ELLEN BURGER

Please sign in BY THE END OF TODAY to oppose HB 1268. It would eliminate the already minimal regulation and tracking of home schooling, putting some young people in inadequate or even dangerous learning environments, with no oversight whatsoever. Sign in to OPPOSE here: [https://gc.nh.gov/house/committees/remotetestimony/default.aspx][Friday, Feb. 20, House Education Policy and Admin. Comm. HB 1268 at 10AM, “OPPOSE”). [Note: this bill applies to a category of home schoolers who are not eligible for EFAs, just this is an extremist Bill that will harm children. Some level of oversight over the education of NH youth is necessary, including some oversight over those children who are homeschooled, to ensure that they are being taught and acquiring the academic skills and knowledge they need. We do, after all, have compulsory education in NH and that is a right of all children. Moreover, although most parents provide healthy and caring environments for their children, we have to worry about those who don’t. Many are the stories from other states where neglect and/or abuse of children went undetected for years (even decades) because "home education" with no outside contact or supervision shielded the parent against any intervention on behalf of the child.