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| Date: From: Subject: | 3/24/2005 5:12:24 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Pennsylvania--Calls Needed to Support Homeschool Reform Bill |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== March 24, 2005 Pennsylvania--Calls Needed to Support Homeschool Reform Bill Dear HSLDA members and friends: After months of working with state homeschool leaders and HSLDA about legislation to improve Pennsylvania's homeschool law, on February 14, 2005, Representative Pat Fleagle (R) introduced House Bill 505. This bill would remove superintendents from reviewing portfolios in home education programs to determine whether the student is receiving an appropriate education. Instead, the parent would submit to the superintendent the written evaluation from a qualified evaluator. This bill would also provide for an administrative procedure to resolve questions about the parent's compliance with the law, thereby protecting the family from truancy charges. Next Wednesday, March 30, 2005, the Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania (CHAP) is sponsoring the Home Education Lobby Program (HELP) at the Capitol in Harrisburg, at which time homeschooling families will be given the opportunity to visit their legislators about this bill. State legislators need to hear from you in advance of this lobbying effort, so they can understand how important this bill is to the homeschooling community. Even if you do not plan to participate in HELP next Wednesday, please contact your state senator and state representative and ask them to support this legislation. At the Capitol next Wednesday, Representative Fleagle will speak to homeschooling families about the provisions of his bill and the legislative process during the briefing time between 8:00 and 9:30 a.m. If you attend, not only will you receive information about this legislation directly from the bill sponsor, but this will be an excellent educational experience for your children to learn how bills become law. You can access complete details about the homeschool day at the Capitol by going to the CHAP web page: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=2219 and clicking on the HELP Day brochure on the right side or referring to the same brochure which was in the spring issue of the CHAP Newsletter. You must register for HELP Day by this Friday, March 25, so please do it today. If you have any questions about registration, contact CHAP at rothgaber@chaponline.com. ACTION REQUESTED 1. Please contact your state senator and state representative with this message: "Please vote for House Bill 505. This bill would eliminate double evaluations of home education programs by public school superintendents. It would also improve administrative procedures for resolving questions about a family's compliance with the homeschool law." You can find the name and telephone number of your state senator and state representative by using HSLDA's Legislative Toolbox at http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=2220 2. Please forward this e-mail to every homeschooling family you know who is not a member of HSLDA and urge them to contact their state senator and state representative about this bill. BACKGROUND Only 28 states require any type of evaluation of homeschool programs. Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation requiring a double evaluation of a home education program each year. Presently a qualified evaluator conducts an evaluation of a home education program by reviewing the portfolio compiled by the parent, interviewing the student, and certifying in writing whether an appropriate education is occurring. All of this documentation is submitted to the superintendent who also reviews the portfolio materials and evaluator's certification and then makes a second determination of whether an appropriate education is occurring. We believe this second review of the portfolio materials by the superintendent is unnecessary, because a qualified evaluator has already done it. According to law, this evaluator must be a state-certified teacher, a licensed clinical or school psychologist, or a nonpublic school teacher or administrator. The proposed change in the law would continue to require superintendents to review the written evaluation of the evaluator, but superintendents would not have to review the portfolio materials again. This legislation would streamline the procedure for addressing concerns about whether an appropriate education is occurring. Under current law, if the superintendent examines the portfolio and determines that an appropriate education is not occurring, he must send a certified letter to the parents specifying how the documentation is inadequate. The parent then has 20 days to submit additional documentation. The superintendent has to review the additional documentation, and if he reaches the same conclusion that an appropriate education is not occurring, he initiates a due process hearing. Under the proposed changes to the law, if the superintendent received a certification from the evaluator stating that an appropriate education was not occurring, the superintendent would proceed immediately to a due process hearing. There would be no 20 days for additional documentation to be submitted by the parent and no additional documentation to be reviewed by the superintendent. Current law requires a parent to submit the portfolio and evaluation at the end of the school year and during the year if the superintendent thinks that an appropriate education is not occurring. The law addresses the situation when a parent submits a portfolio with inadequate documentation but not the situation when the parent submits nothing at all. Additionally, there are times when the parent fails to submit the information required in the affidavit at the beginning of the home education program. There is nothing specified in the law to remedy this failure to comply. Under the proposed changes, the parent would be given an opportunity to remedy the noncompliance. If the parent failed to comply, a due process hearing would be conducted to terminate the home education program. To view a copy of the text of House Bill 505 go to http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=2221 Please call now. Sincerely Dewitt T. 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