Senate Bill To Lift Homeschool Requirements Moves Forward Despite Opposition

A bill to remove requirements for homeschooling in West Virginia hit significant resistance in the Senate Thursday. 

Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, invoked Senate rules on the chamber floor to reject Senate Bill 966 from consideration.

“It eliminates instruction of reading, math and science. The teacher is not even required to have a GED,” Woelfel said. “Many, many of our home school parents are outstanding, great people. Some people game the system. I urge rejection.”

It was a surprising political maneuver that set off a firestorm of debate about taking away a parent’s choice to teach their child what they think is best versus that child’s right to an education.

For Sen. Mike Azinger, R-Wood, it’s a matter of freedom.

“This is basically saying that the parents are sovereign over their children, that they love their children more than anybody else does, and that includes any legislator who thinks that they know better,” Azinger said. 

Sen. Jack Woodrum, R-Summers, said not all parents are created equally.

In recognizing all the parents who want what’s best for their child, “We often don’t come back around to the parents that are suffering from substance abuse, issues, different problems that they have,” Woodrum said. 

“I’ve had far too much experience with some of these parents where, if it wasn’t for the neighbors, the kids wouldn’t eat. We can’t afford to forget those parents because those kids suffer, and unfortunately, at times, those kids perish.”

Woelfel’s move to kill the bill failed by a vote of 10 to 24. It still has to pass second and third readings before moving to the House of Delegates for consideration there.