- Free home and private schools from government interference.
- Protect home and privately schooled children from discrimination based
on the Certificate of Mastery, CM, (the Outcome Based Education, OBE diploma)
for jobs and college.
The requirement that every person must have a Certificate of Mastery (CM) to go to college , or job training, or to get a job was proposed by Marc Tucker, a pivotal force behind OBE and School to Work, in "A Human Resources Development Plan for the United States." This national education reform plan, as proposed was originally in Washington´s education reform law, but fortunately did not make the final version. The Higher Education Coordinating Board stated (and later reversed under public pressure) that they intended the CM be the minimum college entrance requirement. Their intentions are clear. A law is needed to prevent discrimination against those educated at home or in private schools without CM's.
- Exempt private schools from the new Outcome-Based Education certification
bill (1999-2001:SB5413).
Teacher Certification as proposed includes private school teachers and will be mandatory in the year 2010. Private schools will be forced into compliance with the state´s learning goals and curriculum, shifting control from parents to the state. Currently certified teachers will have to comply as their certification comes up for renewal.
- Privacy and First Amendment issues are concerns.
Teachers will be required to prove that they have had a positive impact on student learning¸ as defined by the state´s learning goals, and keep a portfolio of student work as evidence. This opens the door to requiring the gathering of very personal information on students and their families, such as religion, values, family dynamics, and parent´s educational background. This is just a sample according to the "Teacher for the 21st Century" program. It leads to assessing the attitudes and beliefs of the teachers, as well as their students.
- Clarify and separate Alternative Education programs from homeschoolers.
Alternative Education programs blending with Homeschoolers will in the future become a loss of parental freedom. Alternative Education was created for AT-RISK students, not to be used to unconstitutionally and deceptively entice Homeschoolers back into the Government school system. Blending with Homeschoolers has created a deliberate gray area. It has opened the door that the Office of State Public Instruction has waited for to gradually take control of Homeschooling.
- Homeschoolers enrolled in Alternative Education programs are really part-time
public school students.
The district gets full funding for these students. Some districts pay parents to bring their children there. These programs that were established for academically at-risk students are being used as profit centers by the districts. Does the state have the money to pay for programs that are not being used as intended?
- The public school system has made conditions unfavorable for learning.
Those of us who have a vision and passion for our children will never give them up to the agendas of OSPI or any other entity.
- Phase out federal control and funding of education in Washington.
Written by CURE members for the 2000 and 2001 Family Freedom Rally Return to SolutionsFederal control of education contributes about 6 ½% of the funds used in public schools. They control and direct all of our public education.
The 10th Amendment states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The Constitution does not mention education. Thus, federal involvement in education is unconstitutional. "As you most likely know¸ I cannot cite any specific constitutional authority for federal education programs because none exists." Sen. Slade Gorton (R WA) in a letter to CURE¸ July 15¸ 1999 No study shows whether the costs of administering and complying with federal grants exceeds the grants themselves. When the grant runs out, the state must pick up the costs. Goals 2000, for example, amounts to $16 million a year. It required us to entirely revamp our public education system, develop new curricula and new assessments, retrain our teachers — Even Sen. Gorton admitted Goals 2000 was a mistake. (Congressional Record, Oct. 5, 1999.)