HOMESCHOOLERS PROTECTED IN FEDERAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION BILL

In one of its last acts before the August recess, Congress approved the Carl Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 (S. 250). HSLDA was successful in ensuring that protections for home-educated students remained in the bill sent to the President for his expected signature.
The predecessor of this bill was from the 105th Congress in 1998, the Carl Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act. HSLDA’s National Center for Home Education drafted numerous protections for homeschool families and students and worked with Congress to include them in the Act. They included:
Prohibitions on the development of a national database,
Prohibition of funding for school-to-work,
Prohibition of any federal control over a private, religious or homeschool,
A prohibition against requiring students to pursue a specific educational field or vocational training, or requiring them to obtain a certificate of mastery. The National Center worked with Congress to ensure that our protective language in the 1998 Act was not removed in the 2006 amendments. Congress kept all of our protective language with the exception of the prohibition against funding school-to-work, because the school-to-work program was never reauthorized and is dead. The following language remains as a part of the Act. It protects all individuals, including home-educated students:
“Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to permit the development of a national database of personally identifiable information on individuals receiving services under this chapter.”
“Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to permit, allow, encourage, or authorize any Federal control over any aspect of a private, religious, or home school, regardless of whether a home school is treated as a private school or home school under State law. This section shall not be construed to bar students attending private, religious, or home schools from participation in programs or services under this chapter.”
“No funds made available under this chapter shall be used - (1) to require any secondary school student to choose or pursue a specific career path or major; and (2) to mandate that any individual participate in a vocational and technical education program, including a vocational and technical education program that requires the attainment of a federally funded skill level, standard, or certificate of mastery.”