DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — Ohio Senate members are calling for stronger oversight of homeschooling after reports of an Upper Sandusky couple advocating for a neo-Nazi-approved curriculum.
Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) and Senator Catherine Ingram (D-Cincinnati) issued the following statements in a Senate release in response to the reports:
“I applaud the efforts of citizen activists and journalists who have brought to light the efforts of neo-Nazi homeschoolers who are promoting a Nazi-infused curriculum for parents,” Senator Antonio said. “This type of hatred has no place in Ohio, nor its education system.”
Senator Antonio added that while she respects the rights of parents to determine their children’s education, the state needs to carefully examine how it is regulating home school curriculum.
“We need to ensure that home schooling is not an opportunity for parents to systemically teach their children hatred,” Senator Ingram, the Ranking Member on the Ohio Senate Education Committee, said.
“Senate Bill 1, which is pending in Education Committee, weakens home schooling requirements. The legislature must protect our children from instruction fueled by racism and intolerance.”
According to the Senate Bill 1 analysis prepared by the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, as the bill is introduced, school superintendents would no longer be required to receive any proof of the qualifications of home educators to teach home-schooled students.
There is currently no meaningful review of home-schooling curriculum in Ohio law, the release states.
You can read the Senate Bill 1 anaylsis here.
