Last Saturday, members of the General Assembly whose districts include at least some part of Fairfax County held a public meeting at the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Meeting Room where members of the public could bring to their attention issues of concern. Over 100 community members testified. I was one of them. I discussed three important issues, one of which I mention here.
For the past several years, Bills have been proposed which, if enacted, would permit home-schooled children to participate in interscholastic activities at the public schools near where they live. Such a Bill passed the General Assembly in both 2016 and 2017, but Governor McAuliffe vetoed it. Most of our local General Assembly membership opposed these Bills. When I questioned Senator Surovell about his opposition, he responded that he was uncertain home-schooled students met the academic achievement of students educated in our public schools. I point out that, clearly, this is a non-issue because Virginia Code Section 22.1-254.1 requires home-schooled students to be periodically evaluated to ensure they are meeting appropriate standards of educational progress.
Looking at Bills pre-filed in the General Assembly session about to commence, I noted House Bill No. 496 which essentially proposes to permit home-schooled children to participate in interscholastic activities. It includes mention of Virginia Code Section 22.1-254.1.
The question of whether to support or oppose this legislation is not a political question. It is a choice between fairness and unfairness. The parents of home-schooled children pay the same taxes supporting our public schools as do those with children attending public schools as well as those with no children. Depriving home-schooled children of the opportunity to participate in interscholastic activities deprives them of the opportunity to enhance their educational resumes as they must do if they wish to have the opportunity to seek admission to an elite university. Without those enhancements, elite universities will not seriously consider an application for admission and those students are consigned to less competitive colleges and universities that don't care about extra-curricular activities. This is just unfair. Period.
As far as I am concerned, the vote our local politicians take on this issue will be a window into their character and will be revealing as to their view of fairness to children who are being home-schooled in the Commonwealth of Virginia as they are legally permitted to do. I urge support of House Bill No. 496.
H. Jay Spiegel
Mount Vernon