the governor's support of the bill. In addition, the Secretary of Education’s deputy secretary, Sarah Finley, has been researching the bill. Ms. Healy said that neither she nor Ms. Finley knew much about home education before this bill came before them earlier this month.

Since Ms. Finley will be providing information for Secretary Wheelan to make her recommendation to the governor, I met with her on March 23, to discuss the bill and how it will affect Virginia homeschoolers. Scott Woodruff, staff attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association, and Angela Britt, a homeschooling mother in Hampton, joined me for this meeting. Mrs. Britt was able to offer compelling testimony on the difficulties homeschoolers sometimes experience under Option 4.

As mentioned in our last update, if the governor decides to veto the bill, we do not have enough votes in either House to override the veto. Therefore, our strategy is to persuade the governor to either sign the bill or let it lie. You can play a significant role through a three-prong approach.

First, PRAY. God’s ways are not our ways. While we do what we know best, we must continually implore divine intervention, always seeking His will be done.

Second, write, call, or e-mail Governor Warner right away.

Third, write, call, or e-mail Secretary of Education Belle Wheelan right away.

ACTION: WRITE LETTERS TO THE GOVERNOR and SECRETARY OF EDUCATION. Send the governor’s letter to:

Governor Mark R. Warner
State Capitol, 3rd Floor
Richmond, Virginia 23219

Or email the governor through his Web site: http://www.governor.virginia.gov/Contact/email_form.html

Or fax it to him at: 804-371-6351

Or call and express your opinion at: 804-786-2211

Send the secretary’s letter to:

Secretary of Education Belle Wheelan
P.O. Box 1475
Richmond, Virginia 23218

Or email the secretary: belle.wheelan@governor.virginia.gov

Or fax it to her at: 804-371-0154

Or call and express your opinion at: 804-786-1151, ext. 3406

CONTENT OF THE LETTER: First, make sure you open your letter by addressing the topic. For example: “The General Assembly passed a bill changing one of the requirements for parents to homeschool from a college degree to a high school diploma. I understand you have not yet made up your mind on whether you will sign the bill. I think you should sign this bill because….” Then include any of the points we have included in our past updates and use that as the focus of your letter. Finally, conclude your letter indicating support for the bill and urging the governor to sign the bill into law.

Here is a summary of the points we have included in past updates, plus some other ideas, that you may use in your letters to the governor and secretary.

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ISSUE #1: We are looking to level the playing field, not lower the standards for our children. Every year, roughly 15 different school divisions make arbitrary decisions that go beyond the scope of the law with respect to Option 4 of the Homeschool Statute. Parents are unnecessarily frustrated. When test scores of homeschooled students on standardized achievement tests are on average higher than public school students’ scores, the educational background of parents should not matter. Let’s join the other 49 states that recognize the wisdom in this and have already dropped the college degree as a qualification to homeschool.

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ISSUE #2: Look at the results of homeschooling, not the qualifications of the parent. Fully 49 states have abandoned the baccalaureate degree as a threshold to homeschool, with 40 of them abandoning all qualifications. The language in the homeschool statute was developed more than 20 years ago when no one knew the outcome of parents teaching their own children. Now we have comprehensive studies that show parents are doing very well with or without college degrees, and student test scores are exceeding those of their public school counterparts. Homeschool studies show higher or lower state regulation has little affect on homeschool achievement. Homeschool students in all states score 20-40 percentile points above average.

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ISSUE #3: During testimony on this bill before the Senate Education and Health Committee, Senator Bill Mims (R-Leesburg) posed an interesting and telling scenario where he was starting a new, private high school. He asked Secretary of Education Belle Wheelan, who opposed the bill, if it were legal for him to use teachers who had no college degree or state certification. She said it was legal (to the dismay of several committee members). He then asked why we were putting more restrictions on homeschoolers than on the larger private school sector. She had no answer. If private school teachers can teach without a college degree, then homeschooling parents ought to be able to do the same.

ISSUE #4: Opponents to the bill say that the test scores of homeschooled students with both parents having high school diplomas are on average 20 points below students with both parents having baccalaureate degrees. While this statement is true, these lower scores still put homeschool students in the top third of all students. These lower scores are mostly 15 to 19 percentile points higher than the average scores of public school students with teachers having baccalaureate degrees and certification.

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ISSUE #5: Opponents of the bill are concerned that, if we allow parents with high school diplomas to teach their own children, we won’t know how well they are doing. The Virginia Code has already been addressing this for 20 years. Under the homeschool statute, parents must submit a portfolio or have their children tested or evaluated and submit the results to their local superintendent by August 1, of every year. If adequate progress has not been made, or the test scores fall below the fourth stanine or 23rd percentile, the child’s education program may be put on probation for one year. After one year, if the student’s scores have not improved, the parents must make other arrangements for the education of their child. The homeschool law requires accountability.

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ISSUE #6: Opponents of the bill are concerned that high-school graduates won’t be able to teach a subject about which they know very little or in which they are weak. One of the goals of homeschooling is to create life-long learners--self-directed, self-motivated individuals. If a parent does not feel adequate to teach their high-school student a subject like calculus or advanced biology, they have several options: (1) They can order an online course and manage their student's progress; (2) They can send him to a local school (public or private) for that one class; (3) They can have him participate in a local homeschool co-op; or (4) They can hire a tutor. Whatever the topic, parents can--and do--find ways for their student to learn difficult subjects.

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ISSUE #7: The Virginia Education Association (VEA) has said homeschoolers re-entering public schools are not where they should be academically in some subjects, thus bringing down the overall SOL scores for the school. This is a red herring. When the teacher’s union (VEA) brought this to the attention of the House Education Committee’s Subcommittee on Public Education, they admitted that this information is purely anecdotal, and that no numbers have been gathered on this issue because it is not widespread. Even if a homeschooler were to return to a public school with poor scores, the overall SOL scores for that school certainly would not be greatly affected by one set of low scores. And, finally, since homeschoolers are well known for scoring, on average, very high on national standardized tests, they would probably raise the SOL scores for that school.

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ISSUE #8: In a season when our government is looking for ways to save money, this bill will help. According to the Home Educators Association of Virginia, approximately 8,000 homeschooled students are being taught under Option 4 of the Homeschool Statute. If this bill becomes law, local school divisions would not have to spend the time, money, and energy to determine whether the curricula submitted is satisfactory. School divisions could use their staff for other priorities.