| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 2/3/2011 9:41:04 AM Home School Legal Defense Association Oklahoma: Bad Bills to be Introduced, Your Action Needed! |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Oklahoma: Bad Bills to be Introduced, Your Action Needed! Dear HSLDA Members and Friends: As some of you may have already learned, Senator Jim Wilson has pre-filed two bad bills once again in the Oklahoma legislature. We need your help to make sure that these bills are quickly killed. Senate Bill 393 would remove the current protection under Oklahoma law that homeschool students are exempt from being taken into temporary custody by an attendance officer, peace officer, etc. when they are in public during normal school hours. Under Oklahoma law, homeschool students who are in public during normal school hours and are involved in a legal activity (i.e. going to a local community college, music lessons, or simply running errands for their parents) simply would indicate that they are homeschooled and they should be free from being detained or taken into temporary custody. The second bill, Senate Bill 394, would drastically change the homeschool law in Oklahoma. Senator Wilson's bill would require parents teaching their children at home to notify their local school officials each year they were homeschooling and then submit a report of each student's academic progress at the end of each semester throughout the school year. Under Senate Bill 394, the homeschool notification would have to be submitted before the first day of the school year or within 10 days from when the parent began their homeschool program. In addition to the annual notification, a homeschool parent would be required to submit an academic progress report for each school-age student at the end of each semester of the school year. Senate Bill 394 does not state what information would be required in the academic progress report or how a parent might be confident that their progress report would be adequate under this new law. Because of this fact, it is highly likely that, if Senate Bill 394 were to be passed into law, each local school district would have a different policy on what homeschool parents would need to submit in their academic progress report. Senate Bill 394 would also remove the protection for homeschool students from being taken into temporary custody. We would like you to contact Senator Wilson's office and oppose these bills. Please email the leadership on the Senate Education Committee as well. We also believe that it is important to have a large turnout for the annual Home Education Capitol Day on February 17. When legislators see hundreds of energetic homeschool families touring the Capitol with their bright-eyed children, it makes homeschooling more real to them. A large turnout of homeschoolers for Home Education Capitol Day every year also helps persuade legislators to vote against any negative homeschool legislation. For more information about the Home Education Day at the Capitol event, and to register today, please visit: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=10181 . REQUESTED ACTION: 1) If you haven't already done so, contact Senator Jim Wilson's office and let him know that you are opposed to Senate bills 393 and 394. You can give his staff this message in your own words: "Please let Senator Wilson know that I am opposed to Senate bills 393 and 394 and have him withdraw these bills. Oklahoma has long been a state that protects the freedom of 'other means of education.' Homeschool families should not be required to provide annual notification or regular academic progress reports simply because they exercise their right to provide other means of education to their children." Senator Jim Wilson 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Rm. 533C Oklahoma City, OK 73105 Phone: (405) 521-5574 Email: wilson@oksenate.gov 2) Please email the Senate Education Committee members listed below and give them this message in your own words: "Please prevent Senate bills 393 and 394 from being heard in the Senate Education Committee. Oklahoma has long been a state that protects the freedom of 'other means of education.' Homeschool families should not be required to provide annual notification or regular academic progress reports simply because they exercise their right to provide other means of education to their children. Please help keep home education free!" Senator John Ford, Chairman, Education Committee: fordj@oksenate.gov Senator Gary Stanislawski, Vice Chairman, Education Committee: stanislawski@oksenate.gov 3) Come to the Capitol on February 17, 2011, to participate in Home Education Day. You can preregister up until February 15. While you and your family can still come if you haven't preregistered, early registration is strongly encouraged. Registration allows you to get a name tag for the event; pick a "track" for the day or purchase a boxed lunch if desired. You must register by Feb. 12 if you want to order a boxed lunch. Visit http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=10182 to register now. 4) If you can't come to the Home Education Day at the Capitol, please pray for the event and see if your family could bake cookies to be given out to legislators. Each year the legislators love getting homemade cookies from homeschoolers. To participate in the cookie drop go to: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=10183 . Other ideas can be found here: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=10184 . BACKGROUND Last year approximately 1,600 homeschoolers came out for Home Education Day at the Capitol. Bring your family and help make this year's event even bigger. A large turnout will help demonstrate that the movement for home education freedom in Oklahoma is still going strong! Both Oklahoma Christian Home Educators' Consociation (OCHEC) and Christian Home Educators Fellowship of Oklahoma (CHEF of OK) work hard in monitoring legislation and keeping up relationships with legislators. Your presence will help fill the Capitol with homeschoolers and will be vital in protecting home education freedom in Oklahoma. HSLDA Federal Relations Director Will Estrada will be at this year's event. He will be speaking to the Future Statesman program as well as presenting information to the adults on federal legislation we are keeping on top of. Tj Schmidt, HSLDA's staff attorney for Oklahoma, will also be there again to share with the Track 1 adults important homeschool issues across the country as well as participate in the Legislative Impact session. If you are not yet a member of HSLDA and would like to help us fight for greater parental rights and homeschool freedom in Oklahoma, please visit http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=10185 . If you would like to be put on our e-mail list to receive vital e-lerts, you may sign up at http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=10186 . Thank you for your part in fighting for freedom in Oklahoma! Feel free to forward this to your friends who are homeschooling but may not be part of HSLDA, OCHEC, or CHEF of OK. Sincerely, Thomas J (Tj) Schmidt HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> What's the shortest distance between two homeschoolers? HSLDA's elert service! When threats to homeschool freedoms arise, you want to be able to respond. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
