| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 2/28/2002 12:14:53 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Vermont--H. 703 DEADLINE TOMORROW, CALLS VITAL |
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- February 28, 2002 Dear HSLDA Members and Friend, Tomorrow is the last day for the House Education Committee to approve H. 703 in time to ensure that the Vermont Senate will take action on it. Commissioner Raymond McNulty continues to fight hard to prevent home school families from obtaining the benefits of this bill. ACTION REQUESTED If your representative is on the House Education Committee (see contact information below), and you have not yet called, please call him or her today. Every call makes a difference! If you have not yet asked your home school friends to call, today is the day! Your message can be as simple as: "Please vote H. 703 out of committee without any department of education amendments. Please put the wishes of the people above the wishes of the bureaucrats. Current law allows the commissioner to delay home school enrollment by up to 85 days. It also puts the burden on families to prove they are not breaking the law. This means innocent families could be subject to prosecution for child neglect. H. 703 solves these problems by treating families as enrolled as soon as they file their notice. It allows families to home school unless the commissioner demonstrates they are not complying with the law." If you have not yet called Commissioner McNulty to ask him to stop opposing H. 703, please call him today. Your message can be as simple as: "Please stop opposing H. 703. The bill would be good for home school families and good for Vermont. It brings a measure of fairness and balance to the home school law." BENEFITS OF H.703 H. 703 would bring two major improvements to the home school law. First, it would allow families to be confident they are complying with the law immediately upon filing an enrollment notice, instead of having to wonder for weeks or months. Second, if the commissioner calls a hearing, H. 703 would allow the family to home school unless the commissioner proves they are not complying with the law. Currently, the family is ordered to stop home schooling unless they prove they are not breaking the law. This small but important change brings fairness. It honors the principle that every citizen is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless there is evidence to the contrary. The commissioner's staff is telling members of the House Education Committee that H. 703 will somehow do away with truancy completely. This is utterly groundless. Home school families will still have to follow all the other requirements of the home school law, and can still be prosecuted if they do not. H. 703 does not change other parts of the home school law or truancy in general. The only changes it makes are the two outlined above. CONTACT INFORMATION Commissioner Raymond McNulty: (802) 828-3135 House Education Committee: Call (802) 828-2228 to leave a message for a representative. (Do not use 828-2231.) If you do not know who your representative is, you can look it up with the legislative toolbox on HSLDA's web site (http://www.hslda.org/toolbox). HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE MEMBERS Rep. Howard Crawford of Burke, Chair Rep. Jason Barney of Highgate, Vice-Chair Rep. Jack Anderson of Woodstock Rep. Erron Carey of Chester Rep. George Cross of Winooski Rep. Virginia Duffy of Rutland City Rep. Kathy LaVoie of Swanton, Clerk Rep. Alice Miller of Shaftsbury Rep. Donny Osman of Plainfield Rep. Neil Randall of Bradford Rep. 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