Superintendents call for homeschool reform
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – An association of county school superintendents is preparing to call on state lawmakers to reform laws involving homeschooling in West Virginia.
It follows this April’s starvation death of Kyneddi Miller in Boone County, and continued questioning by WSAZ if more should be done to check on homeschool students.
The West Virginia Association of School Administrators says the answer is yes. Jackson County Schools Superintendent Will Hosaflook serves as the group’s vice president.
“If we’re going to held accountable, and we are being held accountable as stated in state law, we have to have the mechanisms in place to hold everyone accountable, and that is putting eyes on students,” he told WSAZ.
Since Kyneddi’s death, WSAZ has reported on how state law requires that county school systems receive an academic assessment from homeschool students in third, fifth, eighth and 11th grades.
Kyneddi was among students with no assessment turned in, state officials confirmed in June.
Now, the association’s call to action comes one week after WSAZ reported about a new report presented to the state Board of Education, which showed nearly 58 percent of homeschool students submitted academic assessments this year at the required grade levels.
But inside that report, compliance is falling as students get older, dipping to 36 percent in 11th grade.
Hosaflook and his association is calling for homeschool students to take the same test as traditional students — every year, either in person or online with video.
“Lots of things can happen in three years,” he said. “But we want to see the academic progress, as well. We want to see the skills that are being developed and offer our services.”
Senator Patricia Rucker chairs the Senate’s School Choice Committee. She told WSAZ Thursday she opposes more homeschool regulation saying more follow through is needed to enforce laws already on the book.
Hosaflook disagrees.
“Homeschooling works, school choice works, if completed properly with the right assessments, the right skills, the right tools, the right interventions, but we will never know what a child needs, unless they are put on the same playing field,” he said.
Hosaflook says county superintendents will meet soon with plans to share the association’s position directly with lawmakers in the weeks ahead.
In Jackson County, the superintendent says seven homeschool students did not submit an assessment this year. He says the county is contacting those families and will pursue court action to revoke homeschool privileges, if necessary.
Additionally, Jackson County just sent its first round of truancy letters, and Hosaflook says within the past three days, four of those students filed an intent to move to homeschool.
Rucker says there could be multiple reasons for such a move, including illness and bullying.
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