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| Date: From: Subject: | 5/10/2004 5:53:46 PM Home School Legal Defense Association South Carolina--Calls Needed to House Committee - Back Door Attack on Homeschooling |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== May 10, 2004 South Carolina--Calls Needed to House Committee - Back Door Attack on Homeschooling Dear HSLDA members and friends: Your calls are needed to stop a bill which will harm homeschoolers. This bill surprised everyone by passing the South Carolina Senate on April 29, 2004. Senate Bill 988 is a back door approach to raising the compulsory attendance age, controlling the curriculum of homeschoolers, and creating academic evaluations of homeschool students. This amounts to nothing more than a frontal attack on the freedoms of home educators in South Carolina. This bill would require school attendance for any person under 18 who was issued a beginner's permit, conditional driver's license, special restricted driver's license, or a regular driver's license. Exempted from this requirement would be persons under 18 who already had a high school diploma or General Education Development (GED) diploma. This bill would effectively raise the compulsory attendance age from 17 to 18 for all students who want to obtain a driver's license. Additionally, a student in a homeschool would have to be making satisfactory progress in a curriculum leading to a GED diploma in order to obtain the driver's license. Since a GED program is intended for high school dropouts, it appears that few, if any, homeschool students could meet this requirement. Further, the Department of Motor Vehicles would not issue a driver's license unless a school official or homeschool association first determined that the student was making satisfactory academic progress toward the GED diploma. This bill is now being considered by the House Committee on Education and Public Works. It received its first reading in this Committee on May 4, 2004. It must be stopped before it goes further. Requested Action: 1. Please contact as many members as possible of the House Education and Public Works Committee and your own state representative with this message: "Please vote against Senate Bill 988. This bill would require homeschool students to enroll in a GED curriculum for dropouts in order to get a driver's license. Additionally, this bill would impose unnecessary and additional academic evaluations on homeschool students beyond what is now required by the homeschool law." Members of the House Education and Public Works Committee: Representative Ronald Townsend, Chairman, (803) 734-3053 Representative Kenneth Clark, (803) 734-2965 Representative Joel Lourie, (803) 734-2960 Representative Bessie Moody-Lawrence, (803) 734-3029 Representative Phillip Owens, (803) 734-3237 Representative Donald Smith, (803) 734-3031 Representative Robert Walker, (803) 734-3010 Representative JoAnne Gilham, (803) 734-2977 Representative Becky Martin, (803) 734-2964 Representative James Neal, (803) 734-2976 Representative Lewis Pinson, (803) 734-2821 Representative Harry Stille, (803) 734-3066 Representative Jesse Hines, (803) 734-3003 Representative Walter Lloyd, (803) 734-3064 Representative Vida Miller, (803) 734-2957 Representative Joseph Neal, (803) 734-2804 Representative B. R. Skelton, (803) 734-3323 Representative William Whitmire, (803) 734-3009 2. Please forward this e-mail to every homeschooling family you know who is not a member of HSLDA and urge them to contact the legislators above. You can find the name and telephone number of your state representative by using Home School Legal Defense Association's Legislative Toolbox at http://www.hslda.org/toolbox Background: This bill was first introduced in the South Carolina Senate on February 19, 2004 and is sponsored by the Transportation Committee. Since that time, HSLDA has worked with state leaders who have contacted key Senators and officials at the Department of Education in an effort to defeat this bill. Since this bill had been placed on the contested calendar, it was thought to be effectively dead for this legislative session. However, to our surprise, the Senate passed this bill on April 29, 2004. HSLDA has long opposed any legislation which would connect issuance of a driver's license to school attendance. Not only does Senate Bill 988 do this, but it also requires school attendance until age 18. The compulsory attendance law in South Carolina requires attendance until age 17, so this bill would effectively increase the compulsory attendance age from 17 to 18 for all persons who wish to have a driver's license. The only good news in this bill is that current law is kept intact which exempts persons who have a high school diploma or a GED diploma, even though they are not yet 18. In all likelihood, the intent of the sponsors is to require students to remain in school in pursuit of a high school diploma or GED. Unfortunately, the wording of the bill requires all homeschool students and possibly even public and private school students to be making satisfactory progress in a curriculum leading to the GED diploma. This is completely unacceptable and inappropriate for the vast majority of homeschool students who are working toward a high school diploma. Even language requiring homeschool students to be pursuing a high school diploma would not make this bill acceptable. The language of the bill requires that the "appropriate school official or homeschool association" provide documentation of enrollment status and academic progress on a form approved by the Department of Education. It is unclear who the "appropriate school official" would be for homeschool programs conducted through the school district, but this could be interpreted to mean the local public school superintendent instead of the parent. Students in the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools (SCAIHS) and other homeschool associations would have to be evaluated by these associations. Currently, the homeschool law does not require such evaluations by these associations, and the bill being considered does not provide standards or guidelines for determining whether a student is making satisfactory progress in a curriculum. Inevitably, school districts and homeschool associations will be applying different standards for satisfactory progress if this bill becomes law. Needless to say, we do not want this bill to be "fixed" by including specific academic standards which must be met by every student before a driver's license could be issued. To view a copy of the text of House Bill 988, go to http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=1512 Please call now! Sincerely, Dewitt T. Black, III HSLDA Senior Counsel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> What's the shortest distance between two homeschoolers? HSLDA's elert service! When threats to homeschool freedoms arise, you want to be able to respond. We make it possible. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
