You can’t legislate your way to freedom.
When the government, be it state or federal, attempts to enumerate our rights, it is a slippery slope. Wording is easily amended, and what they believe they have the authority to grant can just as easily be taken away.
In Tennessee, a good example of this is HB 1414—an act to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 36 and Title 49, relative to the “Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act.”
This bill outlines the “rights” of parents to, among other things, (1) To direct the education of the child, including the right to choose public, private, religious, or home schools, and the right to make reasonable choices within public schools for the education of the child; (2) To access and review all school records relating to the child; (3) To direct the upbringing of the child; (4) To direct the moral or religious training of the child; (5) To make and consent in writing to all physical and mental healthcare decisions for the child.
Tennessee is teetering on the edge of a slippery slope. These rights stated above are not granted by our state government. These are God-given rights protected by our Constitution. Of course parents have those rights, but the enumeration of these rights via state legislation is a Pandora’s box. Parents need to stop allowing politicians to gamble with their parental, educational and Constitutional freedoms before it is too late. Contact your representatives and tell them that you do not need legislation to outline your rights. “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have.”
States across the nation are facing gross governmental overreach this legislative session. The Michigan Department of Education has called the legislature to create a bill that would require every student (Including private school and homeschool students) in Michigan to be tracked annually by a government database.
Oklahoma residents are facing legislation in which parents “will have to notify DHS every year that we intend to educate our children at home. We also have to register every single person who assists us in educating our children in any way and give DHS an explanation as to why we want to home educate. They are seeking to add background checks on every adult associated with your child’s home or education, and every person or organization associated with your home education will be tracked and possibly have biannual home checks,” according to the Constitutional Home Educators Alliance.
In Missouri there are three bills that seek to change the age of compulsory school attendance. This would effectively strip away the right of the parent to decide when their child is ready for formalized instruction.
The Arizona governor is proposing that all schools—public and private—adhere to the same standards. Yes, the same standards that are producing functionally illiterate graduates. The same standards that are steeped in SEL, CRT and ideologies that are the antithesis of the Christian faith. This is tied directly to ESAs in that state, because what the government funds, it runs.
In Arizona, if a home-school family accepts ESA funding, the child is no longer considered a homeschool student, per state law.
Why would the law reflect this? The reason is that home schooling is the last frontier of freedom and the government knows that. When home schoolers accept government monies, they have effectively bought your freedom.
Missouri is also waiting to see exactly what the rules for the Missouri Scholars Bill, which was passed in 2021, will look like. No one seems to know, and the recurring theme for states that have passed legislation such as this includes revising rules that encompass public school equivalency and tightening of the screws on families that accept the government welfare—which is school choice.
In 2023, West Virginia faced legislation that would consolidate the requirements for all students receiving instruction at home. The bill sought to lump all home schoolers and the strings attached to government funding into one pot, regardless if they were accepting government funding or not.
The end goal is complete government control. They will accomplish this goal by convincing the populace that they are “giving” you freedoms by enumerating them in legislation. Those in power will then amend that wording to fit their agenda. Slowly removing your rights one by one, they will accomplish their goal. They will graciously give the populace funds to educate their children via home schooling and private schooling. They will then amend language to exert total control over how you parent and educate your children.
The water is heating up in Tennessee and across the nation. The question is: will you be the frog in the pot?
Free YOUR Children will be hosting a rally in opposition to the school choice scam on Feb. 6, at 10 a.m. at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville. We must move now to protect our parental, educational and Constitutional rights. For more information, contact Free YOUR Children at freeyourchildren@gmail.com.
