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Potentially Dangerous Ordinance Revised
In fall 2007, Home School Legal Defense Association was alerted by an attentive member family in Broken Arrow to a potentially dangerous truancy ordinance. At the request of a police officer, the Broken Arrow City Council had decided to consider an ordinance that was intended to ensure that all children within the city regularly attend school.
HSLDA Staff Attorney Thomas Schmidt reviewed the ordinance and realized that the drafted language was no more than Oklahoma’s compulsory attendance statute, with a few changes. However, Schmidt quickly realized that a couple of these changes could have some serious unintended consequences for homeschoolers.
In the proposed ordinance, a child would be required to attend school for the “full term,” which was defined to include "the daily hours of instruction set by the district the child resides in." This could have forced homeschoolers to teach their children for the same number of hours as children in their school district were taught.
Another concern was the fact that the text of the ordinance specifically referred to “home schooling.” Under Oklahoma’s state constitution, the phrase used to protect homeschooling is “other means of education.” Since that term has worked well for over a hundred years, it is better to stick with the established language.
After our member family attended a hearing on the ordinance and spoke with the city attorney, Schmidt submitted to the city council several proposed revisions to the drafted ordinance. All of Schmidt’s revisions were adopted-they will help protect the right of parents to teach their children at home in the manner they deem appropriate.
HSLDA is grateful to our member family not only for being proactive about this potential threat to homeschooling, but also for putting a face on homeschooling by attending the hearing and interacting graciously with local officials.
— by Thomas J. Schmidt
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