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by Phyllis Schlafly
NEA resolutions every year have revealed the NEA’s antagonism toward homeschoolers. Previous resolutions have demanded that homeschooled students “must meet all state requirements.” Resolution B-73 was strengthened this year to make it read that home schooled students “must meet all state curricular requirements, including the taking of assessments to ensure adequate academic progress.”
Observers commented that it is a little ironic for public school teachers to claim they are so concerned about the “academic progress” of homeschoolers, who usually score better on state tests than public school students.
Many other resolutions, policies and expenditures of the NEA reveal its paranoia about competition. Resolution A-24 opposes voucher plans and tuition tax credits. Resolution A-31 opposes parental option or choice plans. Resolution A-15 opposes any “funds, goods, or services to sectarian schools.” Resolution A-11 even opposes selling closed public school buildings to any school in competition with public schools. And Resolution B-1 demands getting children early through “compulsory” kindergarten and early childhood programs in “public schools.”
The NEA’s Committee on Professional Standards and Practice also is concerned about distance learning. The committee’s report sees “troubling trends for the Association, its membership, and public education in general.” The “troubling trends” are virtual schools or cyber-schools.
The report adds, “The increasing number of alternatives to traditional public schooling raises concerns of maintaining a system of quality public education in the United States.”
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