By Carolyn Martin (CHEC Director of Government Relations)
Threats on the Horizon
In our current political climate, it is not the right to home educate that we stand up for per se, but the right to do so without undue burden placed on us from the state. Don’t get me wrong, there are those who believe homeschooling is detrimental to the upbringing of the child and desire to outlaw it. But often what the government cannot outright eliminate, they merely make more difficult through burdensome laws and regulations.
The Colorado homeschool law, which was passed in 1988, was carefully crafted to uphold our parental rights and protect our privacy rights. Help sustain these rights by following the law as it is written (read the full law here) and never give a school district more than the law requires. When we willingly give them more information than required, they tend to believe they are entitled to the data and will try to extract it from everyone with or without a change in law.
As more families experience the freedom and joy of homeschooling, it is highly probable that the government will try to increase regulation over home education, and in addition, will try to woo us back into the system. One such attempt is being made in the form of a ballot initiative. Initiative 25, better know as the LEAP Program, specifically mentions home education students and given the requirements for this program could very well lead to the data mining of homeschool students. Look for more information on this initiative in my next blog article.
We will need all hands on deck for the next legislative session to ensure our freedom to homeschool without government control will remain intact! Join the Colorado Homeschool Freedom Team and sign up for my prayer emails where updates and action items are sent weekly during the session.
Looking for information on how your family will be impacted by the implementation of the new vaccination law (SB20-163)? Go here.
Trusting in the mighty power and grace of Jesus,
Carolyn Martin, CHEC Director of Government Relations
carolyn@chec.org
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