From faithful stewardship arise homeschool liberties
Jeter memo enacted into state law
Vulnerable.
Perhaps as many as 95 percent of high school homeschoolers had been vulnerable for 15 years. It all started in the late 1990s in Lauderdale County in West Tennessee when an aggressive attendance officer took the “dual enrollment” list and went house to house threatening homeschooling families.Gateway Christian School in Memphis stepped in to provide the umbrella covering for those students, opening a school office in Ripley.
About a week later, a pro-family coalition met with Gov. Don Sundquist and I was asked to present a possible resolution to this troubling situation. The governor called Department of Education Commissioner Jane Walters to that meeting. Two weeks later, about 15 homeschooling stakeholders met with officials for further negotiations. The result of that gathering was the so-called Jeter memo, written by Dr. Kay Jeter of the department and Dee Black, a Home School Legal Defense Association attorney.
From then until June, enrollment under the Jeter memo grew exponentially. An estimated 95 percent of high school homeschoolers have acted under cover of this administrative document.
That’s where being vulnerable comes in.
Any new commissioner or any new attorney for the DOE could have rewritten or rescinded the Jeter memo. Yanking away that cover would have thrown thousands of homeschoolers into conflict with state government and local school officials.
We were vulnerable.
What did the Jeter memo let homeschoolers do?
Under the Jeter memo, a student could be enrolled in an umbrella program and a parent could become a teacher for that umbrella school. Teachers in church-related schools are not subject to certification or state standards of control. Parents had to meet the standards of the church-related school, not the state.
In the case of homeschoolers the student and teacher were assigned to a classroom, typically their home.
Do you see why the THEA board felt that homeschooling families were vulnerable?
As soon as we could see an opening, we felt compelled to act. We must attempt to codify the memo.
Tennessee Code Annotated 49 6-3050(a) (3) is our attempt to do just that. The new language reads, as follows:
A parent-teacher may enroll his or her home school student(s) in a churchrelated school, as defined in §49-50-801, and participate as a teacher in that churchrelated school. Such parent-teacher shall be subject to the requirements established by the church-related school for home school teachers and exempt from the rest of the provisions of this section.
What made this change to Tennessee law possible?
In a word, you did.
All the people who homeschool and used this freedom in a responsible manner, demonstrated over and over and over again that homeschoolers would do the hard work of teaching their children. That’s what made the 2011 updating of the homeschooling law possible.
And our position didn’t just squeak by. In both chambers of Tennessee legislators, our proposal won by an overwhelming 75 percent.
Great job!
Two factors had driven families to use the Jeter memo. Parents without a college degree had no other choice. Equally compelling was the onerous, annual, intrusive end-of-course testing the DOE demanded for the dual-enrolled students. Students were required to take tests based on the textbooks used in the public schools. Say what?
Reading the new law, you will see that both those objections have been removed. Testing for students in church-related schools and the parent’s college degree requirements are gone.
Now that’s what I call a sweeping change.
Again, from where does this new freedom come?
It is a simple responsibility principle. Any time self-restrained responsible people use their freedom wisely, they put themselves in a position to be given more of it.
When I consider the homeschool parents, the church-related school leaders and the homeschool students, I know these people are the occasion of the expansion of our freedoms.
Parents became motivated to do something they perhaps feared — homeschooling. However much they feared the task of homeschooling, they valued the opportunity to care for and train their children more. Prayerfully seeking wisdom from the One who freely gives, they worked through all the necessary issues. Parents, thank you.
Church-related school administrators and leaders pursue every innovative measure to teach all the students in their sphere of influence, including homeschoolers. These innovators have continually been willing to trust the design for education laid out in Deuteronomy 6 and trust fathers and their families to do what God commands them to do — namely, “train your children.” May God greatly honor them for putting obedience to God’s design above any other vested interest. You developed reasonable measures of effectiveness, without being too intrusive.
Students, you have done what no one predicted possible. You have achieved excellence. In character, you know the bounds of personal freedom and of reasonable restraint. In wisdom, you begin with what is right and honorable to our King and His standards and show yourselves wise stewards of what He says is good and right. In strength, you show yourselves willing to exercise regularly the small power you have to be entrusted with more from the One who gives blessings without limit. In relationships, you build friendships with those around you, increasing the circle of love that reflects the values of our King. Thank you.
In short, the proper use of the Jeter memo led to an increased body of freedoms for homeschooling families all across the state. Parents and students, you have made this possible.
Over the next 20 years, we will see how we handle this new increased liberty. With this freedom comes a heavy responsibility. Let yourselves feel the weight. Evaluate it with great care.
Dear Lord God Almighty, please touch each of our hearts, each of our spirits and show us how to trust You in this hour to be faithful and true to what You call us to do. Thank you for our freedom. Please give us wisdom to use it wisely and most of all faithfully, serving You. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.
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