Oklahoma House Bill 4130 by Rep. Amanda Swope - D, District 71 (Tulsa County)
UPDATE: We received confirmation from the Committee Chair that this bill will not be heard. Thank you for contacting your legislators.
ACTION REQUESTED: Contact legislators and politely let them know you are not in favor of this invasive bill.
SUMMARY: An Act relating to children and the Juvenile Code; amending 10A O.S. 2021, Sections 1-1-105 and 1-4-205, which relate to deprived children; defining terms; requiring parents to submit letter of intent when requesting a change in educational instruction; requiring certain information in letter of intent; requiring submission of letter of intent when changing school districts; directing the Department of Human Services to perform background check; directing the Department to maintain system; directing the Department to conduct biannual checks; prohibiting instruction in the home if there is abuse, neglect, or violence; directing the Department to explain reason for denial; and providing an effective date.
LINK TO FULL BILL: http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2023-24%20INT/hB/HB4130%20INT.PDF
OUR OPINION: If you open the bill, and go to pages 30-31 you will see all the amendments that are directly targeting home education. For those of you who don't want to take the time to open and read it, here are those amendments.You read them for yourself and see what red flags jump out at you, then read our comments below.
F. On or before the school district start date, parents making the decision to choose homeschooling, podschooling, or microschooling shall submit a letter of intent to the Department of Human Services. The letter of intent shall include the parent's or parents' names and Social Security number, the child's or children's names, the home address, the names of any other individuals living within the home, the names of any associated individuals or organizations assisting with the child's or children's schooling, and a brief statement for the decision of schooling.
G. Any change to or from the decision to homeschool, podschool, microschool, or change school districts, whether a result of a move or otherwise, shall require a subsequent letter of intent containing the information outlined in subsection F of this section.
H. When the Department of Human Services receives a letter of intent, it shall perform an initial background check on parents, other adults within the home, and any adults assisting in the children's schooling.
I. The Department shall maintain a system to conduct biannual checks of the database and compile a database of individuals, facilities, and organizations that perform and assist with homeschooling, podschooling, or microschooling.
J. Requests to pursue instruction in the home shall not be authorized if there is a pending child abuse or neglect investigation against either custodial parent or a person instructing the child, or if either custodial parent or a person instructing the child has ever been convicted of domestic violence or child abuse or neglect.
K. If the request for home-based educational instruction is denied by the Department, an explanation for the denial shall be furnished in writing to the applicant by the Department.
SECTION 3. This act shall become effective November 1, 2024
OUR THOUGHTS: This is un-be-lievable! Seriously. Let's just take this one paragraph at a time and break this down. Understand that the opinions we are expressing and conclusions we are drawing are based on over 20 years of legislative education and experience. We are not amateurs at reading and analyzing bills. Grab a cup of coffee and wait until the kids are in bed because this is going to take a while.
Let's start with Paragraph F
Our red flags went up on the first sentence. "On or before the school district start date, parents making the decision to choose homeschooling, podschooling, or microschooling shall submit a letter of intent to the Department of Human Services." This is a mandatory registration, not with the Department of Education, but with the Department of Human Services. You have to have permission from DHS to home educate. This entire bill is about child abuse and neglect. They are now using the guise of child abuse and neglect to track and control home educators. The group behind this has been trying to shut down home education in every state and have used many methods to push their agenda. They consist of a group of disgruntled former home educated young adults whose anger and hatred of home education has grown into a vendetta against everything home education. That however, is another topic for another day. Let's get back to the bill.
Next sentence.
"The letter of intent shall include the parent's or parents' names and Social Security number, the child's or children's names, the home address, the names of any other individuals living within the home, the names of any associated individuals or organizations assisting with the child's or children's schooling, and a brief statement for the decision of schooling." This is telling you what information you are going to have to include in your letter of intent to home educate. Why do they want your social security number? Are they going to apply benefits or deny benefits because you home educate? Why is that even necessary? Then they are requiring you to list every child and every other person living in your home. So if Grandma or Aunt Lyida or cousins are with you, even temporarily, you have to turn their names over to DHS as well. AND if they don't live with you, but Grandma or Aunt Lydia or even your next door neighbor assists you with your homeschooling, you have to list them AND if you attend a coop, now all those who teach in the coop have to be listed. If you consider your child's piano lessons as music, you have to list your piano teacher. Kids in dance or gymnastics? You have to list your coaches. Yup. EVERY single person or organization who has any part in your child's education has to be listed. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.
Then, to top it off, the last part of this sentence says that we not only have to submit an intent, we also have to tell hem WHY we want to homeschool. That is a complete overstep. I don't owe anyone an explanation as to why I intend to home educate my children.
So at this point, we, home educators, will have to notify DHS EVERY year that we intend to educate our children at home. We also have to register every single person who assists us in educating our children in any way and give DHS an explanation as to why we want to home educate.
Paragraph G
"Any change to or from the decision to homeschool, podschool, microschool, or change school districts, whether a result of a move or otherwise, shall require a subsequent letter of intent containing the information outlined in subsection F of this section."
So, this says just what it means. If you make any changes to your decision to home educate, you have to notify DHS again. If you move, you have to notify them again, kind of like child molesters have to do. Really? Can you say tracking? They want to know who we are, and where we are at all times as if we are automatically criminals who are hiding our children in the basement and never letting them see the light of day. Sorry. Back on track. Basically, this is saying if we decide to stop home educating or decide to move to another city or even across town, we have to submit another letter of intent. So, if we stop home educating, we are no longer suspect and they don't care where we live or what we do.
So, now, we have to submit a separate intent if we make any changes or moves. They want to track our location.
Let's move on to Paragraph H.
"When the Department of Human Services receives a letter of intent, it shall perform an initial background check on parents, other adults within the home, and any adults assisting in the children's schooling."
WHAT!? Seriously, that is exactly what it says it is. Now you, and EVERY SINGLE ADULT you listed as being in your household or helping you to educate your children are going to be screened and have background checks run on them. Is your 18 year old still living with you? Background check. Piano teacher? Coach? Youth Pastor? Church? All Background checks. If this isn't invasive, I don't know what is.
We now add background checks on EVERY adult associated with your child's home or education.
Paragraph I
"The Department shall maintain a system to conduct biannual checks of the database and compile a database of individuals, facilities, and organizations that perform and assist with homeschooling, podschooling, or microschooling."Yes. This is data tracking. Pure and simple. You, your children, and every person, coop, organization, or church who might be involved in your home education will now be a part of the DHS database and it will have to be turned in twice a year. And exactly what are biannual checks? Are they going to come into your home? What does that even mean?
Now, you and every person or organization associated with your home education will be tracked and possibly have biannual home checks.
Paragraph J
"Requests to pursue instruction in the home shall not be authorized if there is a pending child abuse or neglect investigation against either custodial parent or a person instructing the child, or if either custodial parent or a person instructing the child has ever been convicted of domestic violence or child abuse or neglect."
This is a slippery slope here. There are so many loopholes here that could allow DHS to deny your request to home educate. It does not say just an abuse or neglect CONVICTION, it includes a PENDING INVESTIGATION. We have witnessed through the past 30 years parents who have been turned in by unhappy grandparents, nosy neighbors, vengeful ex-spouses, or even a disgruntled child, causing an INVESTIGATION into their home life and home education. However, this is not limited to just the parents. It includes all the people on the list you had to turn in with your letter of intent. Get the wrong DHS worker and your request can be denied. All it takes is an accusation.
Sidenote. Statics show that over half of the calls to report abuse/neglect are screened and of those who get past the screening, 76% are unsubstantiated. This bill would immediately prevent that 76% from being able to choose home education because an accusal was made and an investigation was started.
It is not unreasonable to conclude that there will be an increase in bogus incident reports from people who are against home education and trying to keep someone from pursuing this form of education.
In addition, what this does to to parental rights is grievous.
Simply put, if there is even an accusal of neglect or abuse associated with ANY person involved in the child's home education you will be denied the right to educate your child.
Paragraph K
"If the request for home-based educational instruction is denied by the Department, an explanation for the denial shall be furnished in writing to the applicant by the Department."
Well, at least if they deny your request, they will have to tell you why it was denied. But, this makes me curious if there are other reasons other than those listed in Paragraph J that can be used to deny your request? It is not clear.
Overall, this is a horribly invasive and unnecessary bill. It is beyond governmental overreach and has absolutely nothing to do with education. We have been in contact with numerous legislators who agree with our findings and believe this bill needs to be tortured and die. The author, Rep. Swope was also contacted and asked if homeschoolers would have to identify themselves if this bill passes.
Amanda replied, “Yes that’s correct. With the correct language, all families that choose homeschooling will need to notify the state.”
She was also asked how will this surveillance be enforced once the state has a list of homeschool families? Would the state have access to homeschool children? In what ways? What would the state do if denied access to our children? There was no response to those questions.
Rep. Olsen spoke with the attorney who wrote the legislation and his conclusion was that this was a over invasive bill and the intent was very broad reaching.
While we do not believe that there are enough legislators who would get behind this to get it passed, we can't assume it will not. We need to stand up for our right to home educate and keep DHS out of our homes.
Here are comments from HSLDA.
Dear Members and Friends,
Late last week Representative Amanda Swope introduced House Bill 4130. This legislation attempts to require all homeschool parents to report to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) and request approval to educate their children at home.
According to HB 4130, DHS would be required to conduct a background check on each parent, any other adults in the home, and any adult who may assist in the child’s schooling.
This bill attempts to change Oklahoma from arguably the best state to homeschool in, to a state that would require approval from DHS in order to homeschool.
CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION
Currently, Oklahoma has a state constitutional provision that protects the right of parents to provide “other means of education” to their children (i.e. homeschool).
House Bill 4130 would require a notice with the name and Social Security number of the parents, the names of any other individual in the home, and the name of any individual or organization assisting with the child’s schooling. Parents would also have to provide a statement explaining their decision to homeschool.
In addition to the background check of all adults with any involvement with the child’s schooling, DHS would maintain a database of all individuals, facilities, and organizations that assist with homeschooling, “podschooling,” or “microschooling.” This database would be checked by DHS twice a year. Any parent being investigated for abuse or neglect—even if there is no evidence of child maltreatment—would be automatically prohibited from homeschooling, at least for a time, without benefit of due process.
STANDING TOGETHER
HSLDA joins Homeschool Oklahoma and Constitutional Home Educators Alliance in standing against this outrageous bill. This bill removes the fundamental right of parents to direct their child’s education and creates a system where every parent must obtain the approval of DHS to be “allowed” to educate their child at home.
This bill attempts to wipe away more than 100 years’ worth of homeschool freedom in Oklahoma with little thought to what is in the best interest of children and families.
Thanks for your continued stand for homeschool freedom!
Thanks to HSLDA and TJ Schmidt for their summary of this bill.
Oklahoma House Bill 3585 by Rep. Strom - R, District 10
ACTION REQUESTED: Contact legislators and politely let them know you are not in favor of this manipulating bill.
SUMMARY: An Act relating to schools; amending 70 O.S. 2021, Section 1210.508, which relates to the statewide system of student assessments; directing assessments to be administered to certain private school and homeschool students; requiring administration of assessments at a state-certified testing facility during the assessment window; mandating repayment of certain tax credit if assessments are not completed by the student; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.
LINK TO FULL BILL: http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2023-24%20INT/hB/HB3585%20INT.PDF
OUR OPINION: If you open the bill, and go to pages 5-6 you will see all the amendments that are directly targeting home educators and private school families who choose to take advantage of the Parental Choice Tax Credit. The underlined section of text are the proposed changes. For those of you who don't want to take the time to open and read it, here are those amendments.You read them for yourself and see what red flags jump out at you, then read our comments below. Understand that the opinions we are expressing and conclusions we are drawing are based on over 20 years of legislative education and experience. We are not amateurs at reading and analyzing bills.
The Board shall promulgate rules to ensure that students who transfer into an Oklahoma school district from out-of-state after the junior year of high school shall not be denied the opportunity to be awarded a standard diploma due to differing testing requirements.
G.
1. Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year:
a. a student who attends a private school accredited by the State Board of Education or another accrediting association, or
b. a student who is educated pursuant to the other means of education exception provided for in subsection A of Section 10-105 of this title, and for whom a taxpayer has successfully claimed a tax credit pursuant to the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit Act created in Section 28-100 of this title shall be administered the assessments required by subsection E of this section.
2. The assessments shall be administered at a state-certified testing facility during the assessment window dates as established in subsection K of this section.
3. If a student declines to complete the assessments required pursuant to this subsection, the taxpayer who successfully claims a tax credit pursuant to the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit Act shall repay the tax credit to the Oklahoma Tax Commission no later than sixty (60) days after the assessment window dates are concluded.
So, in a nutshell, if you want to take advantage of the Parental Choice Tax Credit, you are going to have to make your student jump through the testing hoop at a certified testing facility during a specific timeframe. If you don't want to do the testing or fail it and the credit has already been distributed, you will have 60 days to pay it back.
OUR THOUGHTS: This a blatantly selfish attempt to keep well deserving parents, who are spending tthousands of dollars each year out of their own pockets, from getting a small credit on their taxes for education expenses. Seriously. We are giving hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of dollars in vouchers and public education to students who can't pass an eighth grade reading test when they graduate from government funded public high schools and yet here the legislators are greedily doing everything they can to deny hard-working Oklahoma taxpayers a small credit for the money they spend on their child's education. They aren't thinking one second about the hundreds of thousands of dollars home and private self-funded educators save the state every year by NOT going to public school. Now, as a punishment for saving the state money and just asking for a small break on their taxes their kids are going to have to jump through unnecessary hoops to prove themselves academically in order to use the Parental Choice Tax Credit. They need to rename it the Parental Noose Tax Credit because you can't utilize it without hanging yourself.
In addition, it appears that once your student has been tested, the remainder of the bill will also apply. This includes but is not limited to the subject matter of the test, where the testing results will be sent, and how the test will be scored.
While this bill will only affect those who choose to attempt to take advantage of the Parental Choice Tax Credit, it is blatantly wrong. Legislators know that we are opposed to government intervention in home education, including mandated testing so they are using that as leverage to keep us from utilizing the Tax Credit. What we want to know, is what kind of legislation are they going to enact to reimburse the state for the hundreds of students who fail the EOI testing every single year. Are they going to go to those parents and give them the same ultimatum? If your student does not test up to a level they approve of then they have 60 days to pay the state back the $9,000+ per student? What is good for the goose...
We honestly don't know if there are enough legislators who would get behind this to get it passed. Like all bad legislation, we can't assume it will not.
We will post comments from HSLDA when we receive them.
Oklahoma House Bill 3944 by Rep. John Waldron - D, District 77
Previously introduced by Rep. Melissa Provenzano - D, District 79
ACTION REQUESTED: Contact legislators and politely let them them know you oppose this bill.
SUMMARY: An Act relating to the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit Act; requiring certain taxpayers and private schools to submit an annual report to the Oklahoma Tax Commission; prescribing minimum contents of report; providing for a standardized reporting form; establishing deadline for report submission; allowing penalties for failure to report; permitting audits and investigations; authorizing Commission to promulgate rules; providing for codification; and providing an effective date.
LINK TO FULL BILL: http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2023-24%20INT/hB/HB3944%20INT.PDF
OUR OPINION: If you open the bill and read lines 22-24, you will see that families educating by other means will have to submit an annual report to the Oklahoma Tax Commission detailing the allocation and expenditure of Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit dollars received. CHEA views this as invasion of privacy, but worse, it is a collection of data on your child and what you are teaching.
B. The annual report will show:
1. A detailed breakdown of how your dollars were spent, including an explanation that demonstrates the direct impact on educational programs, facilities or resources.
So, in a nutshell, if you want to take advantage of the Parental Choice Tax Credit, you are going to have to make a valid case to the Tax Commission that your co-op, or band, or trip to the zoo, or private tutor, or anything you see as an educational activity fits what the Tax Commission (what do they know about education?) deems appropriate for an educational credit. As we have said for years, with the shekels come the shackles.
C. Failure to submit your information will lead to penalties, which have not been determined.
D. The Tax Commission may audit or investigate for compliance.
E. Guess who gets to write the rules to implement the provisions of this act? Not the Education Department as one might expect, rather it will be the Tax Commission.
RED FLAG: How will this affect the curricula you chose? What if it is a Christian-based curricula and the Tax Commission doesn't like it? Is a trip to the Ark or Creation Museum going to pass muster?
Here are comments from HSLDA:
This bill would require any taxpayers who receive the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit (and private schools) to submit an annual report to the Oklahoma Tax Commission. According to HB3944, the annual report would have to 1) give a detailed breakdown of how the tax credit dollars were spent (including a description of the expense and their respective amounts); and 2) an explanation and reason for the use of the funds along with sone demonstration of the direct impact of educational programs, facilities, and resources. The Commissions is to create a form to provide this annual report. HSLDA is Opposed to House Bill 3944.
Oklahoma Senate Bill 2007 by Senator Nathan Dahm - R, District 33
ACTION REQUESTED: Contact legislator and politely let him them know you oppose this bill.
SUMMARY: An Act relating to ad valorem tax: providing additional homestead exemption for heads of households with dependents educated pursuant to the other means of education; defining term; prescribing application procedure; providing for codification; and providing an effective date.
LINK TO FULL BILL: http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2023-24%20INT/SB/SB2007%20INT.PDF
OUR OPINION: This bill is a knee-jerk reaction to those who say, "We don't even use the school system, why should we pay in?". Well, for one, our state constitution says the taxpayers will provide for the common education of students in Oklahoma, and this done through property taxes of everyone, even those with no children. All taxpayers do get participate in voting for, or even running as, elected officials, including school board members. It is like saying, I never call the police, why should my taxes fund the police department? If those educating by others means fall for this, they risk regulation down the road.
Here are comments from HSLDA.
It would allow the head of a household educating by other means to claim an extra $1000 off the property tax valuation, not directly off what you owe in ad valorem taxes. This exemption would have to be claimed each year around March 15th. It would require an application of at most saves about $75 to $125 per year.