| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 7/19/2002 4:02:02 PM Dewitt T. Black III, Esq., Senior Counsel of HSLDA Pennsylvania--Calls needed for House Bill 2560 |
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear HSLDA Members and Friends, We need your calls now to help the home school bill (HB 2560) pass the House Education Committee. Time is running out for us to eliminate 75% of the present controls on home schoolers. As previously reported to you, the House Education Committee met on June 13, 2002, at which time testimony was received from Chris Klicka of HSLDA, Dr. Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute, Dr. Bruce Eagleson of the Christian Home School Association of Pennsylvania (CHAP), Ellen Kramer of the Catholic Homeschoolers of Pennsylvania, Maryalice Newborn of the Pennsylvania Home Education Association, Mary Hudzinski of Mason-Dixon Homeschoolers and several others supporting House Bill 2560. Over 1,200 of home educators in attendance supported the changes in the law that this legislation would make, and as a result at least three more members of the Committee indicated their support. Of the 26 members of the Committee, 11 now solidly support House Bill 2560, but three more are needed to obtain a majority to pass this bill out of the Committee. Unless this takes place by mid-August, it is unlikely that there is enough time left in the current legislative session for the bill to be considered by both the full House of Representatives and the Senate. This year's legislative session is scheduled to end on November 27, 2002. Your help is needed now to get enough Committee votes to move this bill to the full House. Additionally, state senators must be contacted and asked to support this improvement of the home school law. Since the General Assembly is in recess for the summer, the legislators can most likely be reached at their local district offices. REQUESTED ACTION (1) Below is a list of members of the House Education Committee who are undecided or opposed to HB 2560. We urge you to contact the members of the Committee and give them 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." Please call as many members as possible. House Education Committee- Undecided or opposed Listed in the following order: Name - County - Email address - Local address - Local phone Rep. Jess Stairs, Maj. Chair - Fayette/Westmoreland - jstairs@pahousegop.com - RD #1, Acme, PA, 15610 - (724) 423-5141 Rep. Fred McIlhattan - Armstrong/ Clarion - fmcilhat@pahousegop.com - 21 North 6th Avenue, Clarion, PA 16214 - (814) 226-9000 Rep. Edward Krebs - Lebanon - ekrebs@pahousegop.com - 445 West Penn Avenue, Cleona, PA 17042 - (717) 270-1905 Rep. Jerry Nailor - Cumberland - jnailor@pahousegop.com - 2929 Gettysburg Road, Suite 6, Camp Hill, PA, 17011, (717) 761-4665 Rep. Robert Flick - Chester/Delaware - rflick@pahousegop.com - Barr Building, Suite 302 266 Lancaster Avenue, Malvern, PA 19355 - (610) 251-1070 Rep. Lynn Herman - Centre/Clearfield - lherman@pahousegop.com - 301 South Allen Street, Suite 102,State College, PA, 16801, (814) 238- 5477 Rep. Ronald Miller - York - rmiller@pahousegop.com - 6872 Susquehanna Trail South P.O. Box 277, Jacobus, PA 17407-0277 - (717) 428-9889 Rep. Jere Schuler - Lancaster - jschuler@pahousegop.com - Municipal Building, 852 Village Road, P. O. Box 268, Lampeter, PA 17537-0268 - (717) 464-5285 Rep. Nick Colafella - Min. Chair - Beaver - tmclaugh@pahouse.net - 3489 Broadhead Road, Monaca, PA 15061 - (724) 728-7655 Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland - Philadelphia - tkirklan@pahouse.net - 29 East Fifth Street, Chester, PA 19013 - (610) 876-6420 Rep. James Roebuck - Philadelphia - jroebuck@pahouse.net - 4800 Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19143 - (215) 724-2227 Rep. Lawrence Curry - Montgomery - lcurry@pahouse.net - One Jenkintown Station, Suite 211, 115 West Avenue, Jenkintown, PA 19046, (215) 572-5210 Rep. Phyllis Mundy - Lurzerne - pmundy@pahouse.net - Park Office Bldg., Suite 113, 400 Third Avenue, Kingston, PA 18704 - (570) 283- 9622 Rep. Sara Steelman - Cambria/Indiana- ssteelma@pahouse.net - The Atrium, 665 Philadelphia Street, Indiana, PA 15701 - (724) 465-0220 Rep. P. Michael Sturla - Lancaster - msturla@pahouse.net - 8 North Queen St., Suite 1100, The Griest Building, Lancaster, PA 17603 - (717) 295-3157 (2) We also ask you to contact your own state representative if not on the Committee, ascertain his position on House Bill 2560, and then either thank him for his support or urge him to vote for this bill. 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 the office of the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives at (717) 787-2372. (3) Additionally, please contact you state senator asking for support of this legislation. At this point, there is no sponsor for a Senate version of this bill. The most likely candidate for this is Senator Jeff Piccola of Dauphin County. If he is your senator, please ask him to sponsor a companion bill in the Senate. To get the name and telephone number of your state senator, use HSLDA's Legislative Toolbox at: http://www.hslda.org/toolbox , or you can call the office of the Chief Clerk of the Senate at (717) 787- 7163. 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. 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. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
