
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 31, 1994                   TAG: 9405310056
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Medium

FARRIS SAYS UNCLE SAM THREAT TO HOME-SCHOOLERS

The federal government poses a threat to the rights of Virginians who teach their children at home, Mike Farris told families at a home education conference.

According to the U.S. Constitution, "The federal government has zero right to be involved in education," the former candidate for lieutenant governor said. "If the federal government wants to do something for education, it should totally dismantle the educational bureaucracy."

Farris spoke Saturday to about 1,900 families at the Home Educators of Virginia convention. A Republican lawyer, Farris is president of the Home School Legal Defense Association and teaches his children at home in Hamilton.

He criticized President Clinton's recent choice for the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Stephen Breyer, citing legal opinions of Breyer's to argue that he may support restrictions on home-schooling and private, religious schools.

Farris urged home-schoolers to write letters opposing Breyer to Virginia's two senators, Charles Robb and John Warner, although he acknowledged that it would be tough to derail the nomination.

Caroline Barnes, a Portsmouth home-schooler and former board member of the Home Educators Association of Virginia, said Farris tapped into a growing concern.

Many home-schoolers have been reluctant to draw public attention to themselves for fear of retribution from the local public school officials who must review their lesson plans every year, Barnes said.

But that could be changing because many home-schoolers are alarmed by some education reform proposals, she said. "I have met more and more people who are involved in the political process," said Barnes, who ran unsuccessfully for the General Assembly last fall.

by CNB