County board OKs resolution backing homeschooling parents

A small crowd of residents sounded a round of applause late Thursday as St. Clair County commissioners signed off on a resolution supporting parents’ rights to homeschool their children amid emerging talk in Lansing over the potentiality they're required to register with the state.

“I think it’s shown we went above and beyond to give our full intent; our heart was in it,” Commissioner Joi Torello said of the resolution during the county board meeting.

She spearheaded the authoring of a four-page resolution backing homeschoolers, having heard from local residents concerned about any push for regulations among state lawmakers and proposing the idea last month. The measure refutes benefits of a homeschooling registry, broadly acknowledging constitutional rights, some state law and court precedent court decisions, and an alleged lack of a documented issues necessitating a registry within the state’s homeschooling community.

Although Commissioner Dave Vandenbossche questioned verbiage that referenced crime rates and safety that he felt was “beating up on the public schools” and “irrelevant to support the parents’ rights” to homeschool, the measure ultimately passed 5-1 for final action with Board Chairman Jeff Bohm absent. Often, items voted on in committee during the first meeting of the month are sent on to the next regular board meeting for formal consideration.

Simasko and Rushing said they saw no issue with the reference to safety concerns in public schools if based on statistical facts.

Torello said it wasn’t the intent to bash public school options.

However, she cited current events, concerns about classroom practices among some parents coming out of COVID, potentialities of transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports, and more as potential examples as to why safety arises in the homeschool discussion.

“I think there was a lot of effort put forth in it,” Torello added. “And again, it’s not anything against public schools. But seeing as how they want to push some legislation through, and I got some calls from people in the homeschooling community, I think it’s a great resolution. I think it shows them we care about them.”

Commissioner Lisa Beedon was the only dissenting vote to the resolution Thursday.

Little about the reasoning for any reported Democratic push to regulate homeschooling at the state level was said during the county board meeting. Earlier in the week, Beedon, the board’s only Democrat, said she supported parents’ homeschooling rights, calling it a fair option and citing friends who homeschool their children — a sentiment she echoed before commissioners.

“But I also think there also needs to be guardrails in place,” she told the Times Herald. “I think that just like in public schools, kids can fall through the cracks.”

During public comment on Thursday, several parents and residents backed the county board’s approved resolution — there was a second, smaller resolution in the agenda packet that wasn’t discussed — and shared views on what they believed would be state interference should a registry be created.

“This law undermines the God-given authority of fathers and encroaches on the privacy and autonomy of families who have chosen homeschooling as the best educational option for their children,” said resident Ken Allen. “…. So, unless someone can show me the inscriptions of Caesar somewhere on the bodies of my six children, they can kindly take their legislation and file it in the paper shredder. It seems obvious to me that this arbitrary law is a first step toward pressuring families to re-enroll their children in the failing public school system.”

Marysville homeschooling parent Paul Urban posed a question to the room in his comments, believing any legislative action could violate the state constitution and higher court precedents, as well as disregard the role of the parent.

“Who do each of you believe has the authority to direct the education of one’s child?” Urban said. “That’s what this is about.”

No legislation on the issue of late has been acted on and sent by lawmakers to the governor for the OK.

As is, homeschooling families are not required to notify the state or local school district. The state, however, does require children to be educated in specific subjects.

A bill to require homeschoolers to register notably came nine years ago in the wake of a Detroit abuse case where a family claimed to homeschool two children but fell short of any action.

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: County board OKs resolution backing homeschooling parents