Miracle Behind the Scenes
God is faithful to make a way!
Recently I had an opportunity to meet the man who God used to pave the way for homeschooling to become legal in Minnesota! Meet Allen Quist and hear his story!
The year was 1986. Allen Quist had been the State Representative for the St. Peter/North Mankato district for three years. It was the LAST day before the first deadline of the legislative session. By this date, a bill had to pass a hearing in at least one committee in order to move forward in the legislative process. Otherwise the bill would die, and the opportunity be missed. Republicans were in control of the House, Democrats controlled the Senate, and Governor Perpich was the Democrat Governor.
Friday of the deadline date came. Homeschoolers packed the room to see Representative Quist present their bill to legalize homeschooling. Quist was quite familiar with the members of the Education Committee he was a member of, and he had been informed by a trusted friend that there were not enough members of the committee favorable to homeschooling from both sides of the aisle to pass the bill as written.
So, to the homeschoolers utter dismay, Representative Quist moved to present a “Delete All” Amendment – which would DELETE the entirety of the bill to make homeschooling legal in Minnesota and replace it instead with a task force to study homeschooling and make legislative recommendations.
You see, prior to this hearing, God had given Quist the wisdom to see that an all or nothing heads-on approach – homeschooling “yea” or “nay” – would have led to a firmly closed door. Instead, God showed him a different avenue to build a coalition of bipartisan support for homeschooling by reaching out to Ruth Randall, the Commissioner of Education.
Although Randall was from the opposite political party, Quist knew she was a strong supporter of homeschooling. So he approached her about the possibility of a joint effort to create a task force to study homeschooling during the summer and fall of 1986, with the results to be presented to the Education Committee in the 1987 legislative session. Commissioner Randall agreed on the condition that she be appointed Chair of the Homeschooling Task Force. Quist agreed, and together they specified who the members of the committee would be, so as to guarantee a favorable report.
At the committee hearing when the delete-all/amended bill came to the floor, the only person in the hearing room who knew what was happening was Quist, the bill’s author. The Republicans only knew that the amended bill had a Republican author, so they supported it. The Democrats only knew that their own education Commissioner supported it, so they voted for it, too. None of them understood what had just passed. Nor did the shocked members of the audience.
The following year, 1987, in the next legislative session, with the Democrats now in control of both the House and the Senate, Commissioner Randall presented the Task Force report to the Education Committee recommending legalizing homeschooling in Minnesota. Commissioner Randall then asked a fellow Democrat to author her bill which is standard practice. The teachers’ union didn’t like it one bit, but they were completely out maneuvered, and they knew it. So they laid low. The Democrats would not oppose what their Education Commissioner recommended, with their Governor’s blessing no less, and most Republicans supported home schooling. As a result, the House Education Committee overwhelmingly passed the bill and added it into the omnibus education bill, which was then also passed in both the House and the Senate and was signed into law by Governor Perpich.
In summary, homeschooling was legalized in Minnesota in 1987 by a bill authored by a Democrat, in a House and Senate both controlled by a party run by the teachers’ union, which staunchly opposes homeschooling!
God made a way where there was no way!
Similarly, God also made a way in the recent 2023 legislative session. The Education Omnibus bill added a new requirement for homeschoolers to submit their students’ annual test scores to the state. Homeschoolers overflowed the hearing room, the hallway, and adjacent viewing rooms. Although only seven speakers were selected to speak by the Education Committee, by God’s grace, I happened to be one of them. I may have been the person speaking before the committee, advocating for all homeschoolers in the state, but all of you who attended the hearing, submitted written comments, called or emailed were like the exclamation mark on my speech.
Together we had a profound impact!
For some reason, in a year when Democrats controlled the House, the Senate and the Governor’s seat, in a year when they did not have to listen to or budge for anyone, they listened to us! – they listened to homeschoolers! Walz and the Minnesota Department of Education actually agreed to cut the ENTIRE homeschool section OUT of the bill! In the Senate Education Committee hearing the following week, their very first action was to pass an amendment to the bill which deleted the ENTIRE homeschool section!
Not to us, but to God’s Name be the glory! This again was a sign of His favor and His ability to make a way where there was no way.
Let us carry these examples of God’s faithfulness forward with us into 2024. Although we may be moving into days where homeschooling may again be challenged, we can take courage by looking back to remember what God has already accomplished on our behalf.
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6.
Let us pray for ongoing wisdom and favor for current leaders of MACHE as they labor to build a bipartisan defense of homeschooling in this State! As Allen Quist concluded this true story:
“We may be small in size and numbers, but we come with the Lord of Hosts! Don't ever underestimate that!”
This article originally appeared in the winter issue of Homeschool Now Minnesota magazine. All rights reserved. Reprinted here by permission of MACHE (Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators). For more information, visit mache.org.