Date: From: Subject:

5/2/2002 5:19:58 PM Dewitt T. Black III, Esq., Senior Counsel of HSLDA Pennsylvania--Calls needed on H.B. 2560

---------------------------------------------------------------------- From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- May 2, 2002 Dear HSLDA Members and Friends, I am pleased to share with you the good news that Representative Sam Rohrer and other members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives have introduced House Bill 2560 which would make significant improvements in the current home education law. This bill is the result of over two years of consultations with home school leaders across Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the support for this bill within the home school community is not unanimous, so your active participation in the legislative process is crucial to getting this bill passed. REQUESTED ACTION (1) We urge you to contact the members of the House Education Committee listed below with this message: "Please vote for House Bill 2560 which will relieve public school officials and home schooling parents from burdensome administrative tasks. Home educators have earned the right to less state oversight after demonstrating their success under the current law for the past 14 years." House Education Committee: Majority (Room 43-A EW) Rep. Jess Stairs, Chairman 717-783-9311 Rep. Fred McIlhattan, Secretary 717-772-9908 Rep. Edward Krebs, Subcommittee Chairman on Higher Education 717-783- 1815 Rep. Jerry Nailor, Subcommittee Chairman on Basic Education 717-783- 5282 Rep. Bob Bastian 717-783-8756 Rep. Paul Clymer 717-783-3154 Rep. Patrick Fleagle 717-783-5218 Rep. Robert Flick 717- 787-8579 Rep. Lynn Herman 717-787-8594 Rep. Beverly Mackereth 717-783-2655 Rep. Daryl Metcalfe 717-783-1707 Rep. Ronald Miller 717-783-8389 Rep. Samuel Rohrer 717-787-8550 Rep. Jere Schuler 717-783-6422 Rep. Thomas Stevenson 717-787-2047 Minority (Room 300 MC) Rep. Nicholas Colafella, Chairman 717-787-5475 Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, Secretary 717-787-5881 Rep. William Robinson, Subcommittee Chairman on Higher Education 717- 787-9460 Rep. James Roebuck, Jr., Subcommittee Chairman on Basic Education 717- 783-1000 Rep. Lawrence Curry 717-783-1079 Rep. Richard Grucela 717-705-1878 Rep. John Lawless 717-787-5741 Rep. Phyllis Mundy 717-783-1614 Rep. Sara Steelman 717-772-2046 Rep. P. Michael Sturla 717-787-3555 Rep. Thomas Yewcic 717-783-0248 (2) We also ask you to contact your own state representative and give him the same message. To get the name and telephone number of your state representative, use HSLDA's Legislative Toolbox at: http://www.hslda.org/toolbox , or you can call of the office of the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives at (717) 787-2372. REASONS TO SUPPORT H.B. 2560 House Bill 2560 would do the following: - Eliminate the requirement for filing a notarized affidavit containing education objectives and personal health information for each child; - Eliminate the requirement of maintaining a portfolio of records and materials for each child; - Eliminate mandatory standardized testing; - Eliminate mandatory year-end evaluations; - Protect home education programs from any state oversight except what is contained in the statutory law enacted by the General Assembly in this bill; - Require the parent to provide an annual written notification of the home education program to the local public school superintendent within in 30 days of commencing the program; - Require that the annual notice include only the name, address, and age of the child and the name of the parent supervising the program; - Continue to require 180 days of instruction each year or 900 hours at the elementary level or 990 hours at the secondary level; - Establish course requirements similar to current law; - Establish graduation requirements essentially the same as current law but also entitling graduates of home education programs to receive all of the rights, benefits, and privileges of other high school graduates; and - Permit the parent of a special needs child to conduct a home education program without the approval of a state-certified special education teacher or a clinical or school psychologist, a requirement now exclusive to Pennsylvania. BACKGROUND H.B. 2560 presents an extraordinary opportunity for home educators in Pennsylvania to remove the burdensome and unnecessary administrative requirements of current law. These requirements not only take parents' time away from the instruction of children but also expend public school resources for which there is no allocation or reimbursement by the state. By enacting this legislation, Pennsylvania would join a growing majority of states that have revised their home school laws to make them less restrictive. The home educators of Pennsylvania have earned the right to less state intrusion oversight after demonstrating their success under the current law for the past 14 years. As a lawyer who has spent over 11 years at HSLDA assisting our member families in Pennsylvania, I can say from first-hand experience that passage of H.B 2560 will eliminate many of the legal problems home schooling families in your state face. HSLDA's long-term goal continues to be the repeal of all compulsory attendance laws, but in the meantime we will support efforts to make laws incrementally better for home educators. We believe this bill would make great strides toward our ultimate goal, so we wholeheartedly support this legislation and ask that you do so as well. To read my response to objections to H.B. 2560 raised by its opponents, go to: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=416 To review a copy of the bill text, go to: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/BI/BT/2001/0/HB2560P3799.HTM To view a complete list of bills HSLDA is monitoring in the state of Pennsylvania, visit our website at: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=417 If you have any questions or concerns about what this bill would do, please do not hesitate to contact us for additional information. Very truly yours, Dewitt T. Black, III HSLDA Senior Counsel {{JoinAd}} ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. Box 3000 Purcellville, Virginia 20134 Phone: (540) 338-5600 Fax: (540) 338-2733 E-mail: info@hslda.org Web: http://www.hslda.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- How To Subscribe: - Subscribe to the HSLDA E-lert Service at our website: https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp?Process=Subscribe - Or send an e-mail with name and complete mailing address to: subscribe@hslda.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscription Information: - You subscribed to the HSLDA E-lert Service as: {{Email}} - To unsubscribe from the HSLDA E-lert Service send an e-mail from the e-mail address you want to unsubscribe to: unsubscribe@hslda.org - To change your e-mail address or make other changes to your subscription, visit the HSLDA E-lert Service account web page at: https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTMASTERS: This message is being sent to the most recent address we have for our subscribers. If this is an invalid e-mail address or you have other problems, please reply to webmaster@hslda.org. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: This is considered a private and confidential message from HSLDA to its bonafide HSLDA E-lert Service subscribers. HSLDA cannot attest to the authenticity of copies posted, forwarded, or sent by any party other than HSLDA. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: Please do not reply or otherwise use this e-mail address; hslda@hslda.org is for broadcast purposes only and is not intended to receive incoming messages. We cannot reply to any e-mail sent to this address. If you have comments or questions, please send e-mail to info@hslda.org or call HSLDA at 540-338-5600. HSLDA members can also e-mail staff directly through the Members website at http://members.hslda.org/contact.asp. Thank you for your cooperation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------