Virginians see chance for change in education

Retiring Del. Chris Saxman leading the charge

Retiring Del. Chris Saxman (R-Staunton), co-chairing the education transition team for Republican Gov-elect Bob McDonnell, recently talked with Ben DeGrow for the Heartland Institute about the direction of education in Virginia under new administration:

The impending arrival of a new administration in the Commonwealth of Virginia has raised school choice advocates’ hopes, but they don’t expect change to come quickly.

Republican Governor-elect Bob McDonnell handily defeated Democrat Creigh Deeds in the November 3 general election—shifting not only the party in power, but also Virginia’s education agenda.

“It’s going to be a change of direction, clearly,” said state Del. Chris Saxman (R-Staunton), who serves as co-chair of McDonnell’s K-12 education transition team.

Christian Braunlich, vice president of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, a think tank in Springfield, agrees.

“I think choice supporters are guardedly optimistic that there will be a better environment in which to advocate for school choice,” he said.

Saxman cautioned, however, that any changes to Virginia’s K-12 schooling policy will take time because of the considerable power of the nine-member State Board of Education. McDonnell will have the power to replace board members as their terms expire. Two complete their service in 2010, and three more in 2011.

“Changes in Virginia don’t come quickly,” Saxman said.

Del. Saxman has worked with school choice since his 2001 election to the General Assembly and has introducted successful legislation year after year in the House only to see it die once it got to the Senate. His team is currently looking at the possibility of online education, dropout prevention, merit pay, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) initiatives, public school accountability, tax credits, and more. It's an interesting article on a subject that may be of concern to the majority of Virginians.

German home school parents sentenced to 3 mos in jail ... for teaching their kids

Their crime? They were parents who educated their children at home ... who cared too much about their children's education ... hands-on parents participating in building a strong foundation for their children.

Their punishment? Three months in jail, according to German authorities. World Net Daily reported:

A newspaper reporter in Hesse, Harald Sagawe, said the parents previously paid fines because "they did not send their children to school, for religious reasons."

He continued, "The parents, Christians who closely follow the Bible, teach their children themselves. Two years ago the court had also dealt with the Dudeks. That case, dealing with the payment of a fine, had been dropped."

Judge Peter Hobbel, who imposed the fines, criticized school officials for refusing to answer the family's request for approval of their "private school."

But Arno Meissner, the chief of the government's local education department, said he would enforce the mandatory school attendance law against the family, and he said he resented the judge's interference. [emphasis added]

The education department apparently has no interest in offering an opportunity for parents to educate their children at home, thereby leaving no avenue other than to break away and disobey the law for those who do not agree with the state government-run schools.

Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) out of Purcellville, VA, has followed this case from the beginning:

Unfortunately, it appears that the issue for this German judge, and too many others, is less about academic preparation and respecting the rights of parents and the family and more about asserting its autocratic will on families who wish to educate their children at home in accordance with their conscience.

After reading the judges’s opinion, Mr. Dudek [the home school parent] said that he couldn’t believe the hardline totalitarianism it represented. Mr. Dudek reported that this judge referred to the infamous Konrad case decided by the German high court in 2006 that said that homeschooling could not be allowed because it would lead to the creation of “parallel societies.”

World Net Daily also notes:

Practical Homeschool Magazine has noted one of the first acts by Hitler when he moved into power was to create the governmental Ministry of Education and give it control of all schools and school-related issues.

In 1937, the dictator said, "The youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing."

Even the family's plans to move from the area will not prevent prosecution, according to the German government. Reportedly:

HSLDA [Home School Legal Defense Association] officials estimate there are some 400 homeschool families in Germany, virtually all of them either forced into hiding or facing court actions.

Just weeks ago, WND reported the Dudeks warned about a new German federal law that also gives family courts the authority to take custody of children "as soon as there is a suspicion of child abuse," which is how the nation's courts have defined homeschooling.

An outpouring of support and encouragement for the Dudek family has come from around the world. Hitler? Government interference with families? And to think there are some who believe America should be more like Europe....