Currently, homeschoolers have a great deal of education freedom with respect to curriculum, schedule, school hours, and reporting requirements. This bill would change that.
Under this proposal, the same Mississippi History and U.S. Government courses that government schools must teach would also be required of homeschool families and private schools.
Specifically, the proposal says, “The Mississippi History course must provide students with an examination of the history of the State of Mississippi from the age of discovery and colonization to the present with particular emphasis on the significant political, social, economic and cultural issues of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries which have impacted the diverse ethnic and racial populations of the state. All private, parochial and home-based school programs shall provide the same curriculum requirements to students enrolled in Grades 9 though 12.”
This would give the state authority to dictate what parents teach their children and how they teach it. Those rights belong with the parents who choose to homeschool, who generally make that choice because they want to set the curriculum that’s appropriate for their children free of state mandates.
Whether or not homeschool families in Mississippi teach Mississippi history or government – and we know most do – that is the choice of the parents, not the state.
MCPP has reviewed this legislation and finds that it violates our principles and therefore must be opposed.
Read HB 188.
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