Dear Friends of Homeschooling in Tennessee,
We are excited to support a powerful pro-homeschooling bill, the “Family Right to Educational Emancipation (FREE) Act.” This bill was introduced by Senator Janice Bowling as Senate Bill 494 in the Tennessee State Senate, and by Representative Todd Warner as House Bill 552 in the Tennessee State House of Representatives. The bills are identical.
The FREE Act leaves unchanged current Tennessee law allowing families to educate their children at home either as independent homeschools, as part of a church-related school (also known as a Category IV school), or as part of a Category III non-public school that offers distance learning. If the FREE Act is passed, families will still be able to use these three options just like they do today.
NEW OPTION
If passed by the Tennessee Legislature and signed into law by Governor Bill Lee, the FREE Act will expand parental rights and homeschool freedom by adding a fourth option for families to use for homeschooling. This new option is “a distinct and separate category of parent-led education that is unrelated to public and private schooling options.”
If enacted into law, homeschooling families using this new option will no longer be required to administer any tests or assessments, or “submit or report any information or documentation regarding the home school student’s attendance or education to the state, any school or school district in this state, or any other governmental entity.”
It’s hard to overstate how significant this proposed legislation is. If the FREE Act becomes law, Tennessee will become the 12th state in the nation to have a homeschool option that requires no reporting to a local school district, joining Alaska, Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
WHAT SUPPORTERS ARE SAYING
We join our homeschool friends in Tennessee in support of the FREE Act, including:
Claiborne Thornton, president, THEA: “The THEA Board has reviewed the FREE act and determined to support passage of the bill in the house and senate. This bill creates a new island of freedom of education in Tennessee by exempting children enrolled in this new section of law from compulsory attendance. THEA enthusiastically supports this bill and encourages all homeschooling families to begin to learn to embrace true freedom in education.”
Tiffany Boyd, founder, Free Your Children: “We have worked diligently to write this bill in an attempt to give parents in Tennessee, who so desire, true educational autonomy and freedom. Every legislator that claims they believe that parents are the best equipped to make educational decisions for their children should also lend their support. This is TRUE school choice. We are simply asking that our constitutional rights be recognized as they have been in other states. This bill will give homeschoolers complete autonomy and establish Tennessee as one of the truly FREE homeschooling states.
ACTION REQUESTED
Please contact your Tennessee state representative and Tennessee state senator and ask them to support the FREE Act. You can find your legislators here.
Your message can be as simple as the following:
As a homeschooling parent, I ask that you support S.B. 494 and H.B. 552, the FREE Act. This commonsense bill will expand freedom in Tennessee, protect parental rights, and make Tennessee the 12th state in the nation that does not require parents to get a permission slip from the government before they homeschool their children.
As a homeschool graduate and homeschooling dad, preserving the liberty of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children is personal for me. I look forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with you to see the FREE Act become law in Tennessee.
For liberty,
Will Estrada,
HSLDA [Homeschool Legal Defense Association] Senior Counsel
P.S. Already this year, we have reviewed dozens of bills introduced in the Tennessee legislature. In addition, another good bill that HSLDA supports is H.J.R. 92, a parental rights amendment to the Tennessee Constitution. In addition, many families have reached out to us to ask about the Education Freedom Scholarship Act, which was just enacted into law. It is important to note that the bill as enacted into law specifically excludes independent homeschools and church-related schools (Category IV schools). For a complete analysis of the Education Freedom Scholarship Act and other bills we are monitoring, we encourage you to read the latest edition of the THEA Observer.
