Gov. Jim Justice said during his administrative briefing on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, that there is a draft of a bill to address homeschooling issues. (Screenshot from Gov. Jim Justice’s briefing)
Gov. Jim Justice said there’s a draft of legislation to address shortfalls in state homeschool laws that allow students to go without check ins.
Multiple high-profile child abuse and neglect cases over the last year in West Virginia involved homeschool students.
While the governor expressed concern over the situation, he didn’t include the bill on his call for a special session released Saturday evening. The special session will begin on Monday in Charleston.
“We do have a draft, but here’s the problem. We realize the tragedies that have happened. It’s tough to pound a round peg in a square hole as far as bill. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything quite there that fits,” Justice said Friday during a press briefing. “There’s no question we need to do better.
Some lawmakers have pushed for urgent action on the issue, saying it couldn’t wait until lawmakers gather for their next regular session in 2025.
Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia
“At this point, the blood is on our hands because we’re watching our kids die and nothing is happening,” said Del. Anitra Hamiton, D-Monongalia, who serves on the House Education Committee.
This year, lawmakers have considered pausing homeschool requests for families if a teacher reported suspected child abuse. They’ve also discussed stricter follow up on homeschool parents who hadn’t turned in their student’s required assessments.
“Boy, what a complex issue. This may be better in the general session than in a special session, to tell you the truth,” Justice said.
In September 2023, a deputy found two teens in Sissonville locked in a shed with “devastating” conditions, including no access to running water or a toilet. The children were being homeschooled.
Then, in April, 14-year-old Kyneddi Miller, who was being homeschooled, was found deceased “in a skeletal state” on the bathroom floor of her Boone County home.
On Sept. 24, an 8-year-old girl escaped from her home in handcuffs and looked for help in a Charleston neighborhood. Television station WCHS reported that the girl and other children in her home were on homeschool status in the county.
The tragedies have led Justice and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to grapple with how to balance the Republican supermajority’s school choice push with beefing up homeschool regulations to prevent child abuse or deaths.
“It’s a complicated issue because it involves fundamental parental rights while also having the overlap of wanting to do what’s right for the kids,” said Del. JB Akers, R-Kanawha, who represents the area where the 8-year-old girl was found in handcuffs. “I think we also have to start from a place where homeschooling parents aren’t treated differently just because they made the choice to homeschool.”
Hamilton said that the governor should take leadership on the issue because division in the House, which includes several homeschool parents, made it difficult to have “productive conversations” about the issue despite the tragedies.
“When you bring it up, people don’t want to discuss anything stricter within the perimeter of homeschooling. That’s shocking to me when the majority of these people claim to be pro-life. For me, our ultimate goal is to protect children,” she said. “[Children] have a right to a productive education, but they also have a right to be protected. I do think we should put some parameters in place, and I also feel it should be a bipartisan conversation.”
Public schools tasked with following up on homeschool students
Parents or legal guardians are required to submit to the county superintendent academic assessments of the homeschooled student at grade levels three, five, eight, and 11.
If documentation isn’t submitted, state education law permits but does not require local school districts to take action against the family.
More than 30,000 children are homeschooled in West Virginia. State education data released this year showed that 57% of the homeschooled students submitted the required documentation by deadline. The number dropped to 37% for students presumed to be in 11th grade.
State schools Superintendent Michele Blatt previously suggested that requiring school personnel to follow up missing students could be a step in addressing the problem.
Akers noted that local school districts were likely already overwhelmed with keeping up truant public school students along with the status of homeschool students.
“It’s fair to ask our school board, ‘Do you have the resources to follow through on the mandates that have been placed on you?’’ he said.
Lawmakers could also revisit debating Raylee’s Law, which in its latest version would pause or potentially deny a parent’s request to homeschool if a teacher has reported suspected child abuse. The legislation was named for 8-year-old Raylee Browning, who died of abuse and neglect in 2018 in Fayette County after her parents withdrew her from school.
Akers supported Raylee’s Law, which was included in an amendment during the regular session. The House of Delegates passed the amendment with bipartisan support, but it wasn’t taken up by the Senate.
“I don’t have this fear that we will have an epidemic of bad faith reports because [teachers] are out to get homeschoolers,” he said, noting that it is a crime to falsely report child abuse.
The special session is expected to largely focus on Justice’s idea for a personal income tax cut, his Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, and supplemental appropriations of state dollars.
“At the end of day, if I was told at the 11th hour we’re not going to vote for this … then, well, why waste our time? If all we’re going to do is bring people down and they’re going to spend state dollars and they’re not going to get anything done on that issue, then we don’t need that issue,” Justice said.
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