Homeschool families in Virginia celebrated a victory Thursday after the Virginia state Senate backed away from a bill that threatened religious exemptions for homeschoolers.
SB 1031 sought to get rid of an exemption that permits families in the state to homeschool their children because of their religious convictions. After initially voting to pass the bill, the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee acted on a motion to reconsider and voted 13-2 to pass by indefinitely on the bill, meaning the bill will not go to the Senate floor unless the committee takes the bill up again.
This comes after Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, said he would veto the bill in a statement to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
“Governor Youngkin will always stand up for parents’ rights and education freedom in Virginia, especially Virginia’s vibrant homeschool community,” Christian Martinez, the governor’s press secretary, told The Daily Signal. “The bill targeting thousands of homeschool families would never become law in Virginia on Governor Youngkin’s watch.”
The original draft of the bill introduced to the Senate Education and Health Committee earlier this month sought to remove the state’s current exemption for those whose parents cite religious reason from compulsory school attendance. The committee later voted on a substitute version that would instead create a “work study group” to study how the religious exemption could be amended to “better ensure that all children in the Commonwealth receive an adequate education.”
The religious exemption in question originally took effect in 1976 after the landmark Supreme Court decision Wisconsin v. Yoder, in which the court ruled that members of the Amish community had a First Amendment right to not send their children to public schools.
“A school board shall excuse from attendance at school: any pupil who, together with his parents, by reason of bona fide religious training or belief is conscientiously opposed to attendance at school,” the revised statute reads.
Attorney Scott Woodruff from the Home School Legal Defense Association partnered with the Home Educators Association of Virginia in leading the grassroots effort to oppose SB 1031.
“Senate Bill 1031 is the first direct attack on the religious exemption that has ever been filed in the general assembly,” Woodruff told The Daily Signal. “So, this was a test to see if the people of the state of Virginia still support the law and to see if elected officials will listen to constituents and continue to protect the religious exemption.”
State Sen. Stella Pekarsky, a Democrat, sponsored the bill. In doing so, she sought to remove a loophole in the system, she told constituents in a press release Jan. 24. “I believe in a parent’s right to choose the best educational outcome for their kids, but I also believe in protecting every child in Virginia,” Pekarsky said in the press release. “This exemption, that requires a one-time application and approval process, creates a situation that allows for neglect, abuse, and non-education.”
The sponsor said she had no intention or desire to change any requirements for homeschooling in the state.
“I have heard countless testimonies from Virginians who experienced this neglect and non-education under this exemption, and I cannot in good conscience ignore or invalidate their experiences,” Pekarsky said in the press release.
Woodruff said the anecdotes of those who testified in favor of the bill do not justify changing the religious exemption.
“Those anecdotes, those stories, no matter how heart-rending, aren’t the kind of data that would justify changing the law especially since every form of education has its shares of successes and failures,” Woodruff said.
Potential for conflict between people of faith and the government is high in the state of Virginia because of the red tape surrounding home instruction, he said.
“If the religious exemption were abolished, there would be many people in Virginia whose strong religious convictions would immediately put them in the crosshairs of government agents because they would refuse as a matter of conscience to comply with all the paperwork requirements,” Woodruff said.
Though it was introduced almost 50 years ago, the religious exemption is now more relevant than ever, according to Jason Bedrick, a research fellow at the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation.
“Too many public schools are now pushing an ideology that operates essentially as a state religion—one that is anathema to many families that subscribe to more traditional religious beliefs,” Bedrick told The Daily Signal. “Now more than ever, families should have the ability to take advantage of an exemption that would respect their rights as parents to raise their children according to their own beliefs.”
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
