| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 2/6/2003 5:04:04 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Wyoming--Calls Needed to Stop Mandatory Kindergarten Bill |
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- February 6, 2003 Dear HSLDA Members and Friends, I just got off the phone with Department of Education officials and a reporter for the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Both report that Senator Sessions recognizes that Senate Bill No. 110 cannot become law this year. If the Senate Education Committee does not act on this bill by Friday, February 7, it is dead. Thank you for all your hard work in stopping this assault on home education! Unfortunately, House Bill No. 201 has passed the House Education Committee. Our sources at the Wyoming Department of Education indicated that the purpose of this bill is to keep families from enrolling their children in public school kindergarten and then pulling them out again. Senator Coe, who chairs the Senate Education Committee and is a co-sponsor of this bill, has no desire to hurt homeschoolers. Unfortunately, the bill as currently written would affect homeschool families. We believe it must be amended before it is signed into law. I have emailed Senator Coe, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, to suggest he adds one sentence to H.B. 201 to make it acceptable to HSLDA. That sentence reads, "This section does not apply to a home based educational program operated pursuant to W.S. 21-4-101 and 21-4-102." This would specifically exempt homeschoolers from compulsory kindergarten. ACTION REQUESTED Call the voter hotline at 866-996-8683 and say, "I oppose House Bill No. 201 unless it is amended to exempt homeschoolers." Be prepared to tell the operator what county you are calling from. BACKGROUND By and large the sponsors of H.B. 201 are friendly to homeschoolers. Senator Sessions, who is a co-sponsor, is the exception. The intent of the bill is to solve one small problem, but the effect of the bill is to imply that homeschoolers must submit documentation of a kindergarten program well before their child reaches the compulsory attendance age of 7. In other states, homeschoolers who file their initial paperwork for a first (or even second) grade program have been told that they must file a kindergarten program instead. The language of H.B. 201 as it stands would tend to produce this absurd result. The Department of Education has calculated how many Wyoming students are currently staying out of kindergarten. In 1994, 6,930 attended kindergarten. The next year, 7,104 went into first grade. This means that 174 children skipped kindergarten the previous year. Over the years, the number of children who skipped public school kindergarten has declined. In 1997, there were only 107 children did not to attend public kindergarten who attended first grade the next year. In 2000, there were only 38 such children. In 2001, the most recent year for which numbers are available, only 33 children attended first grade who had not attended kindergarten the year before. Thus, H.B. 201 is will not really force large numbers of children into public school kindergarten. With enough calls from homeschoolers, Senator Coe may be willing to add our amendment to his bill. Thank you for your help in protecting homeschool freedoms in Wyoming. Very truly yours, Scott W. Somerville HSLDA Staff Attorney {{JoinAd}} ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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