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| Date: From: Subject: | 5/15/2003 3:09:16 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Texas H.B. 944 In Senate - Calls Needed |
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- May 15, 2003 Dear Texas Members and Friends, Do you want to help homeschoolers get into college? We need you to call the Texas Senate immediately in order to pass House Bill 944. This bill will remove the present discrimination against homeschoolers seeking admission to state universities in Texas. The office of the bill sponsor, Representative King, has told us that homeschoolers have until May 23 to get our calls in to help pass H.B. 944 in the Senate. Please take a moment to ensure that this bill will be enacted. REQUESTED ACTION There are two action items: 1) Call your state senator and give him the following message in your own words. "Please vote in favor of House Bill 944. It will end the discrimination of Texas state universities against qualified homeschool graduates." To get the name and telephone number of your senator, use HSLDA's Legislative Toolbox at http://www.hslda.org/toolbox. If you do not have Internet access, you can call the legislature to find out information about your senator. 2) Call as many members of the Senate Education Committee as possible and give them the same message as above. SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: Chair: Senator Florence Shapiro, (512) 463-0108 Vice-Chair: Senator Royce West, (512) 463-0123 Senator Kip Averitt, (512) 463-0122 Senator Kyle Janek, (512) 463-0117 Senator Steve Ogden, (512) 463-0105 Senator Todd Staples, (512) 463-0103 Senator Leticia Van de Putte, (512) 463-0126 Senator Tommy Williams, (512) 463-0104 Senator Judith Zaffirini, (512) 463-0121 You can also send an email to Senate Education Committee members by going to: http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/commit/c530/c530.htm Click on the committee member's name and fill in the email form with your message. BACKGROUND For years, some Texas universities have held homeschool graduates to a different and more difficult standard than others. The most frequently used discriminatory practice is to require homeschool graduates to have significantly higher test scores than other students. Although we have been successful in changing the college admission policies at the federal level, some states and individual universities still have policies discriminating against homeschoolers seeking college admission. House Bill 944, introduced by Representative Phil King, requires colleges and universities to admit graduates of a homeschool program according to the same standards that are applied to graduates from a public high school programs. HSLDA strongly supports H.B. 944 as it codifies the recommendations we have made to the Federal Department of Education. In passing the federal Higher Education Act, Congress indicated that the admissions standards for graduates of homeschool programs should be equal to standards for public school graduates and that extra requirements (for example the GED, higher SAT scores, or SAT II tests) are discriminatory. In addition, we were able to work with Representative King's office to address our concern with his use of the phrase "home school." During the floor vote, Representative King removed the undefined term "home school," and added our language, "private school in the home," into the bill. The amendment was passed. This will keep homeschooling safe under the Texas Supreme Court's interpretation of homeschools as having the legal status of a private school in Texas. We do not want to separate ourselves from the Leeper court decision by creating the term "home school" in the Texas Code. Thank you for standing with us for freedom. Sincerely, Christopher J. 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