| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 3/29/2012 10:40:28 AM Scott Woodruff--HSLDA Maryland--Help Needed Urgently on Compulsory Attendance, Homeschool Bill |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Maryland--Help Needed Urgently on Compulsory Attendance, Homeschool Bill Dear HSLDA Members and Friends: A legislative emergency is underway in Annapolis. Two harmful bills are moving quickly, and we urgently request your help to stop them. Both bills will not only raise the ending age of compulsory school attendance from 16 to 18, but will give the State Board of Education unprecedented, breathtaking "blank check" authority over homeschoolers. Right now, a state statute (Education 7-301) gives everyone the right to homeschool if they provide regular, thorough instruction in the usual subjects. The homeschool regulations are below the statute in authority. The homeschool regulations implement the statute's regular, thorough instruction provisions, but cannot change the statute or conflict with it. But SB 362 and HB 373 raises homeschool regulations to the same level as the statute. This means homeschool regulations would no longer be limited to merely implementing regular, thorough instruction, but they could go far beyond. (The bills do this by amending the current statute to say that homeschoolers must provide regular, thorough instruction AND ALSO comply with all new or existing regulations.) So the Board would be able to adopt new regulations that have nothing to do with regular, thorough instruction. For example, under regular, thorough instruction, it does not matter who provides the instruction. But if SB 362 or HB 373 pass, the Board could adopt a regulation saying parents must personally provide 80% of instruction (some localities have previously tried to mandate this). Or the Board could mandate that homeschool children perform community service, as public school students now must (which has nothing to do with regular, thorough instruction). Or they could give each individual school system power to regulate homeschooling, or demand standardized testing of every child every year. And so on. ACTION REQUESTED 1. Please immediately call your Maryland state delegate and ask him or her to vote "no" on both these bills. Your message can be as simple as, "Please vote NO on SB 362 and HB 373. Parents, not the government, should decide whether school or some other path is best for 16- and 17-year-olds. Please do not change the homeschool statute." HB 373 could emerge from committee today and go quickly to the House floor. 2. Please attend the hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee on SB 362 now scheduled for Wednesday, April 4 at 1 p.m. SB 362 has already passed the Senate. A big turnout from homeschool families will show the committee members that this is a high-priority issue. The hearing location will be Room 130, House Office Building, Annapolis . If you wish to sign up to speak against SB 362, arrive half an hour early and put your name on the sign-up sheet. 3. Please pass this on to other homeschoolers. Use our Legislative Toolbox and type in your ZIP Code to find your delegate and his contact information: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=14242 BACKGROUND There has been confusion about whether homeschoolers are "exempted" from the bills. This confusion arises from the fact that the bills rearrange the location of the regular, thorough instruction language in the statute. Now, the law says children must attend public school "unless" they receive regular, thorough instruction. These bills remove the word "unless" and then shift the regular, thorough instruction language to the list of categories of children who are not required to attend public school. The removal of the word "unless" and rearrangement of language neither helps nor hurts homeschoolers. It doesn't exempt us from educating our kids during the same ages as everyone else. It's just an alternate way of saying what we already know--that homeschool kids aren't required to attend public school. The bills raise the compulsory age in two steps. The age would rise first from 16 to 17, then the next year it would rise to 18. There is an exemption in the bills for students having a "Maryland high school diploma," but this would almost certainly not apply to homeschoolers. Thank you for standing with HSLDA for liberty! Sincerely, Scott Woodruff HSLDA Senior Counsel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> 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. 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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. ====================================================================== | |
