Reaction mixed to new Pa. law on homeschoolers - News

By Robyn Meadows

Published Nov 11, 2005 13:59

Gov. Ed Rendell signed the homeschool bill Thursday.

Stephanie Baughman of Strasburg, who homeschools three of her four children, said she is �absolutely thrilled.�

She tried for three years to convince Lampeter-Strasburg School District to let her son play soccer and play drums in the band.

�I wish I could have been there to watch him sign it,� Baughman said.

But local school officials are not so pleased with the new law for several reasons.

Allowing homeschoolers to participate isn�t fair to district students and could cause disruptions, some said.

Others have opposed it on the principle that if parents want to keep their kids home, they should remain at home.

�It isn�t a cafeteria,� Pequea Valley Superintendent Ann Keim said. �You don�t get to pick and choose.�

Many homeschool families have argued that because they pay taxes, their children have the right to participate in public-school activities.

Parent Suzanne Ritchey is �torn.�

Ritchey lives just outside Neffsville and homeschools her four children.

On one hand, her family pays taxes, and her boys might want to play baseball for Manheim Township School District when they outgrow the recreation commission.

On the other hand, �Our family believes it�s best to rely solely on God and not usurp authority to the public school system,� Ritchey said.

Lancaster County has at least 2,595 homeschoolers, the largest number in the state. There are more than 24,000 homeschool students in Pennsylvania.

With the new law, Pennsylvania joins 14 other states that require public schools to allow homeschoolers to participate in extracurriculars.

In Lancaster County, at least 10 of the 16 districts have refused homeschoolers access to activities.

Ephrata is one of them.

School board president Dennis Oberholtzer said that�s because students must follow rules on attendance, grades and behavior to participate in extracurricular events.

Schools can�t track home-schooled students the same way they can regular students.

They would have to depend on the parents to report if Johnny or Sue followed the rules.

Manheim Township has also not allowed homeschoolers to participate, citing similar reasons as Ephrata�s.

�It should be a district choice, just as the home-school parents have made their choice,� board president Hannah Bartges said.

State Sen. Bob Regola, a Westmoreland County Republican, introduced the homeschool bill.

Regola said in an earlier interview that homeschoolers will have to try out for sports teams like everyone else.

�If they are truly one of the top athletes, they should get a chance,� Regola said. But he hopes that schools won�t discriminate against the homeschool students.

He also said that more than half of the state�s districts have allowed homeschoolers to join in with no problems.

Penn Manor, Conestoga Valley, Lancaster, Cocalico, Elizabethtown and Eastern Lancaster County already allow homeschoolers access to some school activities.

In Penn Manor, homeschoolers could join sports, but not band or clubs.

That�s because some activities take place during the school day, and bringing in homeschoolers midday would become disruptive, Superintendent Don Stewart said.

It�s working so far in CV, Superintendent Gerald Huesken said. But, there is a downside.

For example, if four home-schooled students join football, then the school must count every homeschooler in the district as part of its student population. This can change the competition class for the sports teams.

But now that it�s the law, �It will put everyone on a level playing field,� Huesken said.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)