I hate to say, “I told you so” . . . but, I told you so. I have been writing for the Murfreesboro Pulse since 2021, and many of my articles have focused on the repercussions of school choice on private education. Today, as I pen this article, home-school families and supporters of educational freedom are currently fighting legislation that originally sought to jeopardize home schooling (a form of private education) in the state of Tennessee.
The original 13-page amendment to HB1214/SB1194 was a direct attack on home schooling and attempted to change the Tennessee home-school laws by adding an additional option under our home-school statute. If home-school parents registered with that option, their children would then be considered public school students. The amendment went on to specify all the regulations this option would place on these families. Thank you Cameron Sexton, Speaker of the House and sponsor of the bill, for helping drive home the point of the plethora of articles I have penned that warn “what the government funds it runs” and how school choice is a trap.
Although a brief glance at this bill reveals only a proposed act substituting “five (5) business days’ notice” in the place of “five (5) days notice” in a portion of Tennessee Code related to education, an amendment to the “caption bill” contained much more interesting material.
Caption bills “carry a caption broad enough to cover any number of legislative topics, and certainly more or different topics than what the bill seems to address on its face. These bills can be amended at the last moment to cover any topic allowed by the caption of the bill, and are frequently used to give legislators or lobbyists a way to comply with bill-filing deadlines while not revealing the true purpose of the bill,” according to the Tennessee Bar Association.
Public outcry within the home-school community in opposition to this bill was tremendous. A rally was planned by Free YOUR Children in opposition to this legislation. Home-school families across the state launched a campaign against this bill. We have flooded the offices of our representatives and those sitting on the education committees with calls and emails. The outcry resulted in additional amendments to this bill. Does this mean that the threat has been avoided? Not at all.
Parents and taxpayers alike should be paying attention to this legislation. What was once thought to be legislation that would only negatively affect the home-school community in fact has a much broader scope and sequence.
Any bill that opens the education code and seeks to blur the lines between private education and public schooling is dangerous. What the government funds it runs.
A charter boarding school for “at-risk youth” is a focus of the amendment to this bill. After reading through the amendments, it is clear to me that there is an attempt to try and circumnavigate parental authority. This proposed charter facility would not be required to include a parent on its advisory council and the governing body is not required to include a parent representative. The description of at-risk youth in this bill is also very concerning. According to the current amendments, the “at-risk youth” who could be potentially housed in these charter boarding schools are described as economically disadvantaged, children whose families qualify for free and reduced lunch, educationally disadvantaged children who have been abused or neglected, children with disabilities, children who have been defined as having a dysfunctional family, chronically absent, truant with five or more excused absences, and children who have been expelled or are on probation or parole. It appears that lawmakers in Tennessee believe that children with disabilities and those who are economically disadvantaged should be warehoused with children who are on probation and parole.
These charter schools also seem to be bypassing local control since they aren’t governed by local school boards. This seems to me like a perfect example of “taxation without representation.” Essentially these schools will be spending taxpayer dollars and taxpayers don’t have any say in how they are run. Would these charter schools be subject to public audit and would their board meetings be open to the public? Who is behind these schools? Who are their board members?
As a taxpayer, would you be comfortable with a boarding school for “at-risk youth” in your neighborhood? Where will these youth be coming from since they do not have to live in the jurisdiction of their local educational agency?
I was added to the agenda to testify in opposition to this bill on March 22, when it was on the agenda to be heard in the Education Administration Committee. While en route to Nashville that morning, I received communication from the chairperson of this committee that my testimony would not be needed because it had been rolled two weeks. As of today, the Senate has sent the bill to the summer study session. Don’t be fooled. This bill could be brought back out. HB 1214 is currently on the calendar to be heard in the Education Administration Committee on April 5. We are watching this legislation closely because we feel political posturing is occurring and that there is a possibility that the bill number could change and that it could be added to a different caption bill.
Let this serve as a reminder that school choice is a trap. Don’t fall for the propaganda that the government is providing you with more “choice” when they attempt to buy your freedoms. School choice is an attempt to destroy all forms of truly private education by making all education options public via government funding. This legislation is a perfect example of why parents who truly value their freedom should educate their conservative representatives on why they should stop peddling this program.
If you are a public school parent or a home-school parent and you value your education freedom, do not accept government monies in any form. Remember, a recent guest on my radio show recently said, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”
Contact your representatives today and tell them to kill this bill. Conservatives should not be pushing programs that seek to usurp or threaten parental rights. Remember, they work for you. Hold them accountable for the legislation they bring to the table and for how they vote. Our children do not belong to the government, and our God-given parental rights are not, and should never be, up for vote.
