By Carolyn Martin (CHEC Director of Government Relations)

Nearing the End

As I am writing this post over the weekend, there have been 467 House bills and 226 Senate bills introduced thus far in the session. Many of the bills are still waiting to make it through the entire process. Some were just introduced last week and will begin the committee process this week. Last session, the legislature introduced 5 significant bills during the last week, so they may still have some more tricks up their sleeves.

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By Carolyn Martin (CHEC Director of Government Relations)

Right to An Education?

There has been an international push over many decades to create a right of education for children. The United Nations (UN) through UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) has been at the forefront of this push and they have established several treaties beginning in 1960 with the UN Convention Against Discrimination in Education. Interestingly, the United States (US) has declined to ratify these treaties. Homeschoolers fought hard against the ratification by the US Senate of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) since it was signed by the Clinton administration in 1995. Despite this, individual states and the federal government have been implementing various aspects of these treaties through their lawmaking process for years.
 
In Colorado, we have seen for some time now a shift away from parental rights to the rights of a child, including when it comes to education. There have even been some attempts this year to put the right of a child to a quality education in the Colorado Constitution. Under the biblical order of the family, it is parents who steward the rights of children until they are capable of handling the responsibility of exercising their rights on their own. 

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By Carolyn Martin (CHEC Director of Government Relations)

Charter School Accountability: A Warning

Charter schools are public schools that are managed by third-party contactors and governed by their own board of directors instead of the local school board. They must follow state standards unless the Colorado State Board of Education (SBOE) grants them a waiver. Currently, the law allows charter schools to waive certain requirements in state law automatically. Things like teacher requirements, school schedule, and prescription of textbooks can be waived automatically. These waivers allow charter schools to offer different programing than the traditional public school. Since the inception of the charter school law in 1993, just five years after the passage of the homeschool law, the number of charter schools has grown from 2 to almost 300.
 
Last month, a bill (HB24-1363 Charter Schools Accountability) was introduced that will devastate the uniqueness of charter schools. The sponsors of the bill claim it will bring better accountability and transparency for parents, but it is clear the provisions are meant to align these schools with all the other public schools by placing more controls on them. One aspect that removes the flexibility of what, how, and when charter schools teach their students is the removal of automatic waivers. Another aspect gives authority to the local school boards to close charter schools within their borders simply because enrollment in traditional public schools declines. The 55-page bill holds more accountability measures —see this article for a good synopsis. The House Education Committee will probably hear this bill next week.

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By Carolyn Martin (CHEC Director of Government Relations)

The Truth is Not Foolishness

“How is this?” said the Emperor to himself. “I can see nothing! This is indeed a terrible affair! Am I a simpleton, or am I unfit to be an Emperor? That would be the worst thing that could happen – Oh! The cloth is charming,” he said aloud. “I approve of it completely.”
Excerpt from “The Emperor’s New Clothes” by Hans Christian Andersen

It seems we are caught in a place, much like the Emperor, where we are afraid to speak the truth for fear of being called a fool. There is a movement gaining momentum sweeping across our culture gobbling up our children, especially our girls. It claims that girls can be boys, boys can be girls, or more radically, girls and boys can be sexless. Speaking the truth makes you a fool, or worse, in the eyes of the gatekeepers of our current culture. Much like the people in the story, many who know the truth stay silent in the face of the greatest evil to plague our children today. It’s time to say, like the little child in the story, “But the Emperor has nothing at all on!” Staying silent should not be an option for those who love the Creator who made us.

A bill (HB24-1039 Non-Legal Name Change) will be heard in the Senate Education Committee on Monday, March 25^th at 1:30 PM. It attempts to criminalize anyone not using an individual’s “chosen name” under the guise of “gender expression” discrimination. While the bill title only speaks about students in schools, Section 4 of the bill clearly makes it applicable to all employment, housing, or places of public accommodation situations. If this bill passes, no place in society will be immune from the requirement to acquiesce to a man-made truth which violates God’s created order. We are being forced to accept the unacceptable and affirm the unaffirmable.

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By Carolyn Martin (CHEC Director of Government Relations)

Freedom is Costly

In the legislature there are many policy ideas wrapped in compassion that, in reality, only grow and empower a hard-hearted government apparatus and limit the liberties of the people. Last week, the Empowerment Scholarship Act (ESA) bill (SB24-122) was heard in the Senate Education Committee. It was presented as a way to help families with children who have special needs get out of the failing public school system.
 
Despite our clear message over the years to leave the homeschool law out of legislation attached to funding, we found ourselves having to defend our position once again. During the committee hearing they mentioned several times that they received a lot of emails on the topic from homeschoolers and I want to thank you all for weighing in. You made an impact! Many probably received a response claiming that you didn’t need to be concerned because the bill wouldn’t affect you if you don’t take the money. Let’s unpack that.

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