| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 5/26/2003 10:44:08 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Texas--H.B. 944 Passes out of Committee |
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- May 26, 2003 Dear Texas Members and Friends, Thanks to your phone calls and efforts, House Bill 944 received a favorable hearing on May 20, 2003, and was voted out of the Education Committee. We spoke with the office of Senator Estes, H.B. 944's Senate sponsor, and his office told us that the bill has been placed on the calendar for consideration and will likely be passed early this week. The really promising news is that this particular calendar is reserved for uncontested bills that are supposed to be passed without any further discussion or debate. Nonetheless, some calls will be helpful to be sure all promises will be kept. This bill will finally remove the present discrimination against homeschoolers seeking admission to state universities in Texas. Thank you for your faithful calls! REQUESTED ACTION If you have not yet called your senator, please do so and express your support of H.B. 944. 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. 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. Klicka HSLDA Senior Counsel {{JoinAd}} ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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