Testing proposed for home schoolers

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BY JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star

The Rev. Everett Sileven has long ago left the state.

His nonapproved school, operated in the late 1970s and early 1980s by Faith Baptist Church in Louisville, has long since closed and the church eventually was sold.

But Lincoln Sen. DiAnna Schimek hasn’t forgotten the turmoil caused when Sileven defied the state and refused to close his school, which did not have certified teachers. Sileven, the state and Cass County clashed for six years over the school, which was padlocked a couple of times, and Sileven was jailed.

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Sen. DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln

Sen. DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln

It was a firestorm clash of church and state, and Schimek has been reluctant to open — even a crack — the door that closed when the Legislature passed a law that allowed exemptions for home and church schools.

“It tore the state apart,” Schimek said. “It was extremely difficult in the Legislature. There was such a difference of opinion on whether home schools should be allowed or not.”

Still, the idea for a bill that would require those exempt schools to show their students’ academic progress simmered on the back burner of Schimek’s agenda.

Now, in her last year as a state senator, she’s ready to move it to the front, even with the threat that it might boil over.

“How do we know what’s happening in home schools?” she asked.

Nebraska’s constitution says the state must provide education to all children ages 5 to 21.

“To me, that says we have some responsibility to know children are being educated,” Schimek said.

The law crafted by the Legislature 25 years ago says the state Department of Education would have oversight of exempt schools, and senators expected it.

As it turns out, even if department officials are allowed to visit a school to determine if kids are learning, an attorney general’s opinion says it can’t do anything about it if they’re not, said Russ Inbody, state Education Department’s administrator of school finance and organizational services.

Nearly 3,000 Nebraska families opt to educate their children outside of approved schools.

Students who attend unapproved schools because of religious reasons, or because their parents want to direct their children’s education without interference, numbered 5,596 last school year. Ninety-one percent are in single-family schools and the remainder in multi-family schools.

Schimek has no statistics on how many of these kids may not be getting a good education. She’s had questions and heard concerns from educators and others across the state, but no one asked her to bring the bill (LB1141) forward.

“This is my doing because it’s been my concern,” she said.

She patterned the bill after a similar law in Iowa, but adapted it to fit Nebraska’s system.

The bill says children in all schools that are not accredited or approved by the state — those that are exempted — must be evaluated annually using a nationally recognized standardized test or another assessment developed or approved by the state commissioner of education.

Instead of the annual test, a parent could offer all of these: a book of lesson plans or other written records of subjects and activities; a portfolio of the child’s work including a curriculum outline, copies of homework or class work and projects; other tests taken by the student. The information would be reviewed and reported to the state by a certified educator.

Children who are at least 6 and attending a home school for the first time must be evaluated to obtain academic baseline information.

The annual assessment would be conducted by the commissioner or a designee. The parent of the student would have to reimburse the department for the test.

If the student has failed to make adequate progress, he or she would have to enroll in and attend an accredited school at the beginning of the next school year.

Before introducing the bill, Schimek said she sat down with some home-schooling parents whose names were given to her by Sen. Phil Erdman of Bayard.

“My impression was there was nothing in the bill they might want to accept,” she said. “Home schoolers do not want the state requiring any more of them than we’re currently doing.”

She knows some parents are absolutely devoted to their children and are doing a great job providing a good curriculum and enrichment.

“Some are exceptional. There’s no question about it,” she said.

She still wants — at the very least — a discussion.

“I’m not trying to close home schools,” she said. “I want a way to assure policymakers children are being properly educated.”

Deb Badeer, with the Nebraska Christian Home Educators Association, tried to think of something in the bill she could support. She couldn’t.

“I respect the senator,” she said of Schimek. “I like her as a person. But I cannot see any need for (the bill).”

Badeer, who is in her 22nd year of home schooling, said it’s her experience that these children do really well.

She especially takes exception to the idea that children who don’t show adequate achievement would be forced to go to a public school. What about public school students who don’t show adequate achievement, she asked. Should they be required to enroll in a home school?

Badeer said many home- school parents already have their kids take standardized achievement tests, sometimes within the family school and sometimes in a group.

If people have reported to Schimek they have seen students out in the community rather than at home learning or studying, it may be because home-schooled students have more flexibility than those at accredited schools.

“Home education is a lifestyle,” she said.

If children are truly not meeting requirements to learn, they are covered under the state’s truancy laws, she said.

Suzanne Gage, on the board of Heartland Homeschoolers, said her organization has about 200 members and reaches at least 400 families. They provide help and enrichment for families and children, including such activities as spelling bees and science fairs.

She met with Schimek recently to talk about the bill, and to emphasize that home-schooling parents are immensely committed in effort and time. Only occasionally is there some errant person not doing what he or she should be.

“I think she’s talking about a very, very small narrow population,” Gage said. “If there are parents neglecting their children, we’d like them to be found out. That’s just not the experience we’ve had.”

She and her husband have home schooled five sons.

“I embrace it. I love it. I’m passionate about it,” she said.

She said her curriculum is much richer than what might be reflected in a book of lesson plans. Home-school parents don’t teach to a test, or drill on how to take standardized tests, so she doesn’t know how they might do on annual standardized tests. Some kids — both in home and public schools — don’t test well, especially in high-pressure situations, she said.

An annual test would be a burden, she said.

Ron Zelt, who with his wife has home schooled four children — beginning in about 1991 — said his children have been tested for achievement with other home schoolers. Over the years they have taken different tests, such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills or the Stanford Achievement Test.

Even so, he said, “I think a lot of folks would not enjoy the state increasing requirements on home schooling.”

Inbody said it’s true that the Education Department has no solid evidence home-schooled students are doing well.

“But in my personal opinion, the majority are doing a good job,” he said. “They’re trying to do the right thing.”

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.