Nebraska city drops hiring rule that barred homeschool graduate from becoming paid firefighter 

A Nebraska municipality will now consider a homeschool graduate for a paid firefighting job after rejecting him because of his diploma.

The Fremont City Council voted 8-0 on Sept. 29 to drop a rule requiring applicants to graduate from an accredited high school or earn a GED.

The change allows Andrew Coates, 22, to continue pursuing the firefighting job and opens other city positions to homeschool graduates, including police jobs. Coates, who volunteers with the Cedar Bluffs Fire Department and holds a Nebraska EMT license, still must complete the hiring process before he can be hired.

His parents homeschooled him because of their Christian beliefs, his attorneys at the American Center for Law and Justice said.

He applied to Fremont, a city of 28,000 near Omaha, in April, but the city refused to accept his diploma.

Heartlander News reported Sept. 22 that the city added the accredited-school requirement to its online job description after rejecting Coates.

His family also took the issue to the Civil Service Commission, which declined to intervene in city policy, which the council sets.

The Home School Legal Defense Association criticized the city’s treatment of Coates.

“Homeschool graduates should not be treated as second-class applicants simply because their education took place outside of a traditional school building,” spokesman Titus Prude told Heartlander News in the earlier story.

The Nebraska Christian Home Educators Association wants lawmakers to address the problem statewide.

Its legislative affairs team told the Plains Sentinel before the vote that the group “has already written a draft bill to change the law in Nebraska to address this issue.”

The group said these hiring rules could also hurt graduates of private schools that Nebraska approves but doesn’t accredit.

Fremont’s vote only changes its rules. Other cities would have to change their policies unless lawmakers pass a state law requiring them to accept homeschool credentials.

Omaha, the state’s largest city, already accepts proof that applicants completed homeschooling, according to WOWT. Applicants can provide a record of completing their studies that they filed with the state. The city also accepts admission to a Nebraska college as proof.

Fremont Councilman Paul Von Behren said the city hadn’t targeted homeschoolers but that the dispute concerned whether a school had accreditation.

Coates’ father, Seth, said changing the rule didn’t answer questions about how Fremont handled his son’s application.

“A policy can change with a vote. Trust takes something more,” he told the council, WOWT reported.

The Family Research Council told people to contact city officials about the case. More than 2,000 did, the Washington Stand reported. Homeschool families also filled the council meeting to support Coates.

“There’s really no reason that this had to take that long,” FRC Vice President Brent Keilen told the outlet.

Coates talked about his faith at the research council’s Pray Vote Stand Summit before Fremont changed the rule.

“It’s not always a clear path, but He has a plan,” Coates said.

(Image credit: American Center for Law and Justice)