WYOMING
Democracy Alive and Well
On January 20, 1995, the Wyoming State Legislature was inundated with telephone calls from concerned home schoolers. At issue was House Bill 123, which would have lowered the compulsory attendance age from 7 to 5, raised the top end age from 16-18, and removed the grade 8 completion exemption from school attendance requirements.
House Bill 123 was introduced into the Wyoming Legislature by way of a joint Education Interim Committee sponsorship. Concerned about the effect that expansion of the compulsory attendance ages would have on home-schooling families, Home School Legal Defense Association mailed a legislative alert to all Wyoming members on January 19, 1995.
That afternoon, while running errands downtown, home-schooling mother Mindy Kool decided to stop by the capitol and check on the Education Committee's agenda. She discovered that H.B. 123 had just been pushed to the fast track, and debate before the House Education Committee was scheduled for the next day following the adjournment of the general session.
Recognizing the seriousness of this situation, Mindy went into action. Shortly thereafter, HSLDA received a telephone call from Home Schoolers of Wyoming leader, Russ Cronk. Our best hope was to derail H.B. 123 while it was still in committee. We realized that the alert we had just put in the mail would not reach families in time. After discussing the situation with Home Schoolers of Wyoming leadership, we initiated a telephone alert to all of our members the next morning.
On Friday morning, January 20, 1995, HSLDA legal staff began making telephone calls. We contacted virtually all of our Wyoming members, informing them of the existence of H.B. 123 and explaining its detrimental effect. Each family was asked to contact a member of the House Education Committee. If the family's own representative happened to be one of the nine committee members, they were asked to contact him or her. All others were instructed to contact the committee chairman.
Home schoolers immediately began calling. Their message was straightforward: "I oppose H.B. 123 because it would take away my discretion as a parent to determine whether or not my child is ready to attend school at ages 5 and 6. Furthermore, it would trap home schoolers and high achievers in high school beyond the age of 16 when some are ready to go onto college or participate in the work place."
Perhaps the most convincing argument as far as the legislators were concerned came down to dollars. Home schoolers pointed out that if the intent of H.B. 123 was to prevent students from dropping out of school, it was completely unnecessary. First, Wyoming has the third lowest dropout rate in the nation. And second, providing education for students over 16 years of age who do not want to be in school would cost the state millions of dollars.
When the House Education Committee convened late that afternoon, home schoolers had gathered and were prepare to present witnesses to testify against H.B. 123. Displaying a stack of call-backs 11/2 inches high from constituents opposing H.B. 123; the Chairman indicated there would be no need for witness since the majority of the committee members appeared to be against the legislation. The vote was taken and H.B. 123 was soundly defeated. Only the bill's sponsor cast a vote for H.B. 123, the other eight members of the committee voted against it.
Hundreds of telephone calls were generated, demonstrating once again the strong commitment and faithfulness of the home schoolers. We received a report that at one point the legislative receptionist became so annoyed with all the calls that she refused to take messages for the legislators on the committee. Democracy is alive in Wyoming. The state legislature experienced their own small version of last year's "H.R. 6 blitz," and House Bill 123 is dead for this legislative session. Glory be to God!
