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From the HSLDA E-lert Service...
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Dear HSLDA members and friends:
In an unfortunate turn of events, the North Dakota Senate Education
Committee amended the good homeschool bill and turned it into a bad
homeschool bill at the committee's meeting on February 6. Senate Bill
2371 is no longer a bill homeschoolers can support but must now oppose
unless the amendment is killed. Your calls to state senators are
crucial to stopping this bad legislation.
As originally introduced, Senate Bill 2371 would have changed the law
to permit grandparents and foster parents to homeschool, to clarify
that homeschool students only have to take the basic battery of
standardized tests, and to permit parents to choose a test that was
not nationally normed. As amended, the bill permits grandparents to
homeschool but also does the following:
* requires monitoring by a certified teacher to continue beyond two
years if the student scores below grade level or below the 50th
percentile *in any subject*;
* requires testing in reading, math, and science in grades three,
four, six, eight, and eleven with the state achievement assessment or
with a nationally normed standardized achievement test, unless the
parent chooses testing at the same grade levels as public school
students using the state tests;
* requires the student to take more than the basic battery of a
standardized achievement test, since science must be tested.
* if a remediation plan is implemented because of a low test score,
the student must continue to be evaluated for progress by the
superintendent until the student scores "above the lowest achievement
level on every subject tested on the state achievement assessment or
at or above the thirtieth percentile on every subject tested" in a
nationally normed standardized achievement test.
This is mean-spirited legislation. Instead of making the law better
for homeschoolers, this amendment would make it worse. One of the most
disturbing aspects of this turn of events is that Senator Layton
Freborg, the chairman of the Senate Education Committee and one of the
prime sponsors of the original bill, voted in favor of this atrocious
amendment.
The full Senate may vote on this bill at any time. In fact, all bills
going to the House of Representatives from the Senate must be passed
by this Friday, the cross-over deadline. Please contact your state
senator TODAY!
REQUESTED ACTION:
1. Please call your state senator as soon as possible with this
message:
"Please vote to kill the amendment to Senate Bill 2371 and restore
this bill to its original provisions. As originally introduced, this
bill would permit grandparents and foster parents to conduct home
education programs. It would also permit homeschool students to take
the same type of standardized achievement tests as public school
students."
You can find the name and telephone number of your state senator 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 their state
senator.
To view a copy of the text of Senate Bill 2371, go to
http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/60-2007/bill-text/HBPV0200.pdf
Sincerely,
Dewitt T. Black, III
HSLDA Senior Counsel
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The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of:
Home School Legal Defense Association
P.O. Box 3000
Purcellville, Virginia 20134
Phone: (540) 338-5600
Fax: (540) 338-2733
Email: info@hslda.org
Web: http://www.hslda.org
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