[cfgeeks] IAIT (It's an Inscoe Thing...)

[Karen Hill]

Hey Kevin,

Weren't your kids home schooled?  What's your opinion on the below?


From Home Education Foundation:
http://www.flhef.org
______________________________

Dear Leaders,

This is long, but I asked several people to help me cut it down. All
of them said it was important information, so please persevere and
read it all.

Many of you may have received an alert or had a friend forward the
HSLDA alert to you this week regarding HB 799 (SB 2822) -- K-8
Virtual School Programs. To eliminate confusion at the outset, the
Florida Virtual School s. 1002.37 F.S. and the K-8 Virtual School
Program s.1002.415 F.S. are different. The K-8 Virtual School Program
is for Kindergarten through 8th grade public school students. Two
different state-approved private vendors, The Connection Academy and
The Florida Virtual School Academy (formerly the K-8 Academy founded
by Bill Bennett) provide students with a computer and curriculum for
which the private schools receive about $5200 per year. The K-8
Virtual Schools are considered public schools and students are fully
enrolled in this program and have to take the FCAT. The Florida
Virtual School http://www.flvs.net is an online public school, serves
grades 7-12, offers courses on a course by course basis and serves
home education, private school and public school students free of
charge. HB 799/SB 2822 will not affect the FLVS.

HEF is aware of HB 799 and SB 2822, has been in touch with committee
staff and will be working with the bill sponsors on this issue. HB
799 will be heard in Education Innovation and Career Preparation on
Tuesday. The bill is one of the Speaker's "100 Ideas" and is a
leadership bill. HEF looks at bills very carefully before deciding
to oppose a bill, especially if it is a leadership bill. We may need
to have these same people help us when something is proposed that
will adversely affect home educators. We need to be very careful and
contemplative about our position and actions. HEF likes to take a
more friendly approach to legislation than starting with the phone
blitz. I know there will be some changes to this bill as it goes
through the process, so opposing it now is NOT the right time, even
if we do oppose it later.

Also, after carefully thinking through this bill and the arguments in
the HSLDA alert, I want to give you some more food for thought.

HSLDA states in their alert that they are opposed to virtual schools
for the following reasons:

"Much freedom is lost as the homeschool movement slowly becomes
secularized. If your child is enrolled in one of these virtual
schools, the following occurs: (1) your children become public school
students; (2) your homeschool must use a secular public school
curriculum; (3) you must be supervised by a certified teacher from
the public school; (4) your children must be tested with the state
assessment; and (5) your house is open to home visits by school
officials and possibly social workers.

These programs pose a danger, particularly because early statistics
show that 80% of those who first enroll in a virtual school were
previously homeschoolers."

Every family registered with the county is NOT a "true" home educator.

While the HSLDA reasons may be valid, there is another side to this
issue. Florida has many parents who use the home education program
for a variety of reasons; many of which are not good. They may be
trying to escape truancy charges, their child may refuse to go to
school, the child or parent had a disagreement with the teacher or
administration, school safety, illness and the list goes on. You, as
leaders, have heard them all. HEF does not consider those
parents "true" home educators, although they may become one.

Many home education leaders have complained to me about these
families and asked what can be done to make sure they are
not "abusing" the home education law. HSLDA members are screened and
only families who take their commitment to home educate seriously and
conform to the HSLDA requirements are accepted into membership. HEF
has to deal with all the families in Florida, whether they are
committed to home education or not. HEF has to look at what is good
for the home education movement as a whole.

HEF has been proactive in creating choices for parents.


Since 1993, HEF has worked hard to provide parents with as many
options as possible. In the early 90's we saw a lot of families put
their children back into public school at 9th grade because they
could not teach chemistry, physics or algebra. In 1993, HEF began
working on inclusion for home education students into the college
dual enrollment program because we could see a way for home education
students to validate their home education and earn college credit for
foreign language, chemistry, etc.

In 1996 Bob Muni, one of the HEF Board members, approached me about
joining him in trying to create a virtual school in Florida.
Immediately, I could see how parents could feel comfortable about
keeping their children home through high school if chemistry and
algebra were provided to them free and they could teach the other
courses they felt comfortable teaching.

HEF has never been afraid to create choices for parents. God did not
give HEF or the state your children. He gave them to you, their
parents. HEF has always worked hard to protect parental choice; it
would be inconsistent for us to limit parental choice because we fear
the choice that a parent may make. HSLDA and many home educators
opposed HEF in 1994 when we began working toward home education
student inclusion into the extracurricular activities of public and
private schools. Had the Craig Dickinson Act s. 1006.15 F.S. not
been passed in 1996, Tim Tebow would not be the quarterback for the
University of Florida. The Tebow's had to decide what was best for
their child. They were very committed to home education and would
have kept Tim at home, but he would not have been able to develop his
God-given talent in football. HEF worked to make it possible for Tim
and others to do both, home school and participate in competitive
athletics.

HEF can understand the arguments of HSLDA and there may be some home
education fallout. However, HEF believes that the "true" home
educator will not register with a K-8 virtual school because they do
not want any entanglement with the state. All of the opportunities
that HEF has helped to create in the past kept home education free
from government regulation, unless the parent chooses to participate
in the program and then there are certain additional regulations.
Nothing in the dual enrollment, extracurricular activities, Bright
Futures Scholarships or the Florida Virtual School programs infringes
upon the rights of home educators who choose not to participate in
these programs.

HEF does not try to control parental choice.

Secondly, parents are free to drop out of home education at any time
and enroll in the public school and many committed home education
parents do make that choice for a variety of reasons. HEF does not
try to limit parental choice, but will help educate families that if
the HB 799 passes, parents who choose to enroll their child for the
free curriculum will no longer be home educators. They will be
enrolling in a public school and their child will have to pass the
FCAT test.


K-8 Virtual School enrollment makes the student a public school
student.

Thirdly, parents who would withdraw their child from a home education
program to enroll in the K-8 Virtual School would most likely put
their child back into public school sooner or later. Leaders see
these parents all the time. They only plan to home educate for one
year or possibly two; they want you to tell them where to pick up
their curriculum and where they can drop off their child. Most of
these parents have the public school mentality and want someone else
to do the work for them. How many times has the school district home
education contact said to you, "Oh, it isn't the home educators like
you we are worried about. It is those that don't do anything to
educate their child."?

The parents that choose the K-8 Virtual School would be accountable
to the state. This would be one way that you as leaders can direct
these families to a transition program where they can receive the
assistance they need to get started, have the external accountability
to stay focused and let them test the waters and build their
confidence to later become home educators.

Some parents may choose home education as a result of having their
child in the K-8 Virtual School.

HEF looks at this a little differently than HSLDA. I believe that
these virtual schools can make believers out of public school
parents. I have seen parents of special needs children who left the
public school system on a McKay Scholarship give up thousands of
dollars of government dollars to enroll in a home education program
because they saw the benefit to their child. They would have never
decided to home educate without first seeing the results. We may
lose some families to the public school options, but we may gain
others who will be true believers in the benefits of home education.

And finally, there are cases where parents want to home educate, but
for financial or a multitude of other reasons may not be able to do
so. You can read about Connections Academy at
http://www.connectionsacademy.com and The Florida Virtual Academy at
http://www.flva.net Here are some points covered in the FLVA FAQ.


What kinds of students might a virtual program serve?

� Children looking for a challenging curriculum emphasizing
both knowledge and skills

� Children who are struggling academically

� Children who are academically gifted

� Children who attend unsafe or overcrowded schools

� Homebound students

� Students who are engaged in other productive endeavors (the
arts, athletics, or community service, for example) that make it
difficult for them to attend class during regular school hours

� Children who are self-directed learners

� Children who love computers and multimedia applications

� Children who move frequently due to changing family
circumstances (e.g., military families)

Will this program intrude into my home?
There are no home visits as part of the program, unless you ask your
teacher to come to your home (completely optional), and there are no
cameras or any other intrusions into your home. This school has been
created to help your child obtain a first-class education and serve
your family's needs. If you ever feel that it is not right for your
family or your child, you may disenroll your child at any time.

Is this homeschooling?
The Florida Virtual Academy is a public school program. It is not
homeschooling. FLVA provides another high-quality education option
for your family. FLVA will be the right option for many, but
certainly not all, families. Because it is a public school program,
parents who enroll their students in FLVA can disenroll at any time
if they are not satisfied with the program. We believe that families
should be able to choose the program they feel is most appropriate
for their child's education-and that they should be able to choose
public schools, private schools, homeschooling, or virtual schools.
FLVA seeks to be one more option to help you obtain the best possible
education for your children.

HEF is NOT opposing HB 799 (K-8 Virtual School Program) and ask you
not to for the following reasons:

1. We believe that parents should make decisions for their own
family and children.

2. Your call may easily be discredited and you may appear to be
selfishly trying to control the choice of other parents since this
bill will not directly affect home education under s. 1002.41 F.S.
This bill does NOT require home education parents to enroll in the K-
8 Virtual school nor do we see that ever happening in Florida.

3. Since the sponsors of these bills are strong supporters of home
education and will quickly fight against any laws that would restrict
our rights, it is not politically expedient to oppose their bill. If
I could argue that this bill would have a direct impact on our rights
as home educators, I would be camping out in their offices until they
agreed to withdraw their bill.

4. Money is very tight this year and it will be interesting to see
if the program receives extra funding. Currently, the dollars that
would be spent on a public school child can be used in a K-8 Virtual
School. Including private school and home education students in the
K-8 Virtual School would take money away from public schools and the
state will be paying for students who they are not currently paying
for. I think it will be a hard sell for the bill sponsors.

5. Some parents who have their child registered in a home education
program may want to enroll their child in the K-8 Virtual School. If
they call legislators in support of the bill and you call in to
oppose it, legislators are going to think we are divided and will not
listen to either opinion. They will do what they want to do.
Presenting a divided front does not do home educators any good. It
is better to work this out with diplomacy.

HEF will watch this bill and if it appears that changes to this bill
will jeopardize the freedom of home educators we will let you know
and alert you when it is the appropriate time for action. If you
have a strong opinion about this, please feel free to email me
through the HEF website www.flhef.org. Go to hefquestions and send me
your opinion.

Brenda Dickinson

President of The Home Education Foundation


 
____________________________________________________________________________________
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