WV House approves homeschool changes, includes addressing parents in child abuse cases
Del. Kathie Hess Crouse, R-Putnam, speaks on the House floor about House Bill 2777, which would change some requirements for homeschooling in West Virginia. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)
The House of Delegates signed off on changes to homeschooling in West Virginia that included transferring oversight of thousands of homeschool students from local county boards of education to the state.
House Bill 2777, sponsored by Del. Kathie Hess Crouse, R-Putnam, a homeschool parent, does away with the state's requirement that a homeschooling parent have a high school diploma.
The bill also addresses what some lawmakers have said is a dangerous loophole in current homeschool laws by pausing a parent's request to homeschool if there's a pending child abuse investigation against the parent.
More than 30,000 children are homeschooled in West Virginia.
Last year, former Gov. Jim Justice and some Republican lawmakers called for strengthening the state's homeschool reporting requirements after 14-year-old Kyneddi Miller, who was being homeschooled, died from apparent starvation in Boone County. Her mother hadn't turned in any required assessments to the local county school board.
Data from the West Virginia Department of Education last year showed that only about a third of families homeschooling their children turned in the required assessments to show student progress. State law doesn't require that public school employees follow up on homeschool families who have failed to report a child's progress.
West Virginia has one of the nation's highest rates of child abuse, and the state's foster care system has been overburdened largely with abuse and neglect cases.
Del. Josh Holstein, R-Boone, said the bill 'would resolve future cases like that while still protecting the rights of homeschoolers.' The bill doesn't address missing assessments, but it would pause a homeschool request by a parent involved in a pending child abuse or neglect investigation. The request would have to be resolved within 10 days.
'We had a situation in Boone County that really devastated our county … I'm going to be a 'yes' on it,' Holstein said Tuesday on the House floor.
The measure is similar to a bill known as 'Raylee's Law' passed last year by the House; it's named for an eight-year-old girl who died of abuse and neglect in 2018 after her parents withdrew her from school. Educators at her elementary school had notified Child Protective Services of potential abuse.
The legislation was spearheaded by Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio.
'Through the years of work, we've come up with bipartisan language to be included in this legislation,' Fluharty said. 'If there's one thing we can agree on in the body, all 100 of us, it's pulling the rope together to protect children.'
Crouse said that the state is prepared to take on oversight of homeschool children. A spokesperson for the West Virginia Department of Education said the superintendent is not available to comment on the bill because it is still going through the legislative process.
Crouse has repeatedly raised concerns about local school boards losing paperwork, including a parent's notice of intent to homeschool, and requirement assessments turned in by homeschool parents.
'The county does not do a good job of it… they lose most of them,' Crouse said.
House Finance Chair Vernon Criss, R-Wood, asked Crouse about a fiscal note, prepared by the WVDE, saying management of the state's homeschoolers, including an online 'school choice portal,' would cost $700,000. The fiscal note was not included on the state's legislative website with the bill.
'I would believe they probably made one up,' Crouse responded.
The bill passed the House with a vote of 75-22.
On Monday, Del. Evan Worrell, R-Cabell, tried to amend the bill to remove the state's requirement that parents or guardians of homeschool students are required to submit to the county superintendent academic assessments of the children at grade levels three, five, eight, and 11. The amendment was defeated with a vote of 36-59 after some lawmakers argued that the assessments were used to verify that children were learning at home.
The House also passed House Bill 3422, mandating that the state board of education oversee an online 'school choice portal.' It would reduce the county's workload and financial obligations, Crouse said.
'Half the time they lose the paperwork anyway,' she said.
The school board would have to create the portal with input from individuals representing microschools, the Hope Scholarship and more.
Del. Lori Dittman, R-Braxton, voted against the measure, citing an unfunded mandate for the WVDE.
'This will be an unfunded mandate,' Dittman said. 'This portal is a great idea, but it does come with a cost. And because it is unfunded and also with the current budget we have cut the education department by $11 million, I don't think now is the time to do this portal.'
Crouse said she was told by the WVDE there would be no cost for them to operate the portal.
'I don't foresee there being any,' she said. 'I have numbers and figures here on how that would easily be taken care of,' she said.
Both bills will go to the Senate for consideration.
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