Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Petition for Homeschooling Freedom in NH


The NH House Education Committee (HEC) has retained HB 368 in committee for further study. The committee has been meeting since the spring to study the current "home education" law.

The NH Homeschool Defense League, an open and inclusive group which meets online on a Yahoo group called LegalizeHomeschooling, created a petition which states:

We the undersigned residents of New Hampshire do hereby petition our representatives on the House Education Committee to carefully review the history and strong tradition of parental rights during their study of HB 368 on home education. There is no constitutional basis for many of the requirements made in the current home education law, RSA 193-A. It is inequitable.

Parents must not be considered 'guilty until proven innocent ' of educational neglect when they educate their children at home. Other non-public educators do not have statutory requirements to produce evidence on the academic progress of their students; nor are their programs at risk of probation or termination based upon these outcomes. Home educators must have equal treatment under the law.

It's a parent's right and responsibility to educate his/ her child unless he/she transfers that responsibility to a public school. There is no statutory oversight of non-public school programs; the only oversight is parental oversight. Parental oversight is the natural order.
NH Parents, who want to sign this petition, may do so at: <http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/homeschooling-freedom-in-nh>