Preface and Call To Action:  As we near the end of the 2024 legislative session in Tennessee’s General Assembly, tracking legislation can resemble a science fiction movie.  The rules that normally regulate how and when proposed legislation can be brought up for a vote in committee or on the full house floors can appear to warp and bend to the point that a bill like HB1183 and SB503 could suddenly pop up in another bill’s amendment.  While we are watching the Finance Committees of the House and Senate for the original bills, we are hearing rumors that the language of these bills could be added to other caption bills passing through the process and end up on the floor for a vote.  Without getting into the rules-bending possible scenarios of a time warp movie, we are just asking you to email or call your one legislator today and be firm that WE THE PEOPLE do not want the bill to get any votes except a NO regardless of where the sponsors amend it. 

Find your LEGISLATOR HERE to call and email.

Main Article:

The Five Points of the Tennessee Home Education Association White Paper deserve both repetition and deeper explanation. This is the second in a series of deeper dives into individual points summarized in the original white paper. Point two reads:

·       The Education Scholarship program will Restrict religious freedoms via government oversight particularly for Church Related Schools and the homeschool students using them as an umbrella program. 

For those of us disagreeing with modern society’s misinterpretation of the separation of church and state, we hold that the church must influence the state rather than the state dictating beliefs and conduct to the church.  With the addition of this School Choice program, the state will instead be able to unduly influence what church related schools teach through funding and regulations.  The religious practices of these religious institutions may be unduly regulated and limited by such state interference in their religious liberties. Both now or in the future, this door for limitations on the religious freedom of parents, teachers, and schools should be kept as closed as possible. The current amount of control exerted by the state government is already enough of a hindrance to religious freedom.

With a Republican supermajority controlling the legislature the current proposal for School Choice may seem innocuous at the present in regard to religious freedom. However, the same opportunity for influence could be rather disagreeable under different political circumstances.  A general assembly or governor less friendly to religious freedom could one day walk through this School Choice funded open door and impose more restrictions on parents and on schools in the private and homeschool world. Also, given the worldview espoused by many current Republican legislators who ultimately believe the state has at least an equal fundamental right to direct children’s education, even now such an open door to state influence over church related schools is at the very least concerning. 

You may ask for examples of how similar legislation has led to such limits on religious freedoms in other states. Examples in the references describes stories of religious schools which accepted school vouchers who have already faced lawsuits for Biblical positions on marriage.  If this were applied in Tennessee, many church related schools would not likely be able to participate based on conscience. Then, due to the interconnectedness of Tennessee homeschool law, when private schools who run umbrella programs do participate, the umbrella homeschool student may become regulated through their umbrella program despite not taking any scholarship funds themselves.

This potential for state regulation arises from the following hierarchy of education regulation.  The Department of Education approves the accreditation agencies which oversee the private schools which then operate the umbrella schools enrolling most homeschoolers in our state.  A 2018 presentation online from the Tennessee Department of Education describes homeschoolers in category IV church related schools to be “non-public school students” meaning those homeschoolers could be regulated as private school students (Tidwell 2018)[1].  Basically, the state directly or indirectly controls all education in the state whether public, private, or homeschool through the Department of Education and its compulsory attendance laws (see separate blog article for further explanation [2]).

While current legislators will claim that no such regulation of homeschoolers or private schools will be included in Tennessee, we have seen that type of homeschool controlling legislation in other states added in subsequent legislative sessions or through those state’s departments of education.  Tennessee legislators have publicly and repeatedly stated that they cannot promise that such future regulations will not be added later. They know that future sessions of the General Assembly could add completely different rules and regulations on homeschoolers and private school children.  Already in our current General Assembly in 2024, some legislators have proposed bills to add regulations to the currently active pilot school choice program. —– HB2409 and SB2268  — HB2450 / SB2273  (Tennessee General Assembly[3]).  See References (10, 14, 15, 18). A more detailed explanation of this situation can be found at “Three Reasons to Oppose School Choice – Part 4 – Unintended Consequences[4]”.

We must stand now and not allow any present or future restrictions on our religious freedoms as expressed in the education of our own children. As a separate article on the site describes, parental freedoms and religious freedoms are intertwined with the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children being inherently religious in nature both in its explicit command from God and logically foundational in the life and perpetuation of a family. School Choice legislation which opens a door for undue influence of the government in the jurisdiction of education and parental freedoms deserves our vigilant resistance.

References

[1] https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/stateboardofeducation/documents/sbe_workshop_january_25_2018/1-25-18%201%2050%20Non-public%20and%20Home%20School%20Update.pdf

[2]  https://wholepersonwholelife.com/homeschooling-and-the-school-choice-black-hole/

[3] https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/subjectindex/BillsBySubject.aspx?Primarysubject=1520&GA=113

[4] https://wholepersonwholelife.com/three-reasons-to-oppose-school-choice-unintended-consequences-part-4-of-4/

Preface: Today, at the state Capitol, both the House and the Senate “plan” to hear and/or vote on the School Choice bills, currently known as HB1183 and SB503. SB503 has been delayed in its committees Monday and Tuesday of this week.  HB1183 was delayed yesterday to be on today’s committee agenda.  While there initially seemed to be nothing that could stop this freedom threatening overreach bill, we are seeing the effects of our pressure on legislators.  The results of thousands of emails, who knows how many calls, multiple in-person visits, and our faces in the committee meetings opposing the bill are all taking their toll on their legislators resolve to pass this bill.  Take a moment today to contact legislators on the Finance, Ways, and Means Committees for both houses today to say a loud “NO to HB1183 and SB503”.  Thank you for standing with the parents of Tennessee in protecting their children. 

Scroll to bottom of article prior to references for both committee’s contact lists.

The Five Points of the Tennessee Home Education Association White Paper deserve both repetition and deeper explanation. This is the first in a series of deeper dives into individual points summarized in the original white paper. Point one reads:

·       The Education Scholarship program will limit the parent’s educational choices to those the government and its experts approve of while advocates falsely claim that parents retain control over their children’s education. 

In Tennessee, we currently have three separate educational systems which minimally overlap:  public, private, and homeschool.  That lack of overlap has allowed the non-public systems, private and homeschool, to remain freer in their education of children. Government funding with regulations will infuse money into the private and the homeschool sectors in such a way as to bring both of these previously freer areas under greater state control.  The private education institutions will be most directly and extensively impacted, but homeschools will also experience influences from the government. Over time, the three educational systems will come to resemble each other more and more, ultimately limiting parents to the government’s overarching control of what is allowed to count as education in Tennessee.

State government influence over private and homeschools already exists, but that influence will advance towards more and more overreach through various mechanisms already existent as well as new pathways created by this school choice legislation. The state, through legislation and through rules promulgated by the Department of Education now dictates what officially counts for a elementary and secondary education through official standards. While they directly administer public schooling through the local school districts, they indirectly influence private schools through accreditation agencies which they oversee through a state required approval process. The private schools then must be accredited through one of these agencies in order to operate in Tennessee.

For the homeschoolers, the state influences us through three different pathways. For the so-called independent homeschoolers, they must register under the local school district and report to that public school entity each year along with participate in testing mandated by the state. For those who place themselves under the oversight of a Church-Related School (CRS), they educate their children one step away from the state, but ultimately those CRS’s must be approved by an agency that must receive approval from the state. For those who enroll in a virtual school, they too ultimately come under a virtual school which must receive agency approval, again approved by the state. In all three cases, the state still stands over all of these homeschool options determining what is accepted as education in Tennessee.

Under the current laws and hierarchy, private and homeschools have enjoyed a decent measure of freedom although we can reasonably argue that more freedom would be better. With School Choice legislation as proposed, new regulatory factors arise which alter this current functional equilibrium. Such factors are mostly inherent in the foundational principles of the School Choice movement. For example, the government funding directed at private and homeschools will dictate what expenses are approved for these non-public options as determined under contract law. The parents, having willingly signed a contract with the state, will have little recourse should the state determine an expense is not permitted. This cannot be avoided without creating problems as some regulations must always follow the spending of government money.

In another example, the schools accepting the money will be bound by the regulations promulgated by the Legislature or the Department of Education.  Schools will be fined or excluded from participation if they are found to fall short of the dictated requirements. In order to comply, schools may adapt policies, alter curriculum, or be forced to hire additional staff to monitor compliance. These changes and more will filter down to affect not only the school choice scholarship students at that school, but most likely the other students as well.

Furthermore, the parent’s choice of school will also be limited by private school’s freedom to not participate in the program. This freedom for a private school to not participate is part of the initial legislation. However, the potential then arises for the state to one day legislate that all private schools must participate in the program if they determine that not enough private school seats are available to the school choice scholarship recipients. After that Rubicon of forced school participation is crossed, the potential for legislatively imposed quotas on the same schools may follow. The door is therefore left open for ongoing battles for parents and private schools defending their freedoms in every Department of Education rule-making meeting and each legislative session.

With all of these forces active, the history of school choice programs in other states demonstrates how state funding can alter educational options in other states.  See References (1,2,3,4,5,6,7). A further explanation of this situation can be found at “Homeschooling and the School Choice Black Hole (8)”. This can happen in Tennessee just like it has altered non-public options in other states. Those alterations ultimately limit the educational choices for parents over time to just those approved by the state. The state cannot fund private and homeschool choice without undue influence which limits rather than expands parent’s choice over time, ultimately moving towards one choice of education, the government’s choice packaged in one of three forms: public, government-funded private, and government-funded homeschool.

Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee List

House Finance, Ways, and Means Committee List

References:

1)     Marshall, Alexis. (2023, December 5). Autonomy vs. accountability: Not all Tenn.. Republicans are on board with statewide voucher proposal . WKMS. https://www.wkms.org/government-politics/2023-12-05/autonomy-vs-accountability-not-all-tenn-republicans-are-on-board-with-statewide-voucher-proposal

2)     Missouri Association of Teaching Christian Homes, Inc. (2022, September 2). Comment from Missouri Association of Teaching Christian Homes, Inc. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/MATCH.state/posts/pfbid02o9K7YC11MQoSbYZPTzT81fL5oW3azYuAJmKY6Bu6ofyufYjLZLzcEjw4RQyJX71pl

3)     Dragon, B. (2019, July 30). 6/12/2019 – Legislative update. Nevada Homeschool Network Homeschooling vs Government school choice Why we should care Comments. https://nevadahomeschoolnetwork.com/nv-esa-funding-bill-threatens-liberty-of-homeschooling/

4)     Editor. (2023a, March 13). 2/21/2023 Legislative Update. CHEWV. https://chewv.org/2-21-2023-legislative-update/

5)     Editor. (2023b, April 6). 2023 Legislative Session: Takeaways. CHEWV. https://chewv.org/2023-legislative-session-takeaways/

6)     Coulson, A. J. (2010, October 4). Do Vouchers and Tax Credits Increase Private School Regulation? – Working Paper. Cato Institute. https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/workingpaper-8.pdf

7)     PewEduReport. (2017, March 21). Philadelphia’s Changing Schools and What Parents Want from Them. The Pew Charitable Trusts. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2017/03/state-reforms-reverse-decades-of-incarceration-growth

8) https://wholepersonwholelife.com/homeschooling-and-the-school-choice-black-hole/

At times, we can provide confident details.  At other times, we can pass on the rumors.  Today, we can provide a little of both.  Initially we expected a 4/10/24 vote on the HB1183 School Choice bill in the House Finance, Ways, and Means committee moving the bill one step closer to the full House floor.  Instead, we get an encouraging turn of events in that they bumped the bill 1 week to 4/16/24.  This was a little surprising as the word on the street was that since the Governor wanted this bill, it was destined to pass.  This is where the confident details end.

From there, there are rumors that they realized they do not have enough votes to get this passed so they delayed it.  Some rumors hint that they may have to break up the costlier HB1183 version into smaller bites in order to garner enough support.  We knew that the Senate’s initially cheaper SB503 version would sooner or later have to reconciled with its costlier house twin, but this latest development portends more hope for stopping the whole thing. 

I don’t have any inside informant to confirm this, but it is common practice to delay a bill in order to avoid a “nay” vote.  The supporters then work on the “nay’s” another week or two to talk them out of the “nay”.  Therefore, the scenario above for HB1183 is very possible.

Regardless, we must keep up the pressure, emailing, calling, and showing up for the next House Finance, Ways, and Means committee 4/16/24 at 2pm.  The bill is number 7 on the agenda that day and in person support with small “Say no to HB1183” signs will balance out the Americans For Prosperity Green jackets which keep showing up in support of the bill. 

Forgive me that I have not had time to reformat the committee members into a clean page, but this link allows you to see all members and email them one by one or call their offices.