Addressing Concerns About SB 810

Several of our home school friends around the state have contacted us this week about SB 810 which directs the Child Maltreatment Hotline to resume accepting calls regarding educational neglect.

Many of our friends are understandably concerned this bill might inadvertently open home schoolers to harassment from public school officials or state employees.

Here is a fundamental question I believe we have to ask about SB 810:

Would a veto of SB 810 by Governor Hutchinson reduce the possibility that an innocent home school family would be reported to DHS?

Here is the answer: No. An adversary of home schooling already has several ways to report a home school family to DHS or the police. They don’t need SB 810 in order to harass home schoolers.

We have no evidence that public school officials used frivolous “educational neglect” reports to the Child Maltreatment Hotline to harass home schoolers during all the years they had that power prior to 2013. We have no reason to think they will use that power to harass home schoolers under SB 810. If we did, we would have sounded the alarm when the bill was filed last month.

However, to put minds at ease, here are some things that can be done to alleviate concerns people have over SB 810:

1. At the first opportunity, SB 810 needs to be amended with clarifying language to ensure this law will not be used to harass home schoolers.
2. In the meantime, before the law is amended, the Governor and the Directors of the Department of Human Services and Department of Education can issue clarifying memos or letters to provide guidance that this law is not to be used to entertain frivolous claims against home schoolers.

What is being done?
The Education Alliance is in discussion with Governor Hutchinson and the Department of Human Services to craft letters and memos to provide guidance to help ensure that this law will not be misapplied against home schoolers.

Here is more about why SB 810 is not the threat to home schooling that some people believe it is:

1. SB 810 that recently passed the Arkansas General Assembly, for the most part, puts the law back the way it was for many years prior to 2013.  Therefore:  If home schoolers were not being affected by the law prior to 2013, it is highly unlikely that they will be affected by SB 810, which puts the law back the way it was prior to 2013.
2. Adversaries of home schooling don’t need SB 810 to use DHS as a weapon against home schoolers, therefore they are not likely to use it. In fact, there are much more effective ways to harass a home school family than reporting them for educational neglect. There are literally thousands of mandatory reporters of child abuse ranging from the pastor of your church, to your doctor or dentist, to librarians, nurses, teachers, and social workers.  An adversary of home schooling can make a direct call to DHS, a call to the local police, a call to the local prosecutor, a call to the State Police, or a call to a social worker without SB 810.
3. SB 810 is a law designed to empower teachers and others to report public school families that may be neglecting or abusing their children. The focus of SB 810 is going to be on public school families, not home schoolers. Many public school officials have expressed concerns that local truancy officers and local prosecutors in some parts of the state are not prosecuting public school families who are truant. They want an alternative method to report educational neglect, and they want the law clarified to ensure as mandatory-reporters of child abuse they can report actual child abuse to the Child Maltreatment Hotline. A home school family with a Notice of Intent to Home School on file cannot be charged with truancy.

Q&A About SB 810
Question:  Could SB 810 be used to harass an innocent home school family?

Answer:  Yes. Like any law related to child maltreatment, SB 810 could—at least in theory—be used to harass an innocent family.

Question:  How great is the risk this law would be used against a home school family?

Answer:  From what we can tell the risk is so small it’s practically nonexistent. Attorneys with whom we have spoken assure us a complaint filed under SB 810 would be resolved quickly once the home school family produced their Notice of Intent to Home School as proof they are not truant or neglecting the education of their child. By contrast, a frivolous complaint filed against an innocent home school family under a different law or reporting procedure could take weeks to resolve.

Question:  If SB 810 were to be vetoed would this decrease the chance of an adversary of home schooling using DHS as a weapon against home schoolers?

Answer:  No. Adversaries of home schooling still have plenty of other laws that empower them to report home school families to DHS. Many of these alternative methods are arguably more effective at harassing home schoolers than any method derived from SB 810.

In conclusion, we understand many home school families are concerned about SB 810. We take those concerns very seriously, and we are working to address them. However, we want to reassure everyone that given the history of SB 810, we do not believe it poses a serious threat to home schooling.

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