Michigan Parents Protest Home-School Registration Bill

I'm sure its ALL FOR THE CHILDREN!

Ah yes, that famous liberal battle cry that has unceasingly emanated from the steaming yaps of government busybodies ever since socialist do-gooders decided they could use their elected power (along with a good dose of taxpayer money) to take matters into their own hands.

Today's "all for the children" moment is contained in a bill sponsored by State Rep. Joan Bauer, D-Big Brother, that would require the parents or guardians of home schooled children to register that child with the superintendent of the local school district at the beginning of every school year.

From the Lansing State Journal:

State Rep. Joan Bauer, D-Lansing, said the bill will help address questions of truancy, as school officials will know if students are being home-schooled or simply not showing up to school.

"I think it's reasonable that we know where and if our children are being educated, whether it's in a public school, private school, or at home," said Bauer, who co-sponsored the bill. Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, and Rep. Mike Simpson, D-Liberty Township, are also co-sponsors.

Give me a freaking break, Joan.

What business is it of the local superintendent if my kids are being home schooled? Aside from him being able to multiply his lost headcount by the $7,000 per student that the state would likely throw his way if he were able to rein in the district a little tighter, I don't see any interest. Do you seriously think he will have time to check up on all the kids any such list will produce? Or, do you think it more likely this information would be used by local school districts to recruit the neighborhood for some lost state funding?

What do I think? I'm more in line with the thinking of Rep. Rick Jones, R-Common Sense.

Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, who said his grandson is home-schooled, called the registration the first step down a slippery slope that would see parents denied the right to home-school their children.

"The goal is to regulate home schooling out of existence," he said.

What really rots my socks here is that I'm a believer in what public schools could be. That is, a public school system that is run by local people with the state and federal government butting out. In my dream of "could be schools" the state and federal governments would not control the purse strings and therefore could not force local school districts into compliance through the threat of withholding funding.

Believe it or not Ms. Bauer, because you do live and work 200 miles away, you are less likely to know what is important to our local children than local parents do--even as unsophisticated as we are. (And, might I add, I find indoor plumbing really cool!) How about this, you make sure your kids aren't a truancy problem and I'll make sure mine aren't. Deal?

Distant state and federal bureaucrats have enacted law after law that have handcuffed local school boards and administrators to the point that too many classrooms are filled with disruptive students, being taught by ineffective teachers, teaching too many classes filled with irrelevant liberal doctrine, that are being supervised by administrators that are so choked in red tape regulations and compliance reports that they can not devote more of their efforts to dealing with real-time classroom problems. At least the little urchins cannot pray--so we have that to be thankful for.

Ms. Bauer, I consider your proposal a shining example of exactly why so many parents home school their children in the first place--they simply don't want distant buffoons such as yourself setting the standards for how their children should be educated.

Raising quality children is tough enough, even before I find your huge benevolent nose caught in my way.