Washington Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on January 9, 2012

Click here to view bill details.

Last summer districts received new instructions on how to operate their ALE programs. Now there are more rules and regulations being suggested. It is very difficult to run a successful program when the rules are being changed constantly.

The Parent Partnership model is a very innovative and successful program that has allowed homeschooling families to achieve educational goals with the assistance of learning materials, tutors and teachers. It creates a system of accountability while still allowing flexibility for the alternative learning methods. Our students in our program are very successful and many have gone on collage. Adding more restrictions creates a more difficult program to operate and takes away from the learning experiences of children. The state needs to allow these programs to be Alternative options to mainstream education and not require credits for high school students (they are getting accepted into colleges with no problem, and most do running start at some point), allow K-8 to take PE classes, allow the program to be run via the internet for contact and allow individual tutoring. Also, if the state wants to cut corners and save money, completely remove the testing requirements or create an online option for homeschooling students to test.

There`s a solid reason why the school curriculum, involving the amount of work and intellectual effort is conceived under the guidance of specialists in early school age. I remember we had some discussion once on our MPH questions about how is it more convenient for us in terms of pursuing our education development needs. We always have tutors walking us through optimizing learning methods and flows. It`s highly important for children to benefit from some national educational regulations that would protect them from exhausting work. Society wants them to grow as healthy, creative, disciplined future professionals.