About FHE: Our History

Home Education has been legal in Missouri since 1821. In 1982, Legislator Sandra Reeves introduced a bill that would effectively eliminate the alternative of home education. Two ladies, Laura Rogers & Saralee Rhoads, met one night while lobbying as citizens at the capitol in Jefferson City. Seeing the mounting interest of educationists, they starting keeping in touch. Soon after, Saralee began a newsletter linking an informal network of home educators.

The Beginning

In March of 1983, FHE Services, Inc. was formed by Saralee Rhoads and 6 months later became " Families for Home Education", a Non-for-Profit educational corporation. A meeting was held in Sedalia, shortly thereafter, and it was decided to divide the state into regions. The first official FHE newsletter consisted of 15 pages and was issued in September, 1983, to 225 families.

In late 1984, FHE joined in a class action lawsuit which led to passage in 1986 of the current home school law (RsMO 167.031, 167.042, 167.061, 167.071 & 210.167). The first Missouri State Home Educators Convention, sponsored by FHE, was also held in 1984.

The Expansion Years

Membership doubled from 450 families (July 1986) to 940 families in March 1989. Home education began getting more exposure in the public media. The first "Home Education Week" was proclaimed by Gov. Ashcroft in May 1989. The 1989 State Convention featured Clinton Birst, President, North Dakota Home School Association.

The Adventure Years

Governor Ashcroft again proclaimed the first week of May as "Home Education Week" in '90, '91, and '92. Beginning in 1991, FHE paid Kerry Messer, President of Missouri Family Network, to monitor legislation in the Capitol, although he was not officially a lobbyist for FHE.

The State Convention of '90 featured speakers Michael Farris of HSLDA, and John Thompson, N.H. Home Schooling Association. '91 featured Phyllis Schlafly, President of Eagle Forum and '92 featured Dr. Brian Ray, President of National Home Education Research Institute, and Jeff Myers, Summit Ministries. Family Camp became an annual event at Turkey Hill Ranch Bible Camp beginning in 1991.

The first potential threat to change the existing law arrived (Feb. '92) in the form of a home education survey sent to all 550+ school superintendents in the state by the Mo. School-College Relations Commission. FHE responded with a survey of its own and urged its membership to contact their legislators. Our survey revealed that families were moving to Missouri because of its climate of educational freedom. Bill McDonald (Executive Director at the time) collected the data from the MSCRC survey, compiled it, analyzed it, and in his excellent report to the Board (also distributed as a press release) destroyed any validity their survey may have had. Not surprisingly, membership peaked at 1140 families. The May '92 rally at the Capitol had 400+ in attendance, one of the largest groups ever to assemble in the rotunda.

Narrowing The Focus

The following goals were established and accomplished:

• Establish that FHE is an all-inclusive organization by making changes to the FHE By-laws.
• Concentrate on our reason for existence: To monitor the legal environment and guard our civil rights by maintaining a registered lobbyist.
• Strive for a large organization by eliminating the annual dues and seeking to enlist every home schooling family in the state as a member.
• Eliminate the funding/production of the Heart of America Report as an FHE function and releasing it to the Rhoads family as a private enterprise.

The third annual "Rally at the Capitol" in March of 1993 had 300 in attendance. "Home Education Week" was requested and again granted by new governor, Gov. Mel Carnahan.

The '93 Mo. legislative session brought potential problems in passing SB 380: Outcome-Based Education (OBE). The State Convention of '93 featured Richard "Little Bear" Wheeler, Historian/Evangelist.

The Federal Education Funding Bill HR6 was a severe threat to home schoolers across the nation (Feb. '94) as it sought to have ALL teachers certified. Home educators responded to the bill in record numbers as, reportedly, over one million calls/letters/faxes flooded the Capitol, thus changing many congressmens' minds which resulted in home, private and religious schools being exempt.

In Nov. '93, FHE aquired its own official registered lobbyist to closely monitor all education bills. FHE celebrated its 10th Annual State Convention (June '94) in St. Louis with Marshal Foster, author of "The American Covenant" as speaker.

Today

FHE currently has a full time lobbyist in Jefferson City. Our lobbyist reviews up to 1500 bills per year, 50 to 60 of which could affect home educators, 5-10 of which are "viable" bills. 2-3 of these intrusive bills come back year after year, with a narrower margin of defeat each year.

Offers publication: "First Things First: A Guide for the Missouri Home Educator".