FIC Blog

As first noted by the intrepid Judy Aron in our previous thread, the language of the original homeschooling bill has been mysteriously altered to codify the very violations of parental rights which we are fighting. Here is the latest from Judy:

Ok – here is the scoop – Both Senator Meyer and Rep. O’Neill discussed the problem today (Sunday) and apparently they both do not know how the wording of the proposed bill got changed,(it might have been in the bill clerk’s office) but they both support the original language, and so Senator Meyer said that the bill will be amended to state the original language. That is very good news. We will have to see what happens on Tuesday morning and we hope that everyone who planned to come and speak will support the original language and let the committee know that the bill as it currently is worded is unacceptable.

I will have a post tomorrow regarding this over at Consent of the Governed. Thank you for your patience with this situation.

Judy’s post is now up and can be read here. Watch your in-box for FIC Action alerts on what you can do to pass this bill in its original form.

In a related item, today’s Courant is running a front page profile of another outstanding homeschooling family: 

She has taught every subject at just about every grade level during the past 17 years, and has another 10 years to go before her last student is expected to graduate.

Janice Kopp never planned to spend so much of her life as a home-schooling mom, but that’s just what has happened.

“Early on, we just took it a year at a time,” said Kopp, who lives in Stafford with husband Dusty and their five children. “It’s been a long time, but it’s been worth it.”…

In Connecticut, an estimated 2,100 students are being home-schooled, according to the state Department of Education. That translates to less than half of 1 percent of the state’s approximately 580,000 public school students.

Statistics aside, Janice Kopp said she has witnessed a growing acceptance of home-schoolers.

“It’s just not as odd as it used to be to the general public,” she said. “I think probably almost everybody by now knows someone who is home-schooled.”

The Courant’s story also has some great sidebar items, one on “a typical day for a home-schooling mom” and one on tomorrow’s hearing:

Home-schooling advocates will be watching with interest when legislators hold a public hearing Tuesday on a bill that would change the way parents withdraw their children from public school.

The proposed law would require parents to send a certified letter informing their local school superintendent of their decision, and would mandate that the school board immediately “deem the child withdrawn from school.”

State statutes do not specify how children under 16 are withdrawn from a public school.

We are grateful to The Courant for its coverage of this important parental rights issue.