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| Date: From: Subject: | 12/5/2005 9:31:28 AM Home School Legal Defense Association Pennsylvania -- Calls Needed to Three Senators |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Pennsylvania -- Calls Needed to Three Senators Dear HSLDA members and friends: I want to advise you of a new development that will increase the likelihood that the Pennsylvania Senate will pass the language of the homeschool bill already approved by the House of Representatives, House Bill 280 with Amendment A03503. Senator Patrick Browne, a Republican member of the Senate Education Committee, has introduced Senate Bill 1023, a companion bill to House Bill 280 containing the same proposed changes to the homeschool law. We are advised by legislative staff that filing the companion bill by a Republican was necessary for there to be any chance that the Republican-controlled Senate Education Committee would act on this legislation. House Bill 280's primary sponsor is a Democrat. Another thing we have learned is that because the public school interests are opposed to any legislation reducing the amount of state oversight over homeschooling, the Chairman of the Senate Education Committee will not even schedule a hearing on Senate Bill 1023 without pressure from the Senate leadership. That's why we must concentrate our lobbying efforts at this time on the Senate leadership. Your calls to Senate leaders are absolutely essential to getting the homeschool bill through the Senate Education Committee. The Senate will be in session over the next two weeks. Please call now while the key senators are in Harrisburg before the Christmas and New Year's recess. Action Requested: (1) Please call or write (both would be better) the following key senators: Senator Robert Jubelirer, President Pro Tempore; Senator David Brightbill, Majority Leader; and Senator James Rhoades, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee; with this message: "Please support Senate Bill 1023 which would improve the homeschool law of Pennsylvania. It would remove the unnecessary double evaluation of home education programs and streamline administrative procedures for both school districts and parents." By the way, December 5 is Senator Rhoades' birthday, so you might wish him a happy birthday as well. The contact information for these senators is as follows: Senator Robert Jubelirer President Pro Tempore Senate Box 203030 Harrisburg, PA 17120-3030 (717) 787-5490 rjubelirer@pasen.gov Senator David Brightbill Majority Leader Senate Box 203048 Harrisburg, PA 17120-3048 (717) 787-5708 dbrightbill@pasen.gov Senator James Rhoades Chairman, Senate Education Committee Senate Box 203029 Harrisburg, PA 17120-3029 (717) 787-2637 jrhoades@pasen.gov To find the name and contact information for your state senator use HSLDA's Legislative Toolbox at http://www.hslda.org/toolbox , or you can call the office of the Chief Clerk of the Senate at (717) 787-7163. (2) Please forward this email to other homeschooling families who are not members of HSLDA and ask them to contact these key senators as well. Reasons to Support Senate Bill 1023: Senate Bill 1023 would do the following: >Eliminate the public school superintendent's review of portfolios; >Require superintendents to accept an evaluator's determination that an appropriate education is occurring in the home education program; >Provide for an administrative procedure to resolve any claim by the superintendent that the parent has failed to comply with any aspect of the homeschool law; >Ensure that the home education program may continue during the time of any appeal of an adverse ruling by a hearing examiner. To review a copy of the bill text, go to http://www2.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/BI/BT/2005/0/SB1023P1387.pdf Background: In 1998 the General Assembly of Pennsylvania enacted a new home education statute, Section 13-1327.1 of the Pennsylvania Statutes Annotated. This legislation was prompted by a federal court decision that same year declaring the compulsory school attendance statute unconstitutional for vagueness. HSLDA represented the plaintiff in that case challenging the constitutionality of the state law. The compulsory attendance law, Section. 13-1327, permitted home schooling by a "properly qualified" private tutor if the instruction was "satisfactory" to the local public school superintendent. With 501 school districts in Pennsylvania, each with its own standards for who was properly qualified to teach and what was considered satisfactory instruction, there was no objective standard parents could rely upon in complying with state law. By enacting the home education statute in 1988, the General Assembly addressed the vagueness issues of the compulsory attendance statute, but Pennsylvania also became one of the most highly regulated states in the nation. Only New York, which also adopted its home instruction law in 1988, has more state oversight of home education than Pennsylvania. After 17 years of demonstrating success under an unnecessarily restrictive law, home educators in Pennsylvania have earned the right to less state oversight. If you have any questions or concerns about what this bill would do, please do not hesitate to contact us for additional information. Sincerely, Dewitt T. Black, III HSLDA Senior Counsel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> There may be no such thing as a free lunch... ...but there is a way to get a free membership! Through our Three-for-Free program, you can get a free one-year renewal for simply referring three of your homeschooling friends into membership with HSLDA. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=2078 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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If this is an invalid email address or you have other problems, please reply to webmaster@hslda.org. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: This is considered a private and confidential message from HSLDA to its bonafide HSLDA E-lert Service subscribers. HSLDA cannot attest to the authenticity of copies posted, forwarded, or sent by any party other than HSLDA. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: Please do not reply or otherwise use this email address; hslda@hslda.org is for broadcast purposes only and is not intended to receive incoming messages. We cannot reply to any email sent to this address. If you have comments or questions, please send email to info@hslda.org or call HSLDA at 540-338-5600. HSLDA members can also email staff directly through the Members website at http://members.hslda.org/contact.asp. Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
