January 25 — South Dakota: HSLDA filed Davis v. Newell School District, challenging the state’s unconstitutional home visit requirement.

January 26 — Texas: The Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of the Texas Education Agency, et al v. Leeper, et al. On the same day, a home school rally of 5,000 people was held at the state capitol in Austin.

January — Virginia: The Congressional Action Program (CAP) was established by the National Center for Home Education to target federal measures that will have a direct impact on home schooling.

February 20 — Washington, DC: President Clinton made favorable comments about home schooling in response to a question asked by Katie Farris, a Virginia home schooler, on a nationwide television broadcast.

March 5 — South Dakota: After making it through the Senate Education Committee with the help of an amendment, H.B. 1260 passed, repealing the South Dakota home visit law. As a result, HSLDA’s previously filed Davis v. Newell School District was dismissed.

March 15 — Virginia: HSLDA established its Special Education Department.

March 19 — New Mexico: Senate Bill 202 was signed into law by the governor, striking the requirement for the parent-teacher to possess “at least a baccalaureate degree” and in its place requiring the parent to have a “high school diploma or its equivalent.”

April 11 — Arizona: Governor Fife Symington signed Arizona’s new home school law. Parents no longer have to pass a proficiency exam (ATPE) in order to teach their children at home. One must only be the “parent” in order to teach a child at home.

April 19 — Colorado: Home schoolers were successful in the passage of a bill allowing home school students to participate in various interscholastic activities at the public schools.

April 26 — Virginia: Cumberland County Circuit Court reversed a school board’s denial of a home school family’s religious exemption request in Dusan v. Cumberland County School Board, stating that the school board does not have the right to determine if home schooling is in the child’s best interest.

April — Virginia: Virginia home schoolers and HSLDA worked to successfully override the governor’s line item veto and defeat a mandatory kindergarten provision by a huge margin. Home schoolers also passed a bill to lower the cut-off score from the 40th to the 23rd percentile.

May 11 — Washington, DC: The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) passed the House.

May 18 — Oklahoma: A home school father regained custody of his children after a lower court ruled home schooling was harmful. The Court of Appeals stated that the “Oklahoma Department of Education has no jurisdiction over home schooling.” HSLDA had filed an amicus brief.*

May 25 — Michigan: In Michigan v. DeJonge, the Michigan Supreme Court in a 4-3 vote transformed Michigan from the worst home school state in the nation to one of the best. Michigan became the final state in the country to strike the teacher certification requirement for religious home schoolers. Additionally, the Court ruled in People v. Bennett that home schoolers are entitled to an administrative hearing before any criminal charges can be brought against them. The criminal convictions of both families were reversed.

June 10 — Massachusetts: The federal district court in Boston ruled against the Pustell family, upholding the constitutionality of the Lynn School District’s home visit requirement. HSLDA appealed the case to the federal appeals court in Boston.

June 29 — Washington, DC: Michael Farris and J. Michael Smith co-hosted Home School Heartbeat—Live!, a live nationwide satellite broadcast featuring distinguished guests, discussion of current legal and legislative battles, and call-in questions from viewers.

July — Washington, DC: HSLDA led other pro-family groups and thousands of informed families in an opposition blitz against the Comprehensive Child Immunization Act. This bill would have usurped parental rights by creating a federal vaccine mandate for all children, as well as a national child registry and computer tracking system. These dangerous provisions were successfully omitted from the bill while in the House.

July 7 — Washington, DC: A letter from Dr. Sellman announced that the United States Navy has developed “a compensatory screening model” which will allow individuals with alternative high school diplomas (includes home school graduates) to become eligible for enlistment. Dr. Sellman’s letter indicated that the Army is considering a similar program.

July 26 — New York: Governor Mario Cuomo signed Assembly Bill 8506, which improved the Compulsory Attendance Law by requiring enrollment of children who turn six years old on or before December 1 in any school year. The previous law required children who turned six years old at any point in the school year to enroll.

July 27 — North Dakota: HSLDA signed a “Stipulated Order of Dismissal” in its civil rights case Conklin v. Sanstead, after the department of education agreed to stop mandating “mental aptitude testing” of home schoolers.

October 27 — Washington, DC: RFRA passed the Senate.

November 16 — Washington, DC: President Bill Clinton signed into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA). Michael Farris was one of the original drafters of the bill. Passage of the RFRA reinstated religious freedom as a fundamental right, securing parents’ liberty to home school their children in peace and freedom.