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Federal
homeschooling legislation
AHEM’s
position on federal homeschooling legislation
AHEM’s philosophy is to strengthen the grassroots presence
of homeschoolers, as our voices are strongest at the local and
state level. It follows that it is wise to keep homeschooling
out of federal law as much as possible to avoid further regulation
and to keep the local, grassroots strength of homeschooling alive.
110th
Congress
S.
3076, “Home School Opportunities Make Education Sound Act
of 2008”
S.
3076, “Home School Opportunities Make Education Sound Act
of 2008” was introduced in the United States Senate on June
3, 2008 by Senator David Vitter of Louisiana. The bill would amend
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a tax deduction for
itemizers and nonitemizers for expenses relating to home schooling.
The maximum deduction would be $500 for any qualifying child,
and no more than $2000 for all qualifying children of the taxpayer.
The bill has been read twice and has been referred to the Committee
on Finance.
The
bill defines “qualified home school expenses” as expenses
for “books, supplies, and other equipment necessary for a
course of instruction in a classroom environment,… academic
tutoring,… special needs services for qualifying children
with disabilities…, and… any computer technology or
equipment… or Internet access and related services, if such
technology, equipment, or services are to be used by the qualifying
child and the qualifying child’s family during any of the
years that the qualifying child is educated in an elementary or
secondary home school (not including computer equipment designed
for sports, games, or hobbies unless such equipment is primarily
educational in nature), in connection with a course of instruction
in an elementary or secondary home school.” 1
You can read the full text of the bill by searching for it at
http://www.thomas.gov/.
Currently,
federal tax deductions are not allowed for any non-higher-education-
related expense, so this bill would break new ground in allowing
deductions for K-12 educational expenses. Parents who pay for
their children to attend private school cannot deduct expenses,
so this bill would allow special treatment of homeschoolers over
others who opt out of the public school system.
One
should note that tax deductions, which are what S. 3076 would
provide, lower taxable income. The dollar amount of tax savings
would depend on the family’s tax bracket. For example, if
a family’s income is taxed at 25%, a tax deduction of $500
would save them 25% of $500, or a total of $125. A family with
lower annual income who might have more need of tax relief, would
also have a lower tax rate, say 15%, and so would also save less
money (15% of $500 = $75). So while deductions carry similar risks
as tax credits2 for homeschoolers as far as opening
the door to more government regulation of homeschooling, they
provide even less monetary relief.
AHEM
has heard many reasons to oppose S. 3076, including:
•
Invites federal regulatory definitions of “homeschooling”
and “educational.”
•
The need to define “homeschooling” and “educational”
for the purpose of deciding what expenses qualify as tax deductions
will allow federal governmental control (something that does not
exist now) of homeschooling for very little return.
•
Potential conflicts with state laws could lead to unwelcome changes
in homeschooling laws at the state level.
•
State level homeschool activism better serves efforts to maintain
homeschooling freedoms.
AHEM’s
philosophy is to strengthen the grassroots presence of homeschoolers,
as our voices are strongest at the local and state level. It follows
that it is wise to keep homeschooling out of federal law as much
as possible to avoid further regulation and to keep the local,
grassroots strength of homeschooling alive. AHEM opposes S. 3076
and will keep an eye on the bill as it makes its way through the
legislative process.
1
http://www.thomas.gov/
2From
“Are Tax Credits for Educational Expenses a Good Idea for
Homeschoolers?” by Larry and Susan Kaseman. Home Education
Magazine, May-June 1998. <http://www.homeedmag.com/HEM/HEM153.98/153.98_clmn_tkch.html>
cited 24 June 2008.
109th
Congress
Summary:
Pending federal legislation has the potential to impact homeschooling.
AHEM opposes these bills for the reasons outlined below. After
reading about these bills, should you have concerns, we recommend
you call or write your US senators and/or representatives, as
well as committee members, and voice your concerns.
•
Miscellaneous bills that invite federal definition of “home
school”
• Miscellaneous
bills that invite federal definition of homeschool and exclude
homeschoolers from their provisions, allowing the legal interpretation
to be that homeschooling ought to be included in any bill that
does not expressly exclude it
• HR
3753 / SB 1691, the 2005 version of HSLDA’s “Homeschool
Non-Discrimination Act”
• Complete Bill Information
• How to Contact Your Legislators
The
following bills are currently in front of the 109th Congress.
AHEM has heard many reasons to oppose them, including:
•
Invites federal regulatory definitions of “homeschooling”
• Excluding
homeschoolers from the provisions of one bill can be interpreted
to mean that other bills which do not explicitly exclude homeschoolers
were meant to include them
• State
level homeschool activism better serves efforts to maintain homeschooling
freedoms
• Conflicts
with state laws could lead to unwelcome changes at the
state level
All
bills listed mention “home school” in their text, inviting
federal definition of the term:
•
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, otherwise known
as FERPA: H. R. 130. Introduced January 4, 2005 by Minnesota
Congressman Mark Kennedy. Referred to the Subcommittee on Education
Reform. The Massachusetts Department of Education’s stringent
regulations to protect the privacy of student records already
include homeschoolers: “Student shall mean any person enrolled
or formerly enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school
or any person age three or older about whom a school committee
maintains information.” (603 C.M.R. 23, http://www.doe.mass.edu/lawsregs/603cmr23.html).
Other states could follow suit to protect students’ privacy,
eradicating the need to insert the term “home school”
into federal law.
• Family Education Freedom Act of 2005: H.R. 406.
Introduced by Texas Congressman Ron Paul on January 26, 2005.
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. Allows IRS
to define “home school” and raises questions about possible
IRS definitions of “acceptable homeschooling expenses.”
•
Hope Plus Scholarship Act of 2005: H.R. 403. Introduced
by Texas Congressman Ron Paul on January 26, 2005. Referred to
the House Committee on Ways and Means. Allows IRS to define “home
school” and raises questions about possible IRS definitions
of “acceptable homeschooling expenses.”
•
Fed Up Higher Education Technical Amendments of 2005: H.R.
508. Introduced by California Congressman Howard McKeon on
February 2, 2005. Referred to the Subcommittee on 21st Century
Competitiveness. May require defining “home school.”
The
following bills, in addition to inviting federal definition of
the term “home school,” also exclude homeschoolers from
their provisions. Legally, this could be interpreted to mean that
other bills in existence that do not exclude homeschoolers were
meant to include them:
•
College Access and Opportunity Act of 2005: H.R. 609. Introduced
by Ohio Congressman John Boehner on February 8, 2005. Reported
(Amended) by the Committee on Education and the Workforce; placed
on the Union Calendar. Approved by House, March 30, 2006.
•
College Quality, Affordability, and Diversity Improvement
Act of 2005: S. 371. Introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy
on February 14, 2005. Read twice and referred to the Committee
on Finance.
•
Job Training Improvement Act of 2005: H.R. 27. Introduced
by California Congressman Howard McKeon on January 4, 2005. Received
in the Senate and read twice and referred to the Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
•
Lifetime of Education Opportunities Act of 2005: S. 9.
Introduced by Wyoming Senator Michael Enzi on January 24, 2005.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
•
Workforce Investment Act Amendments of 2005: S.1021. Introduced
by Wyoming Senator Michael Enzi on May 12, 2005. Placed on Senate
Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 203.
Last
but not least, HR 3753 / S 1691, “To amend selected statutes
to clarify existing Federal law as to the treatment of students
privately educated at home under State law” aka “The
Homeschool Non-Discrimination Act of 2005”
HR
3753 / S 1691 was introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives
on September 13, 2005 and has been referred to various committees.
Some of you will remember that an almost identical omnibus bill
was introduced in 2003 with the backing of the Homeschool Legal
Defense Association (see http://www.ahem.info/ArchivesHR2732.htm).
At that time we opposed it for the reasons listed above. We were
also concerned then, as we are now, about whether homeschoolers
wish to let a national organization such as HSLDA speak for them.
If Representatives and Senators do not hear from individual homeschoolers
about this bill, they may interpret HSLDA’s voice to be the
national voice for homeschoolers. Therefore, we recommend that
individuals research the bill and respond to their representatives
as individual constituents.
HR
3753 / S 1691’s Section 10 “Recruitment and Enlistment
of Home-schooled students in the Armed Forces” is particularly
disturbing. From Section 10:
“(c)
Qualified Home- School Graduates- In identifying a graduate of
home schooling for purposes of subsection (b), the Secretary concerned
shall ensure that the graduate meets each of the following requirements:
…”
Valerie
Moon of The Military Homeschooler (http://home.kc.rr.com/milhmschlhq/index.html)
observes, “…this portion of the bill has the potential
to leak over (via precedent) into other federal legislation -–
because it defines what is an acceptable homeschool graduation
for enlistment purposes. How long before what’s sauce for
the military is sauce for federal loan money for college? After
all, a standard will have been defined, and that standard is recognizable
to the bulk of US citizens, because it’s what they’ve
already got.”
And
what requirements, you might ask, does the bill set out for identifying
homeschoolers? One of the five requirements for identifying a
graduate of home schooling is:
“(5)
The graduate has provided the Secretary concerned with a third-party
verification letter of the graduate’s home-school status
by the Home School Legal Defense Association or a State or county
home-school association or organization.”
HR
3753 / S 1691 has all the problems of the other federal bills,
and then some!
While
this bill languishes in committees, the gist of Section 10 has
been added to H.R. 1815 as Section 591,
which passed the House and Senate in December 2005. See below.
See
also Section 591, RECRUITMENT AND ENLISTMENT
OF HOME-SCHOOLED STUDENTS IN THE ARMED FORCES of H.R. 1815,
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006.
Bill
Information
To access the full text, summary, status, sponsor, and cosponsors
of any of these bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/
and use the bill number in the search utility.
Commentary
and discussion on HR 3753 / S. 1691 can be found on the H.R.3753/S.1691
blog, “an online source of information for people working
to kill the bills – again – and keep homeschooling from
being further defined by federal legislation.” http://hr3753.blogspot.com/
To
Contact Your Legislators
Contact
members of committees that are reviewing the bills, and your own
legislator if he or she is a sponsor of the bill. If you plan
to write to Congressional legislators, don’t use snail mail.
Congressional paper mail is still being screened for anthrax,
and other biological agents, so an email or a fax will get through
much faster. Phone calls are another way to bypass the long screening
time for paper mail. (Tip from http://hr3753.blogspot.com/).
Find
contact information as well as listings of who is on what committee
at the following sites:
•
Members of the US House of Representatives http://www.house.gov/
•
Members of the US Senate http://www.senate.gov/
•
House committees http://www.house.gov/house/CommitteeWWW.shtml
•
Senate committees http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/b_three_sections_with_teasers/membership.htm
The
information on this website does not constitute legal advice;
it is provided for informational purposes only.
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