Huckabee’s Anti-Homeschooling Record
This expose’ of Huckabee leading Arkansas to become the first state to REDUCE homeschooling freedom (against the national trend of homeschool legalization) might be of interest to some of my readers:
www.ronpaul2008.com/homeschoolers/compared-to-other-candidates/
www.hslda.org/courtreport/v15n3/V15N3AR.asp?PrinterFriendly=True
First Huckabee signs a law helping homeschoolers, then signs a law further restricting them. Changing one’s mind on critical issues based on which way the political winds are blowing? Does this remind us of another Arkansas politician?
Consequences of Huckabee’s law:
Arkansas is now one of only 12 states to impose a deadline for beginning home schooling or requiring parents to provide advance notice to public school officials of their decision to do so. Because of this restriction, parents who encounter intolerable conditions at the public school, such as imminent danger to the safety or welfare of their child, will have to wait at least 14 days before withdrawing the child to begin home schooling or else face truancy charges for unexcused absences during the 14-day waiting period. No such restriction exists for parents who decide to immediately remove their children to attend a private or parochial school in Arkansas. This raises serious issues regarding the right of parents to direct the education of their children and equal protection of the law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Another discriminatory provision in H.B. 1724 states that any home schooling student who refuses to participate in the state testing program shall be subject to prosecution for truancy. Public school students refusing to participate in state testing would not be subject to truancy prosecution.
Prior law required parents moving into the state mid-school year to provide a written notice of intent to the local superintendent within 30 days. The new law requires parents to provide a written notice upon moving into a different school district during the school year, even though notice was given in their former district.
If you think Huckabee is the solution to the four frauds they call frontrunners, you could be making a big mistake. Huckabee seems a lot more like that other slimy governor of Arkansas politically than a true conservative, even if (as far as we know) he doesn’t share his personal problems. Seriously, I think I’d rather have the Mormon than this guy. At least you know he’s phony, while Huckabee has this uncanny ability to seem genuine: what did I say about that other Arkansas governor?
Ron Paul, of course, is the obvious choice for homeschoolers, being the only Republican, besides Tancredo, in the race who opposes and voted against No Child Left Behind, Bush’s insane big-government bill proposing “solutions” based on fraudulent test results in Houston public schools.
November 5th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
[...] Tom put an intriguing blog post on Huckabee’s Anti-Homeschooling RecordHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
November 21st, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Have you seen this? It’s awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDUQW8LUMs8
November 25th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
The problem, Mitch, with Huckabee is that he’s all sizzle and no steak. It only takes a cursory look into his record as governor of Arkansas to find out that he did less for that state than Clinton did. I was shocked — shocked! — to find out that Norris endosed him, since Chuck Norris seems to be so strongly Christian in his politics. Sane for every other “conservative” Christian I’ve seen bandy about the Huckabee banner. It just doesn’t make any sense. You’ve got 5 clones of W, Paul, Tancredo, and a semi-W-clone in Hunter. Tancredo’s a one-issue candidate, so the choice is pretty clear for any true conservatives.
November 26th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
If Chuck Norris reads this, or even senses what you’ve written, you’re toast!
November 26th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Chuck Norris sleeps with a nite lite. Not because he’s afraid of the dark, but because the dark’s afraid of Chuck Norris!
November 27th, 2007 at 12:46 am
If you want a list of Chuck Norris’ enemies, just look at the endangered species list.
Chuck Norris is suing NBC because apparently “Law & Order” are the trademarked names for his right and left legs.
December 1st, 2007 at 6:34 am
[...] Ron Paul has really come out of seemingly no where and continues to gain ground. Early on some thought that John Edwards would be the top contender among homeschoolers, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Their use tutors, following the school’s curiculum, and their “school at home” approach has seemed to turn a lot of homeschoolers off. Mike Huckabee is another candidate that is using a homeschooling ticket, though not sucessfully. While he has done some good for homeschoolers he has also reduced some of the freedoms for homeschoolers in Arkansas. It’s a slippery slope of politics with supporters going back and forth on who is the most homeschooling friendly. [...]
December 8th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
That’s the best you have? Chuck Norris jokes that are only funny for 12-year olds?
Sadly, this basically sums up the Huckabee supporters I’ve come across. No surprise, seeing Huckabee just can’t resist making a joke about EVERY single serious issue he is asked about.
December 8th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I don’t think anyone who made those comments is a Huckabee supporter, just having some fun. Norris enjoys near-mythological status here in Texas. Too bad his political judgment isn’t as good as his drop-kick.
December 9th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Thanks, Tom!
I’ve been branded many things in my lifetime –many of them true — but a Huckster supporter?!!??!!
December 16th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
[...] In June, the Home School Legal Defense Association PAC endorsed Mike Huckabee. I take this as the typical Christian somnambulance when it comes to politics. Like with George the Younger, some schmuck comes along, says a few frilly words, and the Christian wing of the proletariat is [figuratively] counting ceiling tiles. The truth is, Huckabee made it harder to homeschool in his native Arkansas than it was when Gov. Rodham – err, I mean Clinton left office. [...]
December 17th, 2007 at 1:24 am
Ron Paul INVENTED Chuck Norris. Hey, don’t just take my word for it - it’s a FACT: http://www.ronpaulfacts.com
December 17th, 2007 at 2:43 am
I guess this horrible record is why Michael Farris enforced Mike Huckabee OVER Ron Paul, right?
http://www.hsldapac.org/dnn/Home/HuckabeeforPresident/tabid/93/Default.aspx
Or, that since Mike hates home schoolers so much that he appointed the FIRST EVER home school mom to the board of education?
Check out this blog for some more Huckabee Home schooler craziness..
http://onemom.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/huckabee-and-homeschoolers-the-rest-of-the-story/
December 17th, 2007 at 8:46 am
Hey, if Michael Farris wants to contradict himself and endorse Huckabee, I can’t change that. Farris also sucked up to Bush II, so his endorsement is no indication of anything. Farris thinks he’ll get “access” in exchange for an early endorsement. Huck’s explanation of his anti-homeschooling-record sounds about as believable as his explanation for lying about his degree. “I supported a bad bill so a worse bill wouldn’t pass”. How about vetoing any bill that hurts homeschooling rights?
Huckabee is still the most pro-illegal of any candidate and still raised taxes in Arkansas. He has no plan for shrinking the federal government. The “FAIR Tax”, while admittedly better than an income tax, would still be a massive federal tax, a sales tax of 23%!
Why is it so radical in the Republican Party today to advocate for the elimination of the income tax, and replace it with nothing? As Ron Paul points out, this would just require shrinking the gummint to where it was ten years ago.
I’m afraid many of our evangelical homeschooling friends have gone off into a false consciousness. You see the America of the Founders and the Constitution in an empire-building pro-welfare-state George W. Bush. And now you want Huckabee, who is every bit the ne’er-do-well arrogant loser that Bush is, except that while Bush tried and failed in business (an experience that teaches a lot), Huckabee’s been in church or government his whole life. Huckabee, in his lack of real life experience, will be even worse, and when challenged will respond with twice the defensiveness of Bush.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110010782
December 17th, 2007 at 9:28 am
LewRockwell.com contributor and homeschooling mom Shana Kluck had this to say about Huckleberry:
Does that make sense? A state wing of the virulently anti-homeschooling NEA [the statist educators' union, not the pornography hustlers] supports Huckster (and Clinton). Huckleberry thinks the “Chappaquiddick Ted”-written NCLB is brilliant.
How does any of this pan out for homeschoolers? And what are Farris, et al., thinking?
December 19th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
[...] Ron Paul Revolution (VIII): Homeschoolers Unite! 19 December 2007 — Brian Again, from LewRockwell.com, this article by Texas entrepreneur and homeschooling dad, Dave Whitinger warns against the somnambulant lovefest between Christian homeschooling organizations and the Huckster. While I encourage you to read the entire article, I’ve excerpted several of his arguments below: [...]
January 18th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Response supporting endorsement of Huckabee taken from Homeschool Legal Defense Website.
“January 2008
Questions have arisen regarding Governor Huckabee’s commitment to homeschooling. HSLDA-PAC is confident that Governor Huckabee is a strong supporter of home education, and we stand by our endorsement.
As discussed in this article, the Arkansas legislature passed a homeschool law in 1999, which was signed by Governor Huckabee. The law represented a step backward for homeschool freedoms.
Arkansas’ homeschool law was enacted in 1985 when Bill Clinton was governor. It was one of the most restrictive laws in the nation. After Bill Clinton was elected president, Jim Guy Tucker, another Democrat, became governor. Unfortunately, homeschoolers were not able to roll back this terrible law during his administration. After Governor Tucker resigned from office because of legal difficulties, Mike Huckabee became governor in 1996.
Prior to the 1997 legislative session, the Arkansas Christian Home Education Association and HSLDA approached Governor Huckabee about supporting changes in the homeschool law. Governor Huckabee actively supported and lobbied legislators to get a bill passed which transformed Arkansas into a much more favorable state for homeschoolers. HSLDA attorney Dewitt Black wrote Governor Huckabee a thank-you letter. He replied, “Dee, it was my pleasure and privilege to get behind this effort on behalf of home school students in Arkansas, and I sincerely appreciated the backing of the Home School Legal Defense Association and the Arkansas Christian Home Education Association.” HSLDA still has the original of this letter from the governor.
Only two years later, however, during the 1999 legislative session, two bad bills were introduced to impose restrictions on the homeschoolers. There was a great deal of momentum to get these bills through.
To avoid a major step backward for homeschool freedom, local homeschool leaders worked with a homeschooling father in the House of Representatives to sponsor a bill which would place some additional regulations on homeschoolers but would avoid the much worse provisions of the other two bills. HSLDA could not support this compromise bill because we always stand on the side of homeschool freedom and against government regulation. We opposed the bill and urged our members to lobby against the bill without success.
The political reality, however, was that the homeschoolers were going to have to give the opposition something or they were going to get something much worse. As far as Governor Huckabee was concerned, it was a bill the homeschoolers wanted. It was sponsored by a homeschooling father in the legislature and had the support of the Arkansas Family Council. The bill was enacted and became Act 1117.
HSLDA-PAC has spoken directly with Governor Huckabee and we believe that by his words and actions he is a firm supporter of homeschooling.
This video discusses more of Governor Huckabee’s relationship with homeschoolers.”
January 21st, 2008 at 8:53 am
Pardon me for saying so, but if the HSLDA “always stand on the side of homeschool freedom and against government regulation,” then how could they possibly not endorse Paul, the only candidate who promises to rid us of any sort of national regulation on homeschooling? Or public schooling, for that matter?
The fact that HSLDA is playing religious politics with the candidate who makes the biggest deal about his faith — and pillories others’ — make sthis endorsement, and the defense thereof, disingenuous at best. The default conservative — and especially Christian conservative — position should (almost) always be that no law is better than bad law. I mean, isn’t it true that “that government governs best which governs least“?
And besides, [and I know this is off-topic... but not really] how Christian would a president be who promises to send to “the Gates of Hell” anyone who dares to attempt to defend their own country? Is that what Christ told Pilate and the Pharisees? “Go forth into all the world and beat them down, especially if they are too weak do do anything about it, until they stop saying things you don’t like’?
Anyone looking for “liberty” and “freedom” in Mike Huckabee is fooling himself.
January 26th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=393BLypi1cc
January 27th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Jesus was flogged at Pilate’s orders to save his life. Pilate should have
set Jesus free without flogging; Huckabee should have set the homeschoolers free and equal under the fourteenth amendment. Father of nine homeschooled here in the UK.