Defending Homeschooling in Oklahoma
In reference to the most recent attack on Homeschooling in Oklahoma SB375 I sent this message to Senator Jim Wilson:
Senator Jim Wilson
wilson@oksenate.gov
2300 North Lincoln Blvd.
Room 426
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Senator Jim Wilson,
While I do not know your motivation behind this bill, I do know that I and many other Oklahoman’s won’t sit by and let you trounce all over our personal freedoms with this ill-conceived bill. Senate Bill 375 is nothing more than ploy to try and remove our religious and social freedoms. We parents have the constitutional right to direct the education of our children. The State does not have the right or responsibility to interfere with the education of children not in the public school system. Aside from the Oklahoma Constitution and Oklahoma Supreme Court decisions, as recently as the year 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court in Troxel v. Granville, stated: (“In a long line of cases, we have held that, in addition to specific freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights, the ‘liberty’ specifically protected by the Due Process Clause includes the right … “to direct the education and upbringing of one’s children” (citing Myer and Pierce)). In light of this extensive precedent, it cannot now be doubted that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of our children.
Homeschooling parents and children do not appreciate being treated as criminals by you, sir. You are assuming we are a group that does not care about our children as much as you do and this line of though I do not understand. What makes you think you have more interest in the education of my children? My six year old can read at a 5th grade level, my four year old can already read well beyond a 1st grade level, if I had trusted the public schools for their education, they would be as far behind as most children are. I, sir, cannot conceive of a world where you think this kind of bill would be tolerated by Oklahomans. What kind of threat do fine, upstanding, intelligent homeschooled children present to the, as you so kindly put it, “the preservation of the public peace, health and safety”? I haven’t heard of any beating, shooting, drug problems, or child molestation by teachers in any homeschools lately. I think you should focus on fixing the problems with the public school system, before you start attacking parents who are trying to make a better future for their children. I am curious how you and Connie would like being told how to raise your children. Is it not a parent’s right to help try and choose the best path for their children. You are not only attacking our civil liberty, which is bad enough, you are also attacking the spiritual belief of many. In Proverbs 22:6 the bible says “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” This is a parent right and responsibility, and I will not tolerate you attacking it.
If, by some amazing feat of the Oklahoma Legislative body, you were able to pass some this atrocity, I guarantee that there will be a long legal battle ensuing to fight you on it.
Senator if you have actually read this far, I do hope you come to your senses on this issue, but seeing how that this is very unlikely, I would offer you these pieces of wisdom from two well known people.
Albert Einstein — “It is… nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreak and ruin. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty.”
Dr. Raymond Moore –”In general the best teacher or care-giver cannot match a parent of even ordinary education and experience.”
Respectfully,
Jason W. Britton
You can see the full Senate Bill here or continue reading.
Here is the full text of the Bill:
STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 51st Legislature (2007)
SENATE BILL 375 By: Wilson
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to schools; amending 70 O.S. 2001, Section 10-105, as last amended by Section 1, Chapter 210, O.S.L. 2006 (70 O.S. Supp. 2006, Section 10-105), which relates to neglect or refusal to compel child to attend school; establishing certain notification requirements for students educated by other means; amending 70 O.S. 2001, Section 10-109, which relates to temporary detention and custody of children subject to compulsory attendance law; removing exception for children being home schooled; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2001, Section 10-105, as last amended by Section 1, Chapter 210, O.S.L. 2006 (70 O.S. Supp. 2006, Section 10-105), is amended to read as follows:
Section 10-105. A. 1. It shall be unlawful for a parent, guardian, or other person having custody of a child who is over the age of five (5) years, and under the age of eighteen (18) years, to neglect or refuse to cause or compel such child to attend and comply with the rules of some public, private or other school, unless other means of education are provided for the full term the schools of the district are in session or the child is excused as provided in this section.
2. The parent or guardian of a child utilizing other means of education shall provide written notification to the public school district of residence of:
a. intent to utilize other means of education prior to the first day of each school year, or within ten (10) days of the beginning of the provision of such other means of education to the student, and
b. a report of the student’s academic progress at the end of each semester of the school year.
3. One-half (1/2) day of kindergarten shall be required of all children five (5) years of age or older unless the child is excused from kindergarten attendance as provided in this section. A child who is five (5) years of age shall be excused from kindergarten attendance until the next school year after the child is six (6) years of age if a parent, guardian, or other person having custody of the child notifies the superintendent of the district where the child is a resident by certified mail prior to enrollment in kindergarten, or at any time during the first school year that the child is required to attend kindergarten pursuant to this section, of election to withhold the child from kindergarten until the next school year after the child is six (6) years of age. A kindergarten program shall be directed toward developmentally appropriate objectives for such children. The program shall require that any teacher employed on and after January 1, 1993, to teach a kindergarten program within the public school system shall be certified in early childhood education. All teachers hired to teach a kindergarten program within the public school system prior to January 1, 1993, shall be required to obtain certification in early childhood education on or before the 1996-97 school year in order to continue to teach a kindergarten program.
B. It shall be unlawful for any child who is over the age of twelve (12) years and under the age of eighteen (18) years, and who has not finished four (4) years of high school work, to neglect or refuse to attend and comply with the rules of some public, private or other school, or receive an education by other means for the full term the schools of the district are in session.
Provided, that this section shall not apply:
1. If any such child is prevented from attending school by reason of mental or physical disability, to be determined by the board of education of the district upon a certificate of the school physician or public health physician, or, if no such physician is available, a duly licensed and practicing physician;
2. If any such child is excused from attendance at school, due to an emergency, by the principal teacher of the school in which such child is enrolled, at the request of the parent, guardian, custodian or other person having control of such child;
3. If any such child who has attained his or her sixteenth birthday is excused from attending school by written, joint agreement between:
a. the school administrator of the school district where the child attends school, and
b. the parent, guardian or custodian of the child. Provided, further, that no child shall be excused from attending school by such joint agreement between a school administrator and the parent, guardian or custodian of the child unless and until it has been determined that such action is for the best interest of the child and/or the community, and that said child shall thereafter be under the supervision of the parent, guardian or custodian until the child has reached the age of eighteen (18) years; or
4. If any such child is excused from attending school for the purpose of observing religious holy days if before the absence, the parent, guardian, or person having custody or control of the student submits a written request for the excused absence. The school district shall excuse a student pursuant to this subsection for the days on which the religious holy days are observed and for the days on which the student must travel to and from the site where the student will observe the holy days.
C. It shall be the duty of the attendance officer to enforce the provisions of this section. In the prosecution of a parent, guardian, or other person having custody of a child for violation of any provision of this section, it shall be an affirmative defense that the parent, guardian, or other person having custody of the child has made substantial and reasonable efforts to comply with the compulsory attendance requirements of this section but is unable to cause the child to attend school. If the court determines the affirmative defense is valid, it shall dismiss the complaint against the parent, guardian, or other person having custody of the child and shall notify the school attendance officer who shall refer the child to the district attorney for the county in which the child resides for the filing of a Child in Need of Supervision petition against the child pursuant to the Oklahoma Juvenile Code.
D. Any parent, guardian, custodian, child or other person violating any of the provisions of this section, upon conviction, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished as follows:
1. For the first offense, a fine of not less than Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) nor more than Fifty Dollars ($50.00), or imprisonment for not more than five (5) days, or both such fine and imprisonment;
2. For the second offense, a fine of not less than Fifty Dollars ($50.00) nor more than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00), or imprisonment for not more than ten (10) days, or both such fine and imprisonment; and
3. For the third or subsequent offense, a fine of not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) nor more than Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00), or imprisonment for not more than fifteen (15) days, or both such fine and imprisonment.
Each day the child remains out of school after the oral and documented or written warning has been given to the parent, guardian, custodian, child or other person or the child has been ordered to school by the juvenile court shall constitute a separate offense.
E. At the trial of any person charged with violating the provisions of this section, the attendance records of the child or ward may be presented in court by any authorized employee of the school district.
F. The court may order the parent, guardian, or other person having custody of the child to perform community service in lieu of the fine set forth in this section. The court may require that all or part of the community service be performed for a public school district.
G. The court may order as a condition of a deferred sentence or as a condition of sentence upon conviction of the parent, guardian, or other person having custody of the child any conditions as the court considers necessary to obtain compliance with school attendance requirements. The conditions may include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Verifying attendance of the child with the school;
2. Attending meetings with school officials;
3. Taking the child to school;
4. Taking the child to the bus stop;
5. Attending school with the child;
6. Undergoing an evaluation for drug, alcohol, or other substance abuse and following the recommendations of the evaluator; and
7. Taking the child for drug, alcohol, or other substance abuse evaluation and following the recommendations of the evaluator, unless excused by the court.
SECTION 2. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2001, Section 10-109, is amended to read as follows:
Section 10-109. A. An attendance officer, any school administrator, or designee of the school administrator who is employed by the school, or any peace officer may, except for children being home schooled pursuant to Section 10-105 of the Oklahoma Statutes, temporarily detain and assume temporary custody of any child subject to compulsory full-time education, during hours in which school is actually in session, who is found away from the home of such child and who is absent from school without lawful excuse within the school district that such attendance officer, peace officer or school official serves, if said school district has previously approved the temporary detention and custody pursuant to this section.
B. Any person temporarily detaining and assuming temporary custody of a child pursuant to this section shall immediately deliver the child either to the parent, guardian, or other person having control or custody of the child, or to the school from which the child is absent without valid excuse, or to a nonsecure youth service or community center servicing the school district, or to a community intervention center, as defined by Section 7301-1.3 of Title 10 of the Oklahoma Statutes.
C. The temporary custody or detention provided by this section shall be utilized as a means of reforming and returning the truant students to school and shall not be used as a pretext for investigating criminal matters. The temporary custody or detention herein provided is a severely limited type of detention and is not justified unless there are specific facts causing an attendance officer or other authorized person to reasonably suspect that a truancy violation is occurring and that the person the officer intends to detain is a truant.
SECTION 3. This act shall become effective July 1, 2007.
SECTION 4. It being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is hereby declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and be in full force from and after its passage and approval.
51-1-156 KDB 1/17/07
