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| Date: From: Subject: | 6/18/2004 4:47:11 PM Home School Legal Defense Association New York--Calls Needed Daily To Help Stop College Discrimination |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== June 18, 2004 New York--Calls Needed Daily To Help Stop College Discrimination Dear HSLDA members and friends: We now have a number for the Assembly version of Senate Bill 6849! It's Assembly Bill 11538. Please continue to make calls supporting this bill! If enacted into law, this bill would create another option under New York law that would enable homeschool students to receive a certificate of completion from their local school district verifying that they had completed a homeschool high school program. While parents would need to continue to report to the local school district until completion of their high school program the reporting requirements would actually be less then currently required. This bill was originally introduced by Senator LaValle and drafted in a way that would not have been supported by Home School Legal Defense Association or Loving Education at Home. However, due to the hard work of HSLDA attorneys and LEAH, Senator LaValle substantially amended his bill. We support this bill as a step in the right direction towards ending the current discrimination in New York colleges that homeschool students are facing. The Senate has passed the bill and it now moves to the Assembly. Please call now to help pass this bill! REQUESTED ACTION 1) Please contact both Assemblyman Steven Sanders, the Chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (daily if possible) and strongly urge them to support this bill. You can use the following message: "Please bring Assembly Bill 11538 for a vote. This bill is needed to help future homeschool graduates enter a New York college or university. The current regulations discriminate against students with a homeschool diploma and require them to obtain a GED certificate or statement from the school district verifying that the homeschool program is equivalent to the public school program. Please act to ensure that homeschool graduates are not discriminated against and pass AB 11538." Steven Sanders - Assembly Education Committee Chairman (518) 455-5506 Sheldon Silver - Assembly Speaker (518) 455-3791 2) Please call the Assembly Education Committee, listed below, and give them this message: "Please help homeschool graduates trying to enter New York state colleges and universities and vote for Assembly Bill 11538. The current regulations discriminate against students with a homeschool diploma and require them to obtain a GED certificate or statement from the school district verifying that the homeschool program is equivalent to the public school program. A GED carries the stigma of a drop out and homeschool graduates are high school graduates. Under state law a homeschool program is deemed to be equivalent if a family complies with the regulations, but most school districts are unwilling to provide an official endorsement of a homeschool program. Please act to ensure that homeschool graduates are not discriminated against and pass AB 11538." Assembly Education Committee Members Assemblyman: Barbara M. Clark (518)455-4711 James D. Conte (518)455-5732 Ruben Diaz Jr. (518)455-5514 Thomas P. DiNapoli (518)455-5192 Patricia A. Eddington (518)455-4901 Steve Englebright (518)455-4804 Aurelia Greene (518)455-5671 Earlene Hooper (518)455-5861 Susan V. John (518)455-4527 Tom Kirwan (518)455-5762 Steven L. Labriola (518)455-5305 John W. Lavelle (518)455-4677 William B. Magnarelli (518)455-4826 Joel M. Miller (518)455-5725 Matthew Mirones (518)455-5716 William L. Parment (518)455-4511 Amy Paulin (518)455-5585 Philip Ramos (518)455-5185 Bill Reilich (518)455-4664 Teresa R. Sayward (518)455-5565 William Scarborough (518)455-4451 Dede Scozzafava (518)455-5797 Scott Stringer (518)455-5802 Robert K. Sweeney (518)455-5787 Paul D. Tonko (518)455-5197 Please thank Assemblyman Tocci for his support Ronald C. Tocci (518)455-4897 3) Please call your own Assemblyman and give him or her the same message: You can find your Assemblyman's phone number either by calling the Assembly Public Information Department: 518-455-4218 or by using HSLDA's legislative toolbox at http://www.hslda.org/toolbox REASONS WE SUPPORT THIS BILL Senate Bill 6849 has been introduced by Senator LaValle to fix some of the problems that homeschool graduates have been experiencing. Senate Bill 6849 would: 1) Create an option for parents to have their children receive a letter of compliance and a certificate of completion for high school. A family desiring to follow this option would simply need to submit a notice of intent for each year their child is in high school. While this notice of intent would include the list of subjects to be taught and the textbooks or plan of instruction to be followed for that year, no Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) or quarterly reports would need to be filed. At the end of the year the family would file an annual report with the school district consisting of a transcript, attendance records and a report consisting of the results of a nationally normed standardized achievement test as determined by the parent taken and administered consistent with the test publisher, or the results of the alternative annual assessment, such as a portfolio of the child's work or evaluation by a private or public school teacher indicating the child is progressing according to his ability. 2) Prohibit the Commissioner from requiring pupils who have completed the requirements of a homeschool education or a non-public school program to obtain or submit proof of having obtained a general education development (GED) certificate or any accredited diploma. BACKGROUND Beginning in the 2002-03 school year, homeschoolers began experiencing an increase in discrimination due to the implementation of a previously dormant New York State Education Department policy. This policy is preventing colleges from recognizing a 9-12 grade homeschool education as being sufficient to enroll in either a State University of New York or community college. This unexpected change in college policy has interrupted many homeschool graduates' plans for college and has even kept homeschool graduates in college from graduating. Below are a couple of examples of the widespread discrimination. * M.P. is a homeschool graduate from New York. She enrolled in a political science Associates Degree program at a New York community college. She had attended one full year with an approximate GPA of 3.2 when the college contacted her and said that because she had not attended an accredited school, she would have to take a GED to continue. She has since had to transfer out of the community college to a private four-year school out of state. * Paul Owens is a homeschool graduate from New York. He enrolled in Monroe Community College, which had full knowledge of his status as a homeschooled student. After almost two years, Monroe informed him that he would not be allowed to receive an Associates Degree even if he completed all the required courses (which he did within 8 months). Paul also transferred to a private college in order to receive a degree. In order to write this wrong, Home School Legal Defense Association recently filed suit against the state in Owens v. Parrinello to help those homeschoolers who are already admitted into college. * The C family contacted their school district to obtain a letter of equivalency for their son. Not only did the school district not give the family a letter, the district stated that they wouldn't provide a letter regardless of the sufficiency of the home instruction program provided to the student. The family was in full compliance with New York law. Sincerely, Thomas J. Schmidt HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> What do you look like when you get out of bed? It's hard to look our best all the time. HSLDA works to present homeschooling in an engaging, dynamic, and informative light to the public news media. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1104 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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