EVEN AFTER CHANGES, FEDERAL EDUCATION BILL STILL FLAWED

SN0,22,44nexamined by mainstream television and newspaper journalists, an amendment to a federal education bill, H.R.6, that threatened to be the death knell of homeschooling and an unprecedented incursion into private education moved its way towards becoming law last week. That is, until "parents, homeschooling advocates, religious educators and Rush Limbaugh" got involved, sniffed the author of the amendment. Result: Congress voted 424-1 to expunge the threatening portion of the bill.

For those of you who don't know what we're talking about, we understand. Somehow this flawed legislation wasn't deemed important enough by the major media to give it much coverage, even though 600,000 to 1 million children are being taught at home now by parents, and tens of millions of others learn in private and parochial schools.

Our first story, from Associated Press, came only yesterday. Which leads us to think, No wonder so many people swear by Rush Limbaugh; mixed in with his bombast, humor, and sometimes noxious style is serious and important information that no one else is reporting.

Here's the quick summary of the most recent events surrounding H.R.6.:

An amendment by Congressman George Miller (D-Cal.) was tagged onto the so-called Improving America's Schools Act, H.R.6, which extends for five years authorization for federal elementary and secondary education programs. The amendment read: "ASSURANCE. -- Each State applying for funds under this title shall provide the Secretary with the assurances that after July 1, 1988, (ital) it will require each local educational agency within the State to certify that each full time teacher in schools under the jurisdiction of the agency is certified to teach in the subject area he or she is assigned."

Not only would this have been bad policy, but since most schools -- including home, private and parochial -- fall under the jurisdiction of the State in some form, this language threatened unprecedented new regulation (and costs) on private education in America.

According to Michael Farris, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, the legislation would have been "the equivalent of a nuclear attack upon the home schooling community."

When Congressman Dick Armey (R-Tex.) offered an amendment in committee which would have clearly separated private, religious and home schooling from the mandated certification, he was defeated. This led home schooling advocates like Farris to fear the worse -- and they began to call around the country urging home schoolers to contact their congressmen. A few days later, Rush Limbaugh mentioned the issue on his radio show. And the stealth game was up.

Besieged by tens of thousands of phone calls, Congress overwhelmingly voted to kill the teacher certification. In addition, it passed an amendment sponsored by Armey that went even further: "Nothing in this act shall be construed to permit, allow, encourage, or authorize any federal control over any aspect of any private, religious or home school."

Missouri eighth district congressman Bill Emerson was typical in his support for the Armey amendment, saying during floor debate, "Once started, federal intrusion and regulation is like toothpaste out of the tube -- you can't go back. We have all seen this and know it to be true....Home schools, parochial schools and private schools are well-regulated on the state level. We need to make it exceedingly clear that the federal government will not put its heavy hand where it does no belong."

And so, democracy worked -- with only one problem. While the most egregious flaw in H.R.6 was corrected, others remain, including authorization for racial norming of test scores and the increased funding of family planning and reproductive health services within public schools.

Perhaps the most important issue: the bill establishes Clinton-administration defined education standards for the State, which if not met, would cut off federal money for low-income students.

To quote Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan's office: "Setting education standards is a state responsibility and Missouri has done so without burdensome, prescriptive federal mandates....We oppose this approach because States and schools need flexibility to determine how to achieve high student performance on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, the federal government should not hold Title I funds -- money for low-income students -- hostage to mandatory standards....We would like to see this language stricken from the bill."

We agree. Hopefully, Thursday's changes in H.R. 6 marked just the beginning. We'll stay tuned.