Every 2 years when the Texas legislature is in session, we find ourselves fighting the pet bill dreamed up and written by the Texas Homeschool Coalition. The Tim Tebow/UIL/Equal Access bill pretends to open up more opportunities for Texas homeschoolers, while in reality it adds limitations to those homeschoolers who would participate in this program.
2019 Bill info: Senate Bill 718 and House Bill 1324.
Over the many years that THSC has pushed this bill, Tim Lambert (president of THSC) promised that there would be no way he would add or support a testing requirement. (See the following email between Mr. Lambert and my friend, Texas homeschool mom Kim Hartman.
However, each legislative session, his standards have relaxed. And this year? It’s just inserted in the initial text. No hiding. No shame. No protection of our zero-regulation freedom in Texas.
I do not support this bill, as I do not support regulation in homeschools. In a 2015 letter to the members of the Senate Education Committee, I shared why. I’m sharing that letter with you today.
Texas is my home state, and I am thankful for the freedom we enjoy to Homeschool without regulation. Every single school day in our home is a joy to me, because I am spending the short years of childhood watching my children learn and grow.
As you are aware, Texas homeschools fall under the definition of private schools, giving us 100% freedom to direct the education of our children. No testing is required, no state curriculum must be followed. I believe that at some point in the future, the Tim Tebow Bill would lead to a loss of these freedoms. Right now we are THE BEST state in the country in which to Homeschool, and many, many families have made Texas their home state simply for this reason. It’s that important to them.
There are many Homeschool families who oppose this bill, because we all believe that it will lead to questioning of our curriculum, “passing” grades, and how we spend our day, all of which will lead down a path to regulations that we currently do not have. It will not take long for the parent of a public school team member, a public school teacher, or a coach to question the fairness of allowing homeschooled children to participate in UIL activities while not being required to follow all public school rules (curriculum, tests, etc.). This will open a new discussion, which will eventually end up in Austin as a bill requiring more intense scrutiny of how homeschoolers educate their children.
How do I know this? Two reasons. First, in the first year of our homeschooling in Oklahoma, my parents were arrested on charges of truancy. Who called the police? A local school official. Second, I am a local contact for families in my area who are interested in homeschooling their children. I get calls and emails of all sorts from new or current homeschooling families telling of trouble with the local school district. The majority of public school officials are not friendly to homeschoolers, but see them as a threat to their funding. The passage of the Tim Tebow Bill will most certainly heighten this problem.
I do not want or need a state curriculum or outline to educate my children. Many may see this as my having something to hide, but it’s actually quite the opposite. In fact I welcome any who read this letter to visit us in our Homeschool to witness how homeschooling benefits children.
Texas history is not limited to one grade level in our home. When we planned our last trip to the Alamo, all of my children learned Texas History together. We read several books together, including “A Time to Stand.” In that book we felt the determination of the Alamo defenders, the desperation of knowing that help wasn’t coming, and we all cried when the Alamo fell. But we thrilled together when Sam Houston and his band lead the battle of San Jacinto and captured Santa Anna. After these moving stories, we visited the Alamo as a family. It just happened to be the 175thanniversary of the battle. When we walked inside, the entire building was filled with funeral flowers from all over the state. Our family felt the respect, the awe, and the sadness inside that place as we stood where the defenders stood and fell. When we came around to the little room where Susannah Dickerson had huddled with her child, listening to the sounds of battle and knowing that her husband was among the dying, the tears flowed freely.
We did not use a textbook, and no one took a test. Neither was necessary, because they lived the story through real books and walking in the Alamo. Some books we read were far above the “reading level” of my younger children, but they were a part of our “curriculum” because they are exciting stories.
This same type of education takes place over and over in our home. If one child is slow to gain math concepts, we spend as much time as necessary to gain mastery. One math book might take a year and a half, and the next one might only take 4 months.
One of my children had the hardest time understanding pi, so we spent about 3 weeks on what the math book considered a one-week lesson. I sat by my daughter as she worked problem after problem, always with my help, until she understood it. On the very last day of that lesson, she said, “I finally understand, Mom. I can do this page alone.”
Another child has an advanced level of comprehension in every single subject (and every extracurricular activity he tries). He typically moves ahead in his work, even catching up to his older brother and sharing some lessons with him.
One of my children (age 9) has such a desire for learning that every new thing fascinates him, so as soon as he discovers a new topic, he follows every rabbit trail he can. A love of tigers led him to study where they live in the wild, which led to a fascination for Africa, which led to a desire to read maps, which led to an obsession with a high-school geography book, which led to an interest in the layers of the earth which all made sense because he plays Minecraft. I don’t even know what grades all those things would be taught in a public school, but it doesn’t matter, because he studied them all voluntarily. Again, no textbook was involved and no test was required. I knew exactly what he had learned because he kept telling me. : ) All of this was done alongside math, spelling, cursive, reading, and history.
I could go on, but you get the idea. This concept is not new to homeschoolers. THIS is why we in Texas highly value our regulation-free homeschools. The joy of learning is so exciting to witness in our kids when not hampered by a list of do’s and don’ts, grade levels, and passing requirements. Not every family structures their education like our family, but that’s the beautiful part! Some families DO use textbooks, tests, and standardized testing. Because they can, not because they have to.
This bill is not all it’s advertised to be. There are a few common arguments against this bill, which I will address:
We pay school taxes. Why shouldn’t we use the school in exchange?
Fred Watt, a homeschool dad and homeschool sports coach, answered that question best in his own analysis of the bill:
“I find it highly ironic and in fact a bit hypocritical that so many homeschoolers — those of us who are quick to self-identify as conservative Christians, and profess a strong affinity toward a strict constructionist view of the Constitution — would be jumping on the bandwagon to push something that effectively amounts to . . . an entitlement!”
My family pays $200 per month in school taxes for a school we don’t use. I don’t like it. I’d rather put $200 per month into my homeschool. But taxes are a necessary evil. For the county taxes I pay, I’d love to submit a request to have my gravel county road paved nice and smooth. But that’s not how it works. The senior citizens down the street pay school taxes; what do they get out of it? Nothing. Because it’s not an order form for goods and services. It’s how government operates, whether we like it or not.
We live in a rural area, where there are no homeschool teams.
My short answer: start one. Every other homeschool team/association started with just one parent who was willing to do the work. These homeschool teams and groups are not limited to the large cities; our tiny county (population 39,000) has a homeschool sports association, started by parents who wanted to give their kids a team sport. They went on to compete against public and private schools and even win national tournaments. Just do a quick Google search of Texas Homeschool Sports Associations and you’ll see that this is not a far-fetched idea.
It works in other states without negative effects, doesn’t it?
The effects of some laws take years to see, but we are starting to see. Take New Mexico, for instance: including homeschools in UIL-type activities has all but eliminated homeshool teams. Read about the Science Olympiad here and the Debate Teams here. You can read an outline of how all states handle this type of law here. Notice that most have some kind of testing, enrollment or reporting requirements. Some have very strict rules, blurring the lines between private (home) schools and public schools. This is dangerous. Is it worth blurring these lines for competitive sports or other activities?
Here’s the honest truth: those who support this bill are not of the first wave of homeschoolers in Texas who fought for their freedom and value it highly. They are of the second wave who may not share the same convictions for homeschooling their children. Some of them do it because it’s easy to do in Texas without realizing that this was not always the case. Some choose to keep the option of public school open for the future because they are flexible in their opinion of education options.
That first wave (to which I belong) remembers that it was a hard and scary decision to do what no one else was doing, to be ridiculed by their own family members, to fear (and sometimes suffer) arrest, to stay indoors during school hours because any neighbor or passerby might call CPS, and to keep an attorney’s phone number near the front door in case that dreaded knock should come. THEY (WE) are the families who oppose this bill because THEY (WE) know that freedom is precious, and for Texans it’s like living in the promised land. We want the freedom, we have the freedom, and we will fight to preserve that freedom.
The one answer I don’t have: Why the Texas Homeschool Coalition is pushing this bill so fervently. I cannot figure that out. But I disagree with them on this issue (and others lately) and I no longer recommend their association to the homeschoolers I speak with constantly.
So who do you trust to protect your freedom? Well, it’s YOU. Here’s what you need to know about this specific legislation:
House Bill 1324 would enable homeschool students to participate in public school sports administered by the University Interscholastic League. Any student who wanted to participate in a league activity would need to meet the same requirements as students enrolled in the school, such as age, fees, physical condition, and academic performance. The bill would require homeschool students to score in the “average or higher than average” range on a national-normed standardized test to participate in league activities.
Sections D and F leave too much open to the public school district’s discretion. Of course a parent can verify their child’s grades, but school districts do not have to trust or believe that verification. This is a dangerous foot in the door for further scrutiny of all Texas homeschoolers.
Homeschool Legal Defense Association does not support this bill. Their position: Oppose. While HSLDA has been neutral on equal access legislation, we oppose this bill because of the standardized test requirement. This bill validates the erroneous idea that nationally-normed standardized testing is the only legitimate way—or even a good way—to assess a student’s eligibility for sports. Schools normally require students to have good attendance and maintain passing grades in order to participate in sports. A student could be diligent in his classes and score below the average range on a standardized test. Alternative assessments should be available in order to accurately measure a student’s eligibility for sports. (Source)
Call your House Rep in Austin, email, tweet, and visit their local office to voice your opinion. Find out who represents you here.
To read about my parent’s arrest, click here. To read about my family’s part in the 1986 Austin TEA Party, click here. As you can see, I take this very seriously. : )
Remember why you started homeschooling in the first place. It likely had nothing to do with continuing to be a part of the public school system, did it? Keep that original goal, that original vision in your mind, and protect homeschooling for your family and for future generations.
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