While most states still impose various conditions on homeschool parents and families, legislation introduced in Tennessee would restore parental rights and end government intrusion into home education for those who choose it. The effort is generating a buzz far beyond the state’s borders.
Like many other states, Tennessee still has on its books outdated regulations and infringements on the rights of homeschooling parents. These include a requirement that parents who choose to educate their children at home notify education authorities, maintain records for bureaucrats to inspect, and have a high-school diploma.
The “Family Right to Educational Emancipation Act,” also known as the “FREE Act” or HB 0552, would free homeschooling parents from those requirements by creating a new category in law for home education. Introduced by Rep. Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) and Senator Janie Bowling (R-Tullahoma), the bill is finding broad support.
If approved, the measure would end those restrictions with a goal of enshrining in law the “fundamental right of parents to direct the education, upbringing, and care of their children.” Under the measure, the state also acknowledges that parents, not government, have the primary responsibility for determining the educational path of their children.
A key element of the bill is that it created an additional homeschooling category that is free from the bureaucratic oversight and interference that currently exists. Parents who want state oversight would still be free to have it, though it would no longer be required to be able to educate one’s children at home legally.
Lawmakers behind the effort said it was about true choice and freedom in education. “It is a great honor to carry an education freedom bill that protects home schoolers across this great state of Tennessee,” explained Tennessee Representative Warner, the lead House sponsor. “This is a true school choice bill for families in Tennessee.”
The homeschooling community is strongly backing the measure. “This bill creates a new island of freedom of education in Tennessee by exempting children enrolled in this new section of law from compulsory attendance,” explained Tennessee Home Education Association President Claiborne Thornton. “THEA enthusiastically supports this bill and encourages families to begin to learn to embrace true freedom in education.”
The powerful Home School Legal Defense Association, which represents hundreds of thousands of homeschooling families nationwide, also voiced its support. “Please contact your Tennessee state representative and Tennessee state senator and ask them to support the FREE Act,” said HSLDA Senior Counsel Will Estrada in a note to members in the state.
The measure comes amid a heated battle in the state among Republicans and conservatives about a separate proposal: taxpayer-funded so-called “School Choice.” Under that scheme, just approved by lawmakers with backing from Gov. Bill Lee, government will give tax-funded “vouchers” to parents in exchange for certain controls.
Known as the “Education Freedom Act,” the program will offer almost $7,500 in tax money per student if parents agree to subject their children to government-mandated testing and other controls. The UN educational agency UNESCO has been calling on governments around the world to bring private schools under control using just such a program.
Conservative and Christian critics of the vouchers scheme, including much of the homeschool community, opposed the bill, warning that it would jeopardize the independence of non-government options. Going on offense, pro-educational freedom forces working against the “School Choice” voucher scheme are backing the FREE Act.
Within the state, Free YOUR Children and its leader Tiffany Boyd have been pushing hard for this sort of genuine “school choice” that protects parents. Writing in the Murfreesboro Pulse, Boyd said all legislators who claim to believe parents are best equipped to make education decisions for their children — a common refrain in the state — should support the FREE Act.
“This is true school choice,” Boyd noted in promoting the FREE Act, warning that the Education Freedom Scholarship Act for tax-funded vouchers was part of a plan aiming to destroy true private education. “We are simply asking that our Constitutional rights be recognized as they have been in other states.”
In comments to The Newman Report, Boyd, a mother of 5 and former government school teacher, noted that her Christian ministry’s team worked diligently to draft the bill. The goal, she said, is to make sure parents in Tennessee have “true educational autonomy and freedom” — at least those who want it — without government funding or controls.
“We recognize the historical importance of this bill and are honored to be participating in the legislative process,” Boyd explained, noting that the Republican Party platform specifically espouses the ideas enshrined in the bill. “If passed, this would put Tennessee on the map as one of the truly free homeschooling states.”
The effort comes as Tennessee families, including homeschoolers, were recently subjected to a proposal by state “education” authorities to have “wellness checks” conducted on every child at home. That plan, highlighted by The Newman Report during COVID mania, was eventually rejected. But the fact that it was proposed sparked alarm nationwide.
With “school choice” battles raging nationwide and Republicans trying to find ways to help families protect themselves from the horrors of government “education,” measures like the FREE Act have never been more timely. Instead of allowing government to get everyone hooked on tax money and undermine choice, expanding real choice is the way to go.
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