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| Date: From: Subject: | 1/14/2005 5:00:39 PM Home School Legal Defense Association North Dakota - Calls Needed to House Education Committee |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== January 14, 2005 North Dakota - Calls Needed to House Education Committee Dear HSLDA members and friends: Your calls are needed to express support for a bill which would significantly improve the homeschool law of North Dakota. This Tuesday, January 18, the House Education Committee will conduct a hearing on House Bill 1265. This bill would eliminate all monitoring of homeschooling parents by state-certified teachers. Additionally, the law would be changed to permit parents to homeschool children who have developmental disabilities, such as Down's syndrome. These changes in the law would place North Dakota more in line with the homeschooling laws of other states. House Bill 1265 will be opposed at the hearing by officials from the Department of Public Instruction. Unless your voice is heard, it is unlikely that this bill will pass out of this committee. I am planning to attend the hearing and testify in favor it. I hope to see you there. Requested Action: 1. Please contact as many members of the House Education Committee as possible and your own state representative with this message: "Please vote for House Bill 1265. This bill would bring the homeschool law of North Dakota more in line with other states by removing unnecessary restrictions on parents. It would permit parents with a high school diploma or GED to homeschool their children without being monitored every week by a state-certified teacher. It would also allow parents to homeschool their developmentally disabled children, as every other state permits." It is not necessary for you to contact the two sponsors of the bill serving on the House Education Committee: Representative Margaret Sitte and Representative Lisa Meier. Members of the committee are as follows: RaeAnn G. Kelsch (R)- Chairman (701) 220-0003 rkelsch@state.nd.us Dennis Johnson (R) - V. Chairman (701) 739-9328 djohnson@state.nd.us C.B. Haas (R) (701) 974-3738 chaas@state.nd.us Lyle Hanson (D) (701) 251-1654 lhanson@state.nd.us Kathy Hawken (R) (701) 293-5483 khawken@state.nd.us Gil Herbel (R) (701) 352-2294 gherbel@state.nd.us Stacey Horter (R) (701) 791-2962 shorter@state.nd.us Bob Hunskor (D) (701) 272-6283 bhunskor@state.nd.us Lisa Meier (R) (701) 255-4166 lmeier@state.nd.us Phillip Mueller (D) (701) 435-2737 pmueller@state.nd.us Mike Norland (R) (701) 770-1657 mnorland@state.nd.us Margaret Sitte (R) (701) 255-4885 msitte@state.nd.us Dorvan Solberg (D) (701) 568-3614 dsolberg@state.nd.us John Wall (R) (701) 642-2103 jwall@state.nd.us You can find the name and telephone number of your state representative by using HSLDA's Legislative Toolbox at http://capwiz.com/hslda/state/main/?state=ND&view=stateofficials#1 2. Please forward this e-mail to every homeschooling family you know who is not a member of HSLDA and urge them to contact members of the committee and their own state representative. 3. Please attend the hearing on the bill at the State Capitol in Bismarck on Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. Your presence will show the legislators how important this bill is to homeschoolers. The hearing will be held in the Pioneer Room in the State Capitol Building. For an update on the location of the hearing, you may contact the North Dakota Home School Association at (701) 223-4080. Background: North Dakota is unique in two respects regarding its homeschool law. First, it is the only state in the nation requiring parents with a high school diploma or a GED to be monitored by a state-certified teacher. Second, it is the only state in the nation prohibiting the homeschooling of children with developmental disabilities, except for children with autism. Autistic children in North Dakota may be homeschooled under very restrictive conditions. Forty-one states do not require homeschooling parents to have a high school diploma or GED. Nine states, including North Dakota, require the diploma or GED, but only North Dakota requires weekly monitoring by a state-certified teacher. Most noteworthy, every study conducted thus far on homeschooling has found that the formal education level of teaching parents makes no significant difference in the performance of their children on standardized tests. These students score on average 15-30 points higher than their public school counterparts. HSLDA has long taken the position that North Dakota's law prohibiting the homeschooling of developmentally disabled children is unconstitutional. We believe this law violates the fundamental right of parents to direct the education of their children as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. We are eager to challenge this law in court if the North Dakota Legislature fails to provide relief from this overly restrictive law. However, it would be much easier on the affected families if the Legislature would simply fix the law. From an educational standpoint, there can be little question that the one-on-one attention given to a developmentally disabled child by a parent is more effective than a classroom setting. This has been confirmed in two studies by Steven F. Duvall, P.h. D., a Kansas school psychologist, who found that there are higher rates of time in homeschooling where the student is "academically engaged" and consequently greater academic gains were made by homeschool students who have learning disabilities. To view a copy of the text of House Bill 1265, go to http://www.state.nd.us/lr/assembly/59-2005/bill-text/FAOD0200.pdf Please call now! Sincerely, Dewitt T. Black, III HSLDA Senior Counsel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> "I saved my entire membership fee with one discount" "When I called Liberty to find out what kind of discount we could get, they told us we would 10% off our car insurance and 5% off our homeowner's insurance. What we will save is more than double what it costs to join HSLDA. With one child getting his driver's license this year, the savings will be a real blessing!" More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1108 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
