HB 230 To Be Debated By House Education Committee on Tuesday

The House Education Committee has put HB 230 on the calendar to consider whether to recommend the bill to the full membership of the House of Representatives. The meeting will be at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 in the Legislative Office Building room 643.

Please contact these members of the House Education Committee to ask them to support HB 230. If you are a constituent, your request will be more effective. When you call your representative, you will most likely speak with the legislative assistant. Simply ask that the representative support HB 230. If there are any questions, see the talking points toward the bottom of this page.

Also, plan to attend the meeting if you are able. It would be great to have a big show of support by having homeschoolers attend the meeting. Even though all you can do is observe, it still shows support. If you can't attend this meeting, there will be another on the Senate side.

HB 230 Talking Points

In 1988 the North Carolina General Assembly (GA) took progressive action in education by passing the homeschool law. By passing this law, the GA made it clear that home education is a viable option. The success of homeschooled students has fueled a sustained growth of NC homeschools. Since the 1988-89 school-year the number of homeschools has grown from fewer than 400 to 52,622. The NC Division of Non-Public Education estimates that there are 1.66 students between the ages of 7 and 18 per homeschool, for a total of 87,000 students. If kindergarten students are included, NCHE estimates that there are at least 2.0 students per homeschool, for a total of more than 105,000 homeschool students in NC.

One reason for this growth is the academic achievements of homeschool students. In 2011 NCHE published a survey of 1,149 NC homeschool students and their families. The survey found that NC homeschool test scores on nationally standardized achievement tests were exceptionally high with mean scores of 84% (mean scores for all students in the US are 50%). The survey also revealed that the parent's level of formal education, the family's economic situation, the curriculum used or the skin color of the students had no measurable effect on the student's academic progress. There are no education gaps due to these demographics.

When the homeschool law was passed in 1988, no one foresaw the technological and innovative advances in collaborative learning that would emerge. Now there are resources enabling richer interaction and collaboration with peers to successfully complete a project or course of study. Students benefit when their education includes collaborative components. Parent-educators recognize this and see the importance of using these robust, interactive resources when homeschooling.

What HB 230 will NOT do:

1. Take public funds
2. Add to or remove current homeschool regulations
3. Change who maintains full responsibility for the education of homeschooled children (Parents will still be responsible for providing instruction and for determining what is taught, how it is taught and when it is taught.)

What HB 230 will do:

1. Give parents more tools to choose from when educating their children in “core” subjects (language arts, math, science and social studies) If you are asked about tools that homeschools can use, limit the tools you talk about to the following.

1.      Online courses such as SAS Curriculum Pathways

2.      A dual enrollment class at a college or university (Note: Because of the Career and College Promise law, homeschool students may enroll in this program at the local community college. However, they may not take a dual enrollment class in a “core” subject at a four-year university.)

3.      Allow a friend, neighbor or family member to provide instruction in a “core” subject area.

4.      Allow important instruction offered to homeschooled students with learning disabilities by trained professionals.

B.     Allow homeschool parents to take advantage of future innovations in education when they are developed.