Today is a big day for Texas homeschoolers....but not in a good way. Texas Home School Coalition's beloved "Tebow Bill" has been filed in the House by James Frank and in the Senate by Van Taylor. In past legislative sessions, Tim Lambert (President of THSC) made promises to his board members and homeschool parents all over the state that he would NEVER support a testing requirement for homeschoolers wanting to participate in UIL activities. Each session it was filed without a testing requirement. Each session the testing requirement was added as an amendment because all our brilliant legislators were all "how do we really know the kids aren't stupid if they don't pass a standardized test?".
This session?? THSC has learned their lesson that this will never pass without a testing requirement, and they're not even trying to hide it anymore. Both the House and Senate version contain the testing requirement right out of the gate.
Why is this a bad thing? I've mentioned before that testing undermines parental rights. Let me explain. Any child currently enrolled in public school who wants to participate in a UIL competition has to have a *passing grade* the first six weeks of school in order to qualify. That's it. The teacher says the child is passing. The principal signs off on it. UIL takes their word for it as NO TESTING has been done yet. As a homeschool Mom, I am the teacher. My husband is the principal. If my child wants to participate in UIL competition under this bill, our word is not enough. Our children are required to jump through "extra hoops."
Many homeschool parents were called the equivalent of conspiracy theorists for believing THSC was pushing for the Tebow Bill to the detriment of homeschool liberty. I am hopeful these bills will go down in flames like they have in previous sessions, not because I don't think homeschoolers should be allowed to take advantage of the things we pay for with our tax dollars but because we shouldn't be held to a different standard and treated as less than in order to take advantage of the things we pay for with our tax dollars.
