Post by Charity on Feb 24, 2004 21:18:11 GMT -5
RICHMOND - A Senate committee deadlocked Thursday on a bill that would have lowered the educational requirements for parents who want to home school their children.
But the legislation may not be gone for the year. Moments after the bill effectively died on a tie vote, opponents of the measure agreed to give the bill another chance next week in deference to a lawmaker unable to vote Thursday.
House Bill 675, sponsored by Republican Del. Rob Bell of Charlottesville, would repeal the state requirement that parents hold a bachelor's degree in order to educate their children at home rather than enroll them in a public or private school.
State law already permits home schooling by parents who graduated from high school but never earned a bachelor's degree. To qualify, however, parents must enroll their children in a pre approved correspondence course or have their language arts and math curricula approved by the local public school superintendent.
Bell and his supporters argued that the pre approval requirements are an unnecessary hurdle for parents interested in home schooling. Virginia already has adequate safeguards to make sure that a home schooled child is meeting state requirements, they said.
"More regulation doesn't make better home schooled students," Christopher Klicka, senior counsel with the Home School Legal Defense Association, told members of the Senate Education and Health Committee. "What makes good home schooled students is committed parents."
But members of the education community disagreed.
Belle Wheelan, state secretary of education, said it would be a "travesty" to let just anyone who squeaked through high school be in charge of teaching a child. Today's business world increasingly requires workers with higher-level skills, she said.
Wheelan said that, in her opinion, teachers without a college degree "are not in a position to provide the best educational opportunities available."
"That's why teaching is a profession," Wheelan said.
The bill died on a 7-7 vote. However, Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania County, a committee member who is also a school administrator, was absent Thursday and could not vote. The bill will probably be voted on again next week.
But the legislation may not be gone for the year. Moments after the bill effectively died on a tie vote, opponents of the measure agreed to give the bill another chance next week in deference to a lawmaker unable to vote Thursday.
House Bill 675, sponsored by Republican Del. Rob Bell of Charlottesville, would repeal the state requirement that parents hold a bachelor's degree in order to educate their children at home rather than enroll them in a public or private school.
State law already permits home schooling by parents who graduated from high school but never earned a bachelor's degree. To qualify, however, parents must enroll their children in a pre approved correspondence course or have their language arts and math curricula approved by the local public school superintendent.
Bell and his supporters argued that the pre approval requirements are an unnecessary hurdle for parents interested in home schooling. Virginia already has adequate safeguards to make sure that a home schooled child is meeting state requirements, they said.
"More regulation doesn't make better home schooled students," Christopher Klicka, senior counsel with the Home School Legal Defense Association, told members of the Senate Education and Health Committee. "What makes good home schooled students is committed parents."
But members of the education community disagreed.
Belle Wheelan, state secretary of education, said it would be a "travesty" to let just anyone who squeaked through high school be in charge of teaching a child. Today's business world increasingly requires workers with higher-level skills, she said.
Wheelan said that, in her opinion, teachers without a college degree "are not in a position to provide the best educational opportunities available."
"That's why teaching is a profession," Wheelan said.
The bill died on a 7-7 vote. However, Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania County, a committee member who is also a school administrator, was absent Thursday and could not vote. The bill will probably be voted on again next week.