Legislators yesterday passed a bill setting the stage for the regulation of home schools and non mainstream education.

The Education Amendment Act 2003 stops well short of enacting Government's previously announced intentions to mandate educational standards, testing and make random unannounced inspections.

Government said the primary aim was to ensure student safety and that the rights of parents to choose the manner in which they educate their children will be respected.

The bill was criticised by the Opposition United Bermuda Party (UBP) as a "short sighted" amendment and an "election fix" which failed to recognise home schooling as a reasonable option for parents and which contradicts some of the Education Minister's own commitments. And the party raised the spectre of the possibility of the Minister overregulating a successful movement in education.

Education Minister Paula Cox said the regulations had been prepared and will be published, then debated, once the bill becomes law.

Legislators agreed that home schooling was a growing trend in Bermuda and around the world, and that there was some evidence that it delivered better results than mainstream education.

Culminating a year of debate over Government's role in home schooling, the Education Amendment Act 2003 formally defines what are generally known as home schools as "tutorial sites" and increases the maximum number of students enrolled from four to 15. The regulations focus on health and safety standards, Minister Paula Cox said.

"It is the ultimate intent of this bill to ensure that, no matter where their parents may choose to have them educated, students in Bermuda receive instruction in safe and secure environments," she said.

Parental rights to educate their children outside of the mainstream was not being trampled on, she said, but Government had a duty to ensure the safety of all students.

"The law must protect those who may not necessarily be able to protect themselves."

Government had made some compromises and concessions to home school providers who had complained of too much Governmental interference and restrictions, dating back to before 1998, she explained.

The new bill follows two related amendment following a protracted and sometime acrimonious debate.

Those amendments required that home schooled children be registered with the Education Ministry and that the home schools assessed student performance on a regular basis.

Government will not require home schools to be charged a license fee because private schools are not subject to a license fee, the Minister said.

And the Ministry has abandoned the policy of setting a minimum educational standard for the home school providers, reviewing curriculum materials and setting assessments.

Some 100 students are enrolled in tutorial sites, a higher number than those enrolled in some recognised schools, she continued.

Home schooling proper - where a child is educated by a parent in their own home - is unaffected by the bill.

It would be "pure folly" to characterise the Minister's comedown from a previously hard line stance on regulating home schools as the work of a responsive Government, he said.

"It's an election fix of the highest order," said shadow Education Minister Tim Smith. He argued that Ms Cox had underestimated the number of students being educated in home-schools and should have focused on fixing problems in public education instead of tampering with an alternative that was seen to be delivering results.

"The reason home-schools showed up on the Minister's radar screen in the first place was because so many parents and so many teachers were leaving and continue to leave public education. It's that simple," he said.

"The Minister faced with an alarming trend, decided that the best way to reverse it would be to place restrictions on home-schools."

The bill contradicted a number of statements made by Ms Cox such as her warning last year that home school operators should register as schools or risk being shut down," he continued.

"This is an 'election fix'. A quick fix. This is a "U" turn of the highest order. This "U" turn is so humongous, it couldn't have been performed on a dual carriageway."

He questioned why the bill does not mention the term "home school" saying it indicated that Government still was not prepared to recognise home schooling.

The bill was not specific enough in terms of the Minister's regulatory powers, he added.

His party, he said, would include home education in the Education Act, specifically forbid the Minister from regulating parents who educate their children in their own home and will not require teacher certification.

"We will specify that the Minister shall not dictate the manner in which subjects shall be taught," he added.

Government members denied that the bill was an election fix, saying that it had been in the works since 2000.

But some agreed with the Opposition that there was a flight from the public school system and that home-schooling was seen to be a better alternative. There was also some concern on both sides about what was being taught in home-school programs.

Ruling party backbencher warned that parents should be diligent in checking out tutorial sites.

Shadow Legislative Affairs Minister John Barritt echoed similar concerns saying that in the United States home schools were more cult like where kids were "inculcated rather than educated."