No Child Left Behind – potential snare for private and home schools
April 17, 2010
This analysis by Julanne Burts was written soon after the federal government passed HR1– No Child Left Behind– in 2001. Its funding creates even more mischief than Goals 2000.
Section 8509 Private schools:
Nothing in this act Shall be construed to affect any private school that does not receive funds or services under this act nor shall any student who attends a private school that does not receive funds or services under this act be required to participate in any assessment referenced in this act.
Section 8507:
Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to authorize the making of any payment under this act for religious worship or instruction.
Section 8508:
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect home schools, whether or not a home school is treated as a home school or a private school under state law [consistent with section 8509] nor shall any home schooled student be required to participate in any assessment referenced in this Act.[unless they receive help from government schools]
This means that if you don´t take federal money you are exempt, but if you do then you have to comply with the laws of education reform, such as the WASL and everything else that goes with it. Even in the form of vouchers–with any federal money– the strings will come. The Goals 2000 Act [1994] stated that private schools were just exempt, but now, with this law, it is reworded and states private schools are only exempt if they don´t take the money.
In Section 1120, there is a whole section on participation for private schools. So the strings are ready to be attached. The only way for private schools and homeschoolers to stay out of federal education reform is to refuse the vouchers and federal money under this act. HR1 calls for even more compliance measures than did Goals 2000. The Washington A+ Commission is working out rules to align with HR1. They will have to change the state´s standards (our curriculum) and submit them to the Secretary of Education. So much for local control.
This is complete federal control of education and it is under a Republican president. The law is not written well; legislators did not spend much time on it. They hurried it through after 911. The Family Research Council wanted to buy some more time and told Congress not to hurry through this legislation but to no avail.
We will never get to the point of taking vouchers without strings attached. Unless the money never leaves your pocket in the first place, there are no protections.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS:
Back to money, some Catholic schools take federal dollars and they are doing the WASL and the states assessments. They also have social programs like the DARE program and the violence prevention program that is nothing but values clarification. They are acting just like public schools.
I talked with staff from the Catholic schools this last summer and asked they why they are doing the WASL etc. They told me that there was nothing wrong with it, and they want to do what the public schools are doing. They don´t want to be left out of the system. Also they want the federal money.
According to the national education statistics Catholic schools enrollment is down and other private schools that are church-oriented are up. When I talked with them this summer and kept demanding a better answer than they were giving me, it was like talking with pubic school administrators– they became very defensive.
HOME SCHOOLS:
Also the cyber schools for homeschoolers in the school districts started out with no strings attached the first year, but since then, year after year, the strings have come. In some districts the homeschooler gets around 200 dollars to be a part of the schools. I went to a meeting at the Lake Washington school district two years ago. The state Board of Education was there, and the homeschool liaison said that they were aligning the curriculum and taking the WASL.
So there you have it. Take the money and you are no longer a homeschooler or a private school anymore. Your are a private school or a homeschool family in name only.
We will have to watch Olympia to make sure the Legislature doesn’t mess with the education code, an action they tried last session by trying to redo all the home and private school laws. Thanks to the Republican legislators, who called them on it and stopped it!
Julanne Burts, CURE researcher
Tags: No Child Left Behind, goals 2000, homeschool, private school
This analysis by Julanne Burts was written soon after the federal government passed HR1– No Child Left Behind– in 2001. Its funding creates even more mischief than Goals 2000.
Section 8509 Private schools:
Nothing in this act Shall be construed to affect any private school that does not receive funds or services under this act nor shall any student who attends a private school that does not receive funds or services under this act be required to participate in any assessment referenced in this act.
Section 8507:
Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to authorize the making of any payment under this act for religious worship or instruction.
Section 8508:
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect home schools, whether or not a home school is treated as a home school or a private school under state law [consistent with section 8509] nor shall any home schooled student be required to participate in any assessment referenced in this Act.[unless they receive help from government schools]
This means that if you don´t take federal money you are exempt, but if you do then you have to comply with the laws of education reform, such as the WASL and everything else that goes with it. Even in the form of vouchers–with any federal money– the strings will come. The Goals 2000 Act [1994] stated that private schools were just exempt, but now, with this law, it is reworded and states private schools are only exempt if they don´t take the money.
In Section 1120, there is a whole section on participation for private schools. So the strings are ready to be attached. The only way for private schools and homeschoolers to stay out of federal education reform is to refuse the vouchers and federal money under this act. HR1 calls for even more compliance measures than did Goals 2000. The Washington A+ Commission is working out rules to align with HR1. They will have to change the state´s standards (our curriculum) and submit them to the Secretary of Education. So much for local control.
This is complete federal control of education and it is under a Republican president. The law is not written well; legislators did not spend much time on it. They hurried it through after 911. The Family Research Council wanted to buy some more time and told Congress not to hurry through this legislation but to no avail.
We will never get to the point of taking vouchers without strings attached. Unless the money never leaves your pocket in the first place, there are no protections.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS:
Back to money, some Catholic schools take federal dollars and they are doing the WASL and the states assessments. They also have social programs like the DARE program and the violence prevention program that is nothing but values clarification. They are acting just like public schools.
I talked with staff from the Catholic schools this last summer and asked they why they are doing the WASL etc. They told me that there was nothing wrong with it, and they want to do what the public schools are doing. They don´t want to be left out of the system. Also they want the federal money.
According to the national education statistics Catholic schools enrollment is down and other private schools that are church-oriented are up. When I talked with them this summer and kept demanding a better answer than they were giving me, it was like talking with pubic school administrators– they became very defensive.
HOME SCHOOLS:
Also the cyber schools for homeschoolers in the school districts started out with no strings attached the first year, but since then, year after year, the strings have come. In some districts the homeschooler gets around 200 dollars to be a part of the schools. I went to a meeting at the Lake Washington school district two years ago. The state Board of Education was there, and the homeschool liaison said that they were aligning the curriculum and taking the WASL.
So there you have it. Take the money and you are no longer a homeschooler or a private school anymore. Your are a private school or a homeschool family in name only.
We will have to watch Olympia to make sure the Legislature doesn’t mess with the education code, an action they tried last session by trying to redo all the home and private school laws. Thanks to the Republican legislators, who called them on it and stopped it!
Julanne Burts, CURE researcher
Tags: No Child Left Behind, goals 2000, homeschool, private school