Right to teach: Private schooling struggles to protect freedoms

MAT-SU -- Since 1929, the state of Alaska has required children, ages 7 to 16, to attend public school. An exemption is provided for those who attend some other kind of state-approved school, whether it be public, religious, private or home school -- but if students skip school, go on vacation or attend a private school with unqualified teachers who fail to adequately teach them how to read or write, the government doesn't ask questions and nothing happens.

The apparent contradiction of compulsory attendance laws that have no power to enforce the adequacy of a school or student attendance, is the result of

two clashing philosophies of education.

The right to a private education

From the private, religious and independent home-schooler's perspective, parents should have the right to enroll their children where they please and educate as they see fit, without the state monitoring, testing and regulating their child's academic progress or the school the child attends.

Craig Mischenko, president of Alaska Private and Home Educators Association, said he believes the state should stay out of private, home and religious education.

"It's a slippery-slope problem," Mischenko said. "It's possible that you might have something that appeared to be a very generic and uncompromising requirement, but by establishing that the state has ultimate authority, you have, in principle, set yourself up for any kind of standardized test that might violate the standards and educational philosophies of the parents."

Mischenko said his association and other home-school groups recently opposed a bill in the state Legislature that would have required tracking and educational monitoring of all school-aged children in the state to make sure they were receiving what the state deemed an adequate education.

"History has proven that whenever you accept the principle that the state has authority in a specific area, the degree to which that authority is expressed cannot be regulated and controlled," Mischenko said. "Ultimately parents are responsible for and have authority over their children's education. The state does not love our children. The state is an impersonal institution. Parents love and take care of children."

Enforcing state education standards

Some state and local officials, however, see a problem with the unregulated school attendance laws and believe they should have a means of enforcement.

They point to cases like Patrick and Sherry Kelley, Valley residents, who were recently charged with violently abusing their five adopted children, while keeping them out of school for three years.

In the Kelley case, the state had no legal grounds to check on the five children to see if they were adequately educated at home by the Kelleys because private home schools do not have to report curriculum content, attendance records or student proficiency.

Legally, parents can remove their kids from public school and home school them without notifying anyone.

Currently, if a public school student in the Valley misses classes for 10 days, the school district contacts the Alaska State Troopers and they check on the student at their home. If the student is OK, there is nothing more that can be done. If the student fails to return to school, the district assumes they have either transferred or are in home-school, and they are dropped from enrollment.

The inability to regulate student attendance and school standards is partially a result of a 1997 bill, passed by the Alaska Legislature, exempting home-schoolers from the compulsory education law and allowing children to be home schooled by a parent or guardian with no strings attached.

This, coupled with the fact that there are no sanctions for being truant, has made the state law obsolete.

Department of Education Information Officer Harry Gamble said the 1997 bill effectively changed the state's truancy laws and made them unenforceable.

"We don't enforce home school because there is no way to enforce it," Gamble said. "The exemption doesn't require parents to report to anyone."

In addition to home schools, Gamble said there are also a number of private and religious schools throughout the state that do not report any academic information. Gamble knows of about 50 such schools but he said the exact number is impossible to tell because they don't have to report their existence.

"We send out packets to these non-exempt schools, asking them to show enrollment numbers, calendar years and testing," Gamble said. "Some of them respond because they don't want to be in violation of the compulsory attendance law, but we don't require them to report to us."

Freedom vs. Regulations: The privacy issue

While opposing mandatory state requirements, Mischenko said private home-schoolers' motivations are not to deprive children of a high-quality education. The concern is over content and educational philosophy.

"As soon as you set a standard you define the content and philosophy of the education that the standard is supposed to measure," Mischenko said. "There are a number of standards required by colleges that measure basic achievement and we have no problem with those. I encourage those and most home-school parents freely participate in these tests, especially if their kids want to go to college."

Mischenko said most home-school parents want to know how they are doing and they freely participate in standardized tests. The difference is that home-school parents can choose what tests to administer.

"We believe parents should be in charge of enforcing standards because otherwise you end up enforcing an educational philosophy," he said.

Bob Doyle, chief school administrator for the Mat-Su Borough School District, agreed that the issue is complicated, but he said something should be done to ensure that every child is receiving a quality education.

"In prior school boards there were efforts to go through the process and try to come up with resolutions," Doyle said. "But how are you going to enforce this stuff? Does the school district take a parent to court? That doesn't seem like an appropriate use of public education money."

One of the many obstacles to enforcing educational standards is the fact that no information is available about private home schools and other religious or private schools that do not report to the state.

"If we don't have information, we are not in a position to monitor," Doyle said.

Ultimately, Doyle said it is an issue that needs to be decided by the community.

"If it is our community's belief that there should be enforcement, then, yes, I think there should be information collected so we can monitor," Doyle said. "But there is a very strong belief that that violates a person's right to privacy."

Doyle said the school district will put this issue on its agenda and talk with legislative representatives about enforcing school attendance laws.

"We think the state should enforce this and collect data," Doyle said.

Doyle cited California law as an example of a state that takes a strong position on truancy. In California, once a student is designated truant, the state requires schools, districts, counties and courts to intervene and provide services to assist the student in complying with attendance laws.

If parents or guardians still do not send a child to school or a student misses an unlawful amount of school, the matter is referred to the courts. Courts then use penalties and other means to seek compliance.

While Mischenko said it is a tragedy when children do not receive a quality education at home, he still believes it is better to err on the side of educational freedom rather than increase the scope of government regulations.

Who is responsible

for education?

"Coupled with a freedom to educate comes a responsibility to educate and it's a tragedy when that doesn't happen," Mischenko said.

According to Mischenko, the majority of home-schooled students perform better on standardized tests than the majority of public school students. A recent national survey seemed to support Mischenko's claim.

In August, the ACT Assessment, a national college admissions and placement exam, released a report on the scores of the 2004 graduating class. On its Web site, ACT reported that the average composite score for all students, nationwide, was 20.9, while home-schooled students scored 22.6.

"Overwhelmingly, home-schooling families have a much higher success rate instilling basic skills and fundamental educational achievements than public schools," Mischenko said. "The reality is that no system will achieve 100 percent. Then it's the question of whether or not home schools have achieved this better than public schools. Freedom is more important than safety and I believe as our founding father believed that there are certain freedoms that are best left to the individuals."

Sen. Lyda Green, R-Mat-Su, said the issue of compulsory education needs a closer look. Green has grandchildren who were home schooled and she said most home-schoolers are doing a great job.

"It is one of the toughest discussions there is," Green said. "The two sides find very little agreement. I don't want any home-school group to have their rights belittled or have people say they don't do a good job but, somehow, part of the solution will have to come from both sides."

Green said she expects to see the Legislature take up this issue again in the near future.

For now, state law remains at odds with actual practice and resolving the issue promises to pit two very different educational philosophies against one another.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.