Every year, OCEANetwork monitors any bills, initiatives, or rules that may negatively impact homeschool freedoms in Oregon. The need for vigilance is even greater during long legislative sessions, which happen every other year.
We asked you to contact your state Representative to oppose HB 2508, the statewide student records database bill. This is because the bill has no prohibition against including homeschool students in the database.
But Representatives are now being told that the bill does not include homeschoolers. Here is what you should know about that claim.
The original intent of the bill is that the database is for public school students only, and the purpose is to increase efficiency. However, this same motivation will prompt the ESDs to move homeschooler data into the database for a streamlined system, and there’s nothing in place to prevent them from doing so. Such a change would make sense if efficiency is the main goal. It would also save time and effort for both the ESD and the public school each time a student moves from one educational option to another.
Unless the Legislature prohibits homeschooled student records from being included in the database, they will be included—eventually if not at first. OCEANetwork believes that homeschoolers should be preemptively protected from this inevitable result. Given past experiences with overreach by the ESDs, this is even more important.
The convenience for state entities such as ESDs and public schools should not outweigh the privacy concerns of homeschoolers who would now have their students’ data visible statewide instead of just in the local ESD.
A statewide database *will* include homeschooled students unless your Representative and others stop it.
CALL TO ACTION
Politely call or write your state Representative and tell them the HB 2508 statewide database bill will include homeschooled students unless they stop it. Use your own words for why.
You can find out who your Representative is here.
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Rodger Williams
OCEANetwork Freedom Watch Team
If you have questions about this alert, please contact OCEANetwork here so we can forward it on to our Freedom Watch Team.