| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
< BACK TO ARCHIVE |
| Date: From: Subject: | 8/29/2002 2:38:24 PM J. Michael Smith, Esq., President of HSLDA California--CALL TO ACTION |
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------- From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- August 29, 2002 Dear HSLDA Members and Friends: Home School Legal Defense Association is joining with Family Protection Ministries in asking you to oppose and take action regarding a letter sent to the California Legislature from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction requesting legislation on private home education. Below you will find a copy of Family Protection Ministries' alert. We encourage you to use HSLDA's Legislative Toolbox to get the phone number for the State Senator and Assembly Member whom you are asked to call. You will find the Legislative Toolbox on our website at: http://www.hslda.org/toolbox. Michael Smith President of HSLDA ______________________________________________________ FAMILY PROTECTION MINISTRIES ALERT ______________________________________________________ Superintendent of Public Instruction, Delaine Eastin, has sent a letter to the Legislature asking for a law to control private "home schooling." Issue: Letter to state legislators requesting home education legislation Author: Delaine Eastin, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Position: Strongly OPPOSE the drafting of any legislation addressing home education ******************** Information Included in This Email: A. Action Steps B. Word-for-word Telephone Alert Message C. Background Information ******************** A. Action Steps: Action Needed: CALL AND FAX IMMEDIATELY By: Saturday, August 31, 2002 Because of the unresolved battle over the budget, the legislators are likely to be in session well after Saturday, August 31, when they normally adjourn for the fall. Action Items: ** You can find out who your Assembly Member and State Senator are, as well as get their phone numbers, at the following website: www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html ** You can call the Capital Switchboard at 916-322-9900 to get the phone number for your State Senator or Assembly Member. 1. Call your own State Senator. (NOT U.S. Senators Boxer and Feinstein) First try to call the Capitol Office. A second choice would be to call at the district office. 2. Call your own Assembly Member. First try to call the Capitol Office. A second choice would be to call at the district office. In the following numbers, replace the "XX" with your two-digit Assembly District Number. Capitol Office Phone for any Assembly Member = (916) 319-20XX Capitol Office Fax for any Assembly Member = (916) 319-21XX (For example, If you live in Assembly District 4, represented by Rico Oller, you can call Mr. Oller at (916) 319-2004) 3. You may follow up your phone call with a brief fax. Fax your letter to your State Senator and Assembly Member by Saturday, August 31. 4. Emails are almost universally ignored. Most legislators have an automated standard answer that will thank you for contacting their office on "this important issue," but they do not take the time to actually read your emails. Please make a phone call and send a fax instead. ******************** B. Word-for-word Telephone Alert Message (If disseminating by telephone, dictate this message word-for-word) "Ask your State Senator and Assembly Member to ignore Delaine Eastin's request for home school legislation. Private home schoolers have successfully and legally operated for years as private schools under the current laws. Parents who privately home school are doing an excellent job, are not asking for government funding, and do not need more regulation." ******************** C. Background Information Delaine Eastin's Letter: Superintendent of Public Instruction, Delaine Eastin, sent a letter about private home education to state legislators on August 27, 2002. In her letter, Eastin begins by stating, "Over the last few weeks, the Department of Education has been characterized in some circles as being engaged in a campaign to harass home schoolers and to root out home schooling in California. My staff and I have received dozens of angry telephone calls and written communications that unfairly assume that the Department is misapplying the state's compulsory education law in derogation of the rights of parents, and a handful of conservative publications have attacked our application of the law. None of these charges is true, of course, but the amount of misinformation, and passion, in these communications does make me believe that the situation cries out for a legislative solution." Eastin presents a distorted view of homeschoolers' establishing of private schools by stating, "In the more recent past, we believe that aggressive home school advocates have counseled home schoolers to attempt to bring their practice within the private school exemption by filing a Private School Affidavit. Home school advocates apparently assume that, once such a Private School Affidavit is filed, the home schooled children are no longer truant under the compulsory education law." During the 1980's, the CDE openly supported private "homeschooling." It was not until the 90's that the CDE changed their position, in spite of the fact that no law in California had changed. Eastin erroneously tells the legislators that "if home schooled children ... were exempted from compulsory education laws by the mere filing of an affidavit ... then there would be potentially thousands of children in California whose education would not be subject to any supervision whatsoever." (Apparently parental supervision does not count to Delaine Eastin.) The letter concludes with a plea for "careful consideration by the Legislature" of "the issue of homeschooling in our state." Why We Don't Need Legislation: Private home educators in California have successfully and legally complied with the private school laws for more than two decades. No law in California has changed. The laws relating to private schools do not limit schools by size, location, relation of pupils to teachers and administrators, teaching materials, nor state approval of teachers via credential or license. The CDE has erroneously claimed during the past ten years that private schools must be "businesses, soliciting enrollment from the public at large;" that they must offer "services for compensation;" and more. Local public school Authorities have generally ignored such statements, and home education has continued to grow and prosper. Also for at least the past 20 years, the State Legislature has not only understood, but supported the right of parents to establish and operate private schools in their homes. In fact, home education has been demonstrated to be so effective and so popular that the CDE jumped on the bandwagon, first by encouraging independent study programs through the public schools, and then by soliciting enrollment in charter schools. Many homeschooling parents have received letters inviting them to attend information meetings about homeschool programs offered by the new charter schools which have sprung up across the state. These "invitations" are typically accompanied by a statement that private "home schooling" is illegal, but "join us and you'll be fine." Homeschoolers who desire to continue with private home education have simply ignored these letters. "Homeschooling" is well established both in California and in the nation as a viable means of educating children. All that is new this year is that the CDE has prepared and launched a new system for private schools to file affidavits online. The new program, as should have been expected, has raised questions among private schools. These questions have been exacerbated over the summer by letters from CDE which have tried to intimidate homeschoolers into joining the public school programs for homeschoolers, including public ISPs and charter schools. For the most part, these letters contain nothing new. California has long been recognized as a leader among states, including in areas of respect for individual freedom. Every other state in the union allows for private home education. In twelve states, including California, private "homeschools" operate legally as private schools. In California, homeschoolers enjoy a great degree of freedom under the private school laws, because those laws were rightly enacted to restrict government jurisdiction over them. In nearly every state where a specific "home school law" has been passed, the new law has resulted in more regulation of home schoolers than we have in California. Indeed, this is what Delaine Eastin requests in her letter. She asks the Legislature to consider state authorization, "conditions" to be placed upon the "quality of education being offered in a home school," and delineating of "qualifications or resources that a parent needs" to homeschool his child. If the Legislature chooses to address Eastin's concerns, we can be assured that there will be an attempt to put more restrictions on homeschoolers. Eastin states these restrictions are needed in part to "ensure some level of quality and innovation." Conclusion: "Quality and innovation" are the hallmarks of home education. Legislation means regulation, and it should be clear to all who love home education that regulation is a sure barrier to innovation and quality in education. For more information on the legality of private home education in California, and to monitor this situation and the new procedure for filing affidavits, visit the following website: www.hslda.org. ******************** Please pray for a proper outcome. KEEP this Alert as a reference for future HELP Tree Alerts. Reprint this for your friends, church, school, and group. ******************** ______________________________________________________ END OF FAMILY PROTECTION MINISTRIES ALERT {{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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
