Oklahoma Watch wrote an extensive report of the bill and interviewed Stanislawski. But some glaring questions go unanswered.
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I guess Stanislawski's bill serves to prove that Epic One On One will not be allowed to work like a homeschool. Recently, Stanislawski pushed legislation which made the Oklahoma Legislature and their Board of Virtual Schools the sponsor of Epic as a charter school, rather than a local school district. So the responsibility for policy now rests squarely upon Senate Education Chairman Stanislawski and other legislative leaders.
Many homeschool leaders warned Oklahoma families not to view a state-run curriculum as a traditional homeschool process. They are now saying; "We told you so." I disagreed with them 6 years ago, but bills like SB244 now prove I was wrong to dismiss the warning.
I don't believe Sen. Stanislawski is being deliberately harmful to the more than 40,000 home-educated students and their parents. I just think this former Jenks school board member has a mindset which doesn't comprehend the homeschoolers' needs for flexibility in format. How about waiting until we see a widespread failure of home educating, before we declare an emergency, as Stanislawski has declared.
I urge the legislature to stop this effort to restrict the families who educate their children at home. This bill could result in many home educating parents going to criminal court and facing some very adversarial district attorneys' charges.