Search Results for: Virtual Charter Schools

Whereas state and federal governments are proposing tax credits for educational expenses and are trying to convince homeschoolers to support such proposals by including homeschooling expenses; and Whereas specific expenses such as “educational” expenses qualify for tax credits only if those expenses meet the state’s standards in education, schools qualify only if they are accredited or in some other way approved by the state, tutors qualify only if they are officially licensed, etc.; and Whereas tax credits are one way for the government to get people to do things the government wants them to do whether or not these things

Whereas education vouchers, educational investment accounts, and tax credits and deductions for education that are being proposed at the federal and state levels of government would allow the government to define education and impose its values, judgments, and often its testing on people; and Whereas such education vouchers would not be given to families but only to the institutions that families select from among those the state has certified as eligible to receive money from the state through vouchers; and Whereas such education vouchers can easily lead to state control of education and further control of families; and Whereas legislation

Whereas school-to-work programs would greatly increase the influence that schools have over people’s lives by giving the schools the authority to issue “certificates of initial mastery” and “certificates of advanced mastery” that would be required for some jobs; and Whereas school-to-work programs aim to change the fundamental nature of schooling by requiring that students acquire certain knowledge, skills, abilities, and values in order to pass the tests that lead to the certificates; and Whereas proposed state and national standards in education give the government the authority and ability to require that students acquire specific knowledge, skills, and abilities; and Whereas

Whereas Wisconsin has a reasonable homeschooling law that homeschoolers have worked hard to pass and maintain; and Whereas homeschoolers are a small minority; and Whereas there are interests that are politically and financially powerful that would like to see increased regulation of homeschools by the state; and Whereas any change to the homeschooling law or any privilege or benefit to homeschoolers that might be proposed, such as providing legislatively that homeschoolers be counted for state aids when taking one or more courses in a public school, could easily open up the homeschooling law for debate, change, and amendment; and Whereas

Whereas there are increasing efforts by government, researchers, schools, and big business interests to identify and track the behaviors, values, interests, abilities, buying habits, and risks of individuals and families in our society; and Whereas increasing efforts are being made to screen and evaluate children’s abilities and development and to assess how well families are preparing their children for school and the values of the school; and Whereas screening, labeling, and recording of information about young children may threaten a family’s freedom to homeschool; and Whereas identification and tracking systems and practices not only invade one’ privacy but also put

Whereas recent legislation requires that beginning in 2003, public school students must pass a state-mandated graduation test in order to receive a diploma; and Whereas in the future this test could be required of private school students (including homeschoolers) either in exchange for vouchers or merely because the state decides such tests are a good idea for private school students; and Whereas such standardized tests are unfair and biased against women, minorities, and people who do not have the same values and experiences as those who design the test; and Whereas such tests do not measure important qualities such as

Whereas increasingly many public school officials have adopted the practice of requiring that parents sign a withdrawal form in order for their child to be removed from the public school’s enrollment records; and Whereas Wisconsin statutes specifically state that the parent or guardian of a child ages 6 through 18 shall cause the child to attend school and authorize penalizing the parent, guardian, and/or child for not attending; and Whereas Wisconsin statutes specifically provide that parents and guardians can choose where their child will attend a school and also state that it is the parent’s responsibility to ensure that the

Whereas major studies over the past 40 years have consistently shown parents and families, rather than schools or teachers, to be the determining factor in whether a child succeeds academically and socially; and Whereas day care and preschool have been shown to lead to anti-social and aggressive behavior; and Whereas child care can have serious harmful results for the child, parents, and the family (For example, an abstract from a recent major study of universal child care includes these findings: “Finally, we uncover striking evidence that children are worse off in a variety of behavioral and health dimensions, ranging from

Whereas homeschoolers are a small minority that has regained its rightful educational freedoms in Wisconsin through hard work and maintained them through constant vigilance; and Whereas our approach to education is generally not understood or shared by the majority of people in our society; and Whereas our elected representatives are accustomed to providing state programs in education in exchange for state regulation of schools by means of state goals, state educational standards, state-mandated tests, state audits of educational institutions, and state prescriptions of who is qualified to teach and/or receive benefits; and Whereas most homeschoolers value their homeschooling freedoms more

Whereas there is no general agreement as to the one best way to educate children, and no set calendar or curriculum has been shown to be consistently superior; and Whereas the tutorial approach to education is recognized to be very effective in meeting the individual educational needs of a student; and Whereas the standardized approach to calendars and curriculums used in the public schools for classes of 10 to 30 students is inappropriate for home-based private educational programs; and Whereas one of the major strengths of a home school is that the small number of students makes it possible for

Whereas state and local governments and public and private agencies are using increasingly repressive measures to try to keep young people in school, including day-time curfews and police pick-ups of young people who are not inside a school building during “school hours;” and Whereas such repressive measures have not been shown to be effective in any case but rather have often been found to be counterproductive; and Whereas these measures are a severe infringement of people’s basic freedoms and civil liberties, including the freedom to be in public places and not be interrogated or arrested without reasonable evidence and due

Whereas under Outcome-Based Education (OBE) the state would set the goals for a child’s intellectual, social, emotional, and moral development and then determined whether the child’s development in each of these areas was satisfactory; and Whereas under OBE the government would decide which specific employment skills, living, skills, and attitudes a child should have; and Whereas the government would enforce its decision by granting or denying a child the certificate or diploma required for further education or a job; and Whereas OBE represents a basic change in the role of the government in education from that of providing a service

Whereas in this country, educational goals are now chosen by students and parents, generally assisted by teachers; and Whereas the compulsory school attendance law requires attendance but does not and cannot dictate the outcome of that education (or there would be no freedom of thought or learning); and Whereas public schools provide a service for those who choose to use them; and Whereas the establishment of state goals in education would mean that the law would be requiring “education” rather than attendance; and Whereas this country was founded in large part on the basis of freedom of thought and belief

Whereas parents are responsible for their children, including their educations; and Whereas the state has no constitutional, statutory, or common law authority to demand, require, or invoke any specific educational program for a child; and Whereas the state has no legal authority in education except that available under the federal constitution’s policing provision and only within the past 50 years has the citizenry used this authority to extend compulsory attendance laws through the high school years; and Whereas schools derive their authority from parents and other citizens rather than from federal or state constitutions or authorities but this unfortunately is