Educational Savings Account Bill; SB 302 Information

(Nevada Homeschool Network) – You may start hearing about a new law, SB302, which will allow families more options for the education of their children.  We want you to understand the wording and the requirements for this law.  (and as of this writing the governor has not signed this, but we anticipate he will)

Newspapers and others reporting on this bill are getting it slightly incorrect. Homeschooling in NV is governed under NRS 392.070 and 392.700. “Private Homeschooling” under this law gives parents total liberty from oversight of the public school system.

This bill actually creates a 4th “education option” for parents to meet the “compulsory attendance law, NRS 392.040. Current legal choices in NV are to enroll a child in a public school (traditional or charter), a private school (at the parent’s expense) or homeschool the child (again, paid for by the parent).

What this bill does is allow parents of public school students (enrolled a minimum of 100 school days in a public school) to apply for an Education Savings Account. Children using an ESA will be defined as an “Opt-in Child”. The parent can use the account to pay for tuition/services of a “participating entity” such as an instate private school, or an online/correspondence school or program, enrollment at an eligible institution (such as a college during high school years), services of an accredited tutoring agency or other eclectic educational materials chosen and provided by the parent. All children using an ESA must be tested annually with a norm-referenced standardized test with results sent to the NV Department of Education.

So, while an ESA Opt-in Child may resemble a homeschooled child in NV there is a “legal difference” between the two, namely “money always equals control”. There are always strings attached when the government gives you money.

To maintain homeschool autonomy from publicly funded education programs, Nevada Homeschool Network remains dedicated to protecting the liberty interest of parents’ right to direct the education of their child free from government control.

Nevada Homeschool Network is composed of Nevada homeschooling parents who aim to address a numbering problem in the Nevada Administrative Code that inadvertently tied homeschoolers to Nevada State Standards for Public Schools. For more information about NHN, visit NevadaHomeschoolNetwork.com.