Ohio State Board of Education Meeting – September 2008

Several homeschoolers attended the Ohio State Board of Education Meeting yesterday (Sept. 8th, 2008) to hear what the Ohio Department of Education was going to suggest concerning the regularly scheduled five year review of Ohio Home Education Rules.

Kim Murnieks spoke briefly about the Ohio Department of Education’s intent concerning our regulations. Here is a brief summary of what she had to say:

Ms. Murnieks said there were two suggested amendments to the regulations and that these changes will bring Chapter 3301-34 Excuses from Compulsory Attendance for Home Education 3301-34- 01Definitions and 3301-34-04 Acadmic Assessment up to date.

Pertaining to both rules, Ms. Murnieks stated that they want to update certified teacher to include licensed teacher to reflect changes in the code that involves teachers. Teachers are licensed these days and they want the language to reflect that.

3301-04-04 must be updated due to the reference to nationally normed tests because this citation – 3301-12-02 that is included in that section was rescinded in 1996.

Chapter 3301-34 Excuses from Compulsory Attendance for Home Education. 3301-34-02, 3301-34-03, 3301-34-05,3301-34-06 will be filed with JCARR for no changes.

The updated text will be compiled for 3301-34-01 and 3301-34-04 and submitted at the October Ohio State Board of Education Meeting. Those rules will be filed in November and there will be a public hearing on these in December. Final rules will be adopted in January 2009.

Co-Chairman Ann Womer Benjamin asked about the public comments that had been gathered. Ms. Murnieks responded that they received over 8,000 comments, mostly from parents expressing satisfaction with the rules. At this point, I believe that she reiterated that the plan is to correct the 2 technical rules and bring them up to date. There is a transcript of the meeting here.

Yesterday was step one of the process, so Ohio homeschoolers may want to continue to follow and make sure that they are comfortable with the language that will be used to update Chapter 3301-34 Excuses from Compulsory Attendance for Home Education 3301-34- 01Definitions and 3301-34-04 Acadmic Assessment that will be presented to the Ohio State School Board in October and sent to JCARR in November. Before the language is finalized, homeschoolers willhave the opportunity to attend the public meeting in December to provide our input, if necessary.

September 9, 2008 | Filed Under Empowerment, Fundamental Right, Home education, Local Laws, State Laws