Legislative Alert – Diploma Fairness 5-21-14

LEGISLATIVE ALERT – ACTION NEEDED UPDATE ON OHIO DIPLOMA POLICY HOME EDUCATED GRADUATES
May 21, medicine 2014

For background information see previous alert.

As Chair of the Ohio Senate Education Committee, salve State Senator Peggy Lehner was presented with an amendment to HB487 (Mid-year Budget Review) that would easily fix the problem with discrimination targeting home educated graduates. She would not allow its inclusion in the bill. The amendment would very simply allow a diploma issued to home school graduates be considered equivalent to a high school diploma issued pursuant to section 3313.61 of the Ohio Revised Code.

Her response was that it is too late for the amendment to be considered.

It will be very important for state legislators to hear from families who believe that Ohio laws need to be revised to prevent students, viagra 100mg who have been lawfully home educated, from being shut out of opportunities for college/university training, shut out of receiving credentials after they have earned their postsecondary degree, or denied opportunities to apply for employment for the sole reason that they were home educated.

Points to consistently make with all legislators:

1. Ohio Administrative Code (3301-34) establishes the regulations for home educators to follow.

2. Parents have a legal and constitutional right to direct the education of their children, including home education.

3. A diploma only represents that the educational experience is finished. It should be no problem for a parent (who has followed the law) to issue a diploma, which is equivalent to issuing a diploma for any other legal option for educating children.

4. Home educated students, who have completed their education, should not be required to take a GED (which has historically been a tool for dropouts).

5. We need immediate solutions to the roadblocks that some home school graduates are experiencing.

6. Ask your legislators to support the language drafted as an amendment #AM2737x1  to HB 487 (Full Text: AM2737X1 drafted amendment to HB487)

7.  HB 487 partially addresses the issue but the language isn’t complete.

Contact Information:

Speaker William Batchelder, Ohio House of Representatives
614-466-8140

** Also please contact your own State Representative

Ask that they support revisions to state law that would firmly protect home educated students from being unfairly shut out of opportunities for employment solely because they don’t have a public school diploma

Senator Keith Faber, President of the Ohio Senate
(614) 466 7584

Senator Peggy Lehner, Chair of the Education Committee
(614) 466-4538

** Also please contact your own State Senator