N.C. Homeschool News 9/28/08

HSLDA alerts members that Federal "Education Begins At Home" Act is not homeschool friendly

Home School Legal Defense Association notified members this week that the pending bill is not a homeschool bill per se but could impact the privacy of families who are homeschooling:

H.R. 2343 seeks to expand the Head Start Early Home Visitation program to supposedly "educate" parents of children from infants to 5-year-olds on parenting strategies. If passed, this bill would literally open the door for government employees to enter private homes to impose unelected officials' educational agendas, which may prove offensive and contrary to many families' moral and religious beliefs. Although at this point enrollment in the home visitation program is voluntary, government programs almost always grow beyond their original scope when bills are amended.

This intrusive and unnecessary legislation comes at a whopping starting cost of more than $190 million—a burden that will be incurred by already struggling American taxpayers.

More information is available on their web page.

Greensboro paper sees education vouchers as the more interesting issue

When Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue declined an invitation to a gubernatorial debate on UNC-TV this week, it gave Libertarian candidate Michael Munger a greater opportunity to promote his own platform. The Greensboro News & Record, commenting on this, mentioned three issues of interest, but focused on this one:

Munger is running on a platform to provide a $1,250 voucher to every child in the state that could be used toward private education or home schooling. Perdue has consistently accused McCrory of backing a broad voucher program, which McCrory denies.