Date: From: Subject:

5/27/2004 12:45:43 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Oregon--Your Calls Needed To Stop Future Bad Legislation In Oregon!

====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== May 27, 2004 Oregon--Your Calls Needed To Stop Future Bad Legislation In Oregon! Dear HSLDA members and friends: For those of you who were able to make the Interim Education Committee Meeting last week, thank you! Over 450 homeschoolers came to the committee meeting and made a strong statement to all of the committee members. However, the work is not done! Please write or e-mail the Interim Education Committee members about your opposition to any further regulation of homeschoolers. Please forward this to all of your homeschooling friends who may not be members and ask them to write also. Your letters and e-mails, politely written could help stop any negative legislation from being introduced next legislative session. Please write now! REQUESTED ACTION: 1) Please write to the Senate Interim Education Committee members listed below. You can either use this message or use your own words. "Parents who have made the commitment to teach their children at home do not need to be further regulated. All studies show that homeschool students score on average 20-30 percentile points higher than public school students. Please do not restrict the parent's right to choose to teach their children at home. Homeschooling has proven that it is most successful with maximum parental freedom." 2003-2004 Interim Senate Education Committee Senator Bill Morrisette, Co-Chair Party: D District: 6 Interim Address: 348 G St., Springfield, OR 97477 Interim Email morrsett@clipper.net Senator Charles Starr, Co-Chair Party: R District: 13 Interim Address: 8330 S.W. River Rd., Hillsboro OR 97123 Interim Email kstarr@charlesstarr.org Senator Avel Gordly Party: D District: 23 Interim Address: 10809 N.E. Fremont, Portland OR 97220 Email Address: sen.avelgordly@state.or.us Senator Ken Messerle Party: R District: 5 Interim Address: 94271 Coos Sumner Ln. Coos Bay OR 97420 Email Address: sen.kenmesserle@state.or.us Senator David Nelson Party: R District: 29 Interim Address: 1407 NW Horn Ave., Pendleton OR 97801 Email Address: sen.davidnelson@state.or.us Senator Charlie Ringo Party: D District: 17 Interim Address: 4085 SW 109th Avenue, Beaverton 97005 Email Address: sen.charlieringo@state.or.us Reasons We Oppose Adding To The Current Laws: - Statistics show that higher regulation--such as mandatory testing does not help homeschool students. Studies show that homeschoolers score 20 to 30 percentile points higher than other students. Forcing them to take tests when their performance has already been proven is senseless. - Currently 41 states (including Oregon) recognize the right of parents to teach their children without any specific teacher qualifications. Studies have shown that the level of education that a parent has does not figure significantly in a homeschool student's achievement. If you compare students in public school or homeschool based upon the education level of their parents, homeschooled student will still perform 20 to 30 percentile points higher than public school students. In fact, if you compare students of parents with less than a high school education, homeschooled students perform 40 to 50 percentile points higher than public school students. - No state requires a parent to provide the time and location of their home education program. This would add a significant burden on families who do not follow traditional school hours or their children receive education from many different locations (community college, co-op, apprenticeship, etc.) - Under the current law a parent must be educating the child in order to be exempt from public school attendance. If a parent were truly not educating their children, as claimed by the truant officer, they would already be in violation of the compulsory education laws in Oregon. Thus, any school district already has the ability to protect those children who are not being educated at home by their parents. BACKGROUND: The Interim Education Committee is considering whether to add to the current requirements for homeschooling families in several different areas. Among the issues being considered are requiring parents to provide the Education Service District (ESD) or local School District with: - a list of the materials to be used in the home education program; - the time and place of the instruction; and - require that the parent have at least the equivalent of a high school education. This hearing is being held at the request of a truant officer from the Springfield School District who believes that there are many homeschooling families in Oregon who are simply putting their name on a notice of intent form with no real intent to educate their children. The truant officer is reported to have stated that he believes that nearly 30-50% of homeschooling families in his district are not educating their children. He has provided no evidence to support these wild claims. The vast majority of families homeschooling their children are doing so, not out of laziness as the truant officer suggests, but out of a desire to train their children to be contributing members of society and for the Kingdom of God. Sincerely, Thomas J. Schmidt HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Paid an attorney lately? Legal consultation can easily cost you upwards of $100 an hour. For the same fee, why not have a lawyer on call for you 24/7? 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