LEGISLATIVE ALERT – ACTION NEEDED
May 20, click 2014
UPDATE ON OHIO DIPLOMA POLICY – CHANCE TO END UNNECESSARY DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HOME EDUCATED GRADUATES
For background information see previous alert.
As Chair of the Ohio Senate Education Committee, health State Senator Peggy Lehner has been presented with an amendment to HB487 (Mid-year Budget Review) that would easily fix the problem with discrimination targeting home educated graduates. She will not allow its inclusion in the bill. The amendment very simply would 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, even though it was presented within the appropriate time to offer other amendments to the bill.
It will be very important for Senator Lehner and Senate President Keith Fabor to hear from families who believe that Ohio laws need to be revised to prevent students, 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.
It will also be important to contact your member of the Ohio Senate this week. If you are not sure who represents you, contact your county board of elections or click on link below.
Points to make:
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 State Senator to support the language drafted in amendment #AM2737x1 (Full Text:AM2737X1 drafted amendment to HB487)
Contact Information:
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.