Virginia State Senator Stella Pekarski, a former Fairfax County Public Schools teacher and school board representative, introduced: invoice Earlier this month, critics argued the bill would undermine parental rights and transform religious exemptions for home-schooling families in the state.
current state law need Parents who wish to homeschool their children must notify the superintendent in advance of the school year, provide a description of the planned curriculum, and meet one of several criteria, including obtaining a high school diploma. You need to prove that you are.
Pekarski's SB 1031 would amend the law so that a simple notice of intent is no longer sufficient. Under the Democratic bill, parents who wish to homeschool their children would now have to notify the school superintendent of their “intent to receive an exemption from attendance on the basis of bona fide religious training or belief.”
The law clarifies that “'true religious training or belief' does not include political, sociological, or philosophical views or merely personal moral standards.”
Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women's Network, said: noticed Federalist said the bill not only limits the reasons parents have for homeschooling their children, but also gives state officials the power to determine the veracity of Virginians' beliefs.
“Is it appropriate for a state government to rate the religion of its residents as 'sincere' or 'faithful'?” Lundquist-Arora wrote.
Home School Law Association shown Pekarski's bill is rooted in a “worldview that distrusts parents, fears the freedoms they currently enjoy, and believes government can do a better job,” Pekarski said in a recent message to lawmakers.
“I find this law particularly abhorrent.”
Virginia Alliance for Educational Opportunity, a parent rights group proposed The bill “could threaten Virginia's religious exemption for home-educated families and undermine their right to educate their children based on their faith-based beliefs.”
The Virginia Home Educators Association asked Virginians to contact us. Pekarski's office State Senate members, as well as members of the State Senate Public Education Subcommittee. skyler vanvalkenburg (D), Mamie Rock (D), mark peak (R), and christy new craig (R) and implored lawmakers to kill the bill.
Lundquist-Arora said the current breakdown of students being homeschooled in the state is why the Democratic bill attacks the freedom of families to opt out of the scandal-plagued mainstream system for reasons other than religion. It was pointed out that it clearly clarified exactly whether this applies.
Virginia Department of Education data show Of the 56,008 students currently receiving home instruction, only 6,755 students enjoy it due to religious exemptions.
“As a mother who homeschooled my three children during the 2020-21 school year, when Mr. Pekarski and 11 other Democratic members of the Fairfax County Board of Education shut down schools in the district, I find the bill particularly abhorrent,” Lundquist-Arora said.
The Washington Post suggested it was scheduled for late 2023. report Homeschooling is the fastest growing form of education in America. The newspaper reported that over the past six years, the number of students homeschooled has increased by 51%, while enrollment in private schools has increased by 7% and enrollment in public schools has decreased by 4%. .
Last year, Forbes magazine noticed In 2019, the number of students studying at home in the country was about 2.5 million, but that number has rapidly increased to more than 4 million.
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