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| Date: From: Subject: | 2/15/2012 10:51:57 AM Home School Legal Defense Association Mississippi -- Calls Needed to Stop Worst Bill Ever |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Mississippi -- Calls Needed to Stop Worst Bill Ever Dear HSLDA Members and Friends: Your calls and emails are needed to stop Mississippi House Bill 464, which threatens your very right to homeschool your children. This bill would impose a duty on school attendance officers to collect and maintain unspecified and unlimited information on all children being homeschooled and to report this information to the judge of the youth court or chancery court. This information would be used "for the purpose of exempting such children from the truancy laws of this state." There is no requirement in the bill that there be any case before the judge involving the child whose home instruction program was being reviewed. The judge could simply review the information from the attendance officer and decide that a child's home instruction program was insufficient, using whatever standard the judge wanted to apply. The fact that the parent had filed the required certificate of enrollment with the attendance officer would not be sufficient. Does any of this sound familiar? On March 23, 2011, Judge Joe Dale Walker of the Chancery Court of the Thirteenth District issued an order requiring attendance officers to provide to him the names and addresses of all students and their parents within his jurisdiction who were in a home instruction program. There was no case in Judge Walker's court involving any homeschooling family for which he supposedly needed this information. According to Judge Walker, the purpose of his order was "to enforce the compulsory school attendance law...." HSLDA represented families from each of the five counties within the Thirteenth District and challenged Judge Walker's order in the Mississippi Supreme Court. On April 21, 2011, the court granted our petition and vacated the order. (You may read our article about this case at http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=13771 .) But the battle is not over. On February 13, 2012, Representative Bob Evans (District 91) filed HB 464, which would accomplish even more than Judge Walker envisioned in his order last year. (Perhaps it is no mere coincidence that Representative Evans and Judge Walker share the same hometown--Monticello.) If this bill passes, youth court and chancery court judges will rule homeschooling in Mississippi. They alone will have the authority to decide whether a family may continue to homeschool, even when the family has not been accused of failing to comply with the law. Mississippi would change from one of the best states in which to homeschool to the absolute worst. HB 464 has been referred to the House Education Committee and to the House Judiciary B Committee. Representative Evans and members of these committees need to hear from thousands of Mississippi homeschoolers who are willing to fight to preserve their God-given right to teach their children at home without tyrannical government oversight. Action Requested: 1. Please call and/or email Representative Evans and as many members of the House Education Committee and House Judiciary B Committee as possible with this message or something similar in your own words: "Please vote against House Bill 464, which would require school attendance officers to collect and maintain unspecified and unlimited information on all children being homeschooled and to report this information to the judge of the youth court or chancery court. Based on this information, judges would have the authority to permit or deny a family's right to conduct a home instruction program, even without any case before the court. Current law provides an appropriate procedure for enforcing the compulsory attendance requirements. " Representative Bob Evans' contact information is as follows: Capitol: 601-359-9393 Email: bevans@house.ms.gov Telephone: 601-359-9393 Monticello: 601-587-9313 (H) 601-587-0615 (W) The members of the House Education Committee are as follows: Last names beginning with A-M please contact: John L. Moore, Chairman; 601-359-3311 jmoore@house.ms.gov Alyce G. Clarke, Vice-Chairman 601-359-3096 aclarke@house.ms.gov William Tracy Arnold 662-728-9951 warnold@house.ms.gov Nick Bain 662-287-1620 nbain@house.ms.gov Toby Barker 601-359-2436 tbarker@house.ms.gov Randy P. Boyd 662-231-0133 rboyd@house.ms.gov Clara Burnett 601-359-2422 cburnett@house.ms.gov Credell Calhoun 601-359-3327 ccalhoun@house.ms.gov Gary Chism 662-327-0777 gchism@house.ms.gov Carolyn Crawford 228-452-5029 (H) ccrawford@house.ms.gov Becky Currie 601-833-5953 bcurrie@house.ms.gov Dennis DeBar 601-394-4400 ddebar@house.ms.gov Reecy L. Dickson 601-359-9473 rdickson@house.ms.gov Chuck Espy 601-359-2421 cespy@house.ms.gov James Evans 601-359-3349 jevans@house.ms.gov Last names beginning with N-Z please contact: Herb Frierson 601-359-2434 Joe C. Gardner 601-359-3351 jgardner@house.ms.gov Jeffrey S. Guice 228-875-1131 jguice@house.ms.gov Eugene Forrest Hamilton 601-359-2461 efhamilton@house.ms.gov Gregory Holloway 601-359-5334 gholloway@house.ms.gov Wanda Jennings 601-359-9397 wjennings@house.ms.gov Rita Martinson 601-359-2438 rmartinson@house.ms.gov Steve Massengill 662-815-5000 smassengil@house.ms.gov Brad Mayo 662-234-8111 bmayo@house.ms.gov Kevin McGee 601-939-4910 kmcgee@house.ms.gov Pat Nelson 662-393-6210 pnelson@house.ms.gov Rufus Straughter 601-359-3396 rstraughter@house.ms.gov Sara R. Thomas 601-359-9465 sthomas@house.ms.gov Joseph L. Warren 601-359-3359 jwarren@house.ms.gov Tom Weathersby 601-359-4076 tweathersby@house.ms.gov Linda Whittington 601-359-2845 lwhittington@house.ms.gov The members of the House Judiciary B Committee are as follows: Last names beginning with A-M please contact: Andy Gipson, Chairman 601-359-9488 agipson@house.ms.gov Kimberly Campbell Buck, Vice-Chairman 601-359-3331 kbuck@house.ms.gov Willie Bailey 601-359-1541 wbailey@house.ms.gov Nick Bain 662-287-1620 nbain@house.ms.gov David Baria 228-270-0001 dbaria@house.ms.gov Charles Busby 228-769-0501 cbusby@house.ms.gov Gary Chism 662-327-0777 gchism@house.ms.gov Dennis DeBar 601-394-4400 ddebar@house.ms.gov Casey Eure 228-297-2849 ceure@house.ms.gov Jeffrey S. Guice 228-875-1131 jguice@house.ms.gov Joey Hood 662-285-4663 jhood@house.ms.gov Kevin Horan 662-226-2185 khoran@house.ms.gov Last names beginning with N-Z please contact: Timmy Ladner 228-518-0878 tladner@house.ms.gov Sherra Hillman Lane 601-359-2861 slane@house.ms.gov Sam C. Mims, V 601-359-2430 smims@house.ms.gov Alex Monsour 601-415-7274 amonsour@house.ms.gov John L. Moore 601-359-3311 jmoore@house.ms.gov Brad A. Oberhousen 601-352-2990 boberhousen@house.ms.gov Ferr Smith 601-359-9391 fsmith@house.ms.gov Greg Snowden 601-359-3304 greg@gregsnowden.com Tommy Taylor 662-843-8014 ttaylor@house.ms.gov Joseph L. Warren 601-359-3359 jwarren@house.ms.gov Jason White 662-289-8888 jwhite@house.ms.gov Adrienne Wooten 601-359-2420 awooten@house.ms.gov Henry Zuber III 601-359-2508 hzuber@house.ms.gov 2. Please forward this email to every family you know who is not a member of HSLDA and urge them to contact Representative Evans and members of the committees. To view the text of this bill, please go to http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=13772 Please call or email today! Very truly yours, Dewitt T. Black, III Senior Counsel HSLDA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Will your children's inheritance retain its value? If you pass on a legacy of freedom, your children and their children's children will thank you. But freedom is never secure; it must always be guarded. Membership with HSLDA is an investment in the future that can be passed on to future generations of families wanting to teach their children at home. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1944 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
