| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 3/16/2009 10:20:14 AM Home School Legal Defense Association Arkansas: Calls Needed to Preserve Homeschool Freedom |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== March 10, 2009 Arkansas: Calls Needed to Preserve Homeschool Freedom Dear HSLDA Members and Friends: Your calls and emails are needed to stop House Bill 2144, which would require parents to obtain the PERMISSION of a school district committee in order to begin homeschooling a child enrolled in public school. How could this affect you as a parent who has no intention of placing your child in public school in the first place? If you miss the deadline for filing the annual notice of intent by even one day, you would have to enroll your child in public school and then apply to the committee for permission to withdraw your child for homeschooling. Even worse, the committee may disapprove your application for any reason or no reason at all and require your child to remain a public school student for the rest of the semester. House Bill 2144, sponsored by Representative David Cook (D80), would also require parents to include "a copy of proof of the most recent state-mandated achievement test" with the notice of intent. There are no exceptions to this requirement, even if the student was ill, injured, or unavailable to take the test for any reason, such as a death in the immediate family. Parents not able to produce the proof of testing would not meet the prerequisites for homeschooling and would not be permitted to continue to teach their children at home. This bill represents one of the most blatant attacks on homeschooling we have ever seen. It must be stopped! But unless you express your opposition to legislators, the powerful lobby of the public school interests will likely prevail, and this bill will become law. House Bill 2144 is now in the House Education Committee. Members of the Committee need to hear from you today! Action Requested: 1. Please call and/or email Representative David Cook and as many other members of the House Education Committee as possible with this message: "Please vote against House Bill 2144, which threatens the right of parents to choose homeschooling for their children. Parents whose children are in public school would have to obtain permission to homeschool from a school district committee that had unbridled discretion to approve or disapprove the request. Homeschooling parents whose child had missed standardized tests because of illness, injury, or other unavoidable reasons would be forced to stop homeschooling." The members of the House Education Committee are as follows: Last names beginning with A-M please contact: Rep. Bill Abernathy (Chair) (479) 234-2733 abernathyb@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. Nancy Duffy Blount (Vice Chair) (870) 295-4440 blount235@sbcglobal.net Rep. Mark Martin (479) 466-7386 martinm@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. Rick Saunders (501) 520-8813 saundersr@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. David Rainey (870) 382-2003 raineyd@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. David Cook (870) 966-4703 cookd@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. Eddie Cheatham (870) 364-5659 cheathame@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. Toni Bradford (870) 879-5270 bradfordt@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. Donna Hutchinson (479) 876-6011 hutchinsond@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. Jerry Brown (870) 238-3132 brownj@arkleg.state.ar.us Last Names beginning with N-Z please contact: Rep. Charlotte Wagner (870) 561-4600 wagnerc@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. Steven Breedlove (479) 996-6040 breedloves@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. Dan Greenberg (501) 588-4245 rep.greenberg@gmail.com Rep. Tim Summers (479) 464-1060 summerst@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. Les "Skip" Carnine (479) 636-2619 carninel@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. Mark Perry (501) 982-4561 mperry@alltel.net Rep. Linda Tyler (501) 329-8644 tylerl@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. Robert Dale (479) 498-2467 redale70@yahoo.com Rep. Monty Betts (501) 268-9254 bettsm@arkleg.state.ar.us Rep. Jody Dickinson (870) 523-8222 You can also leave a message for up to five members of The House Education Committee by calling (501) 682-6211. 2. Please forward this email to every family you know who is not a member of HSLDA and urge them to contact Representative Cook and other members of the Committee. To view the text of this bill, please go to http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/R/Bills/HB2144.pdf Please call or email today! Sincerely, Dewitt T. Black, III HSLDA Senior Counsel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Who are the nation's best lobbyists? We don't know that this has ever been determined; but we do know that HSLDA's National Center for Home Education is the only national organization lobbying on behalf of homeschoolers on Capitol Hill. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
