If you live in PA PLEASE READ

[MoonChild]

From the Home School Legal Defense Association

"Dear Pennsylvania Members and Friends:

We have just received information that the House Education Committee
will vote on House Bill 2560 at its meeting on October 23, 2002.
Unfortunately, unless more members of the Committee decide to support
this bill, it will be defeated when it is considered at this hearing
and will be dead for this legislative session. Your calls to
undecided and opposing members of the Committee and your attendance
at the hearing are needed in order for this bill to receive a
favorable vote. We have learned that there is a possibility that the
Committee meeting will not have quorum because it is near election
time. Be sure to contact all Committee members and urge them to
attend and vote.

REQUESTED ACTION

(1) Below is a list of members of the Pennsylvania House Education
Committee who are undecided or opposed to H.B. 2560. We urge you to
contact these members and give them this message:

"Please attend the Education Committee meeting on October 23rd and
vote for House Bill 2560 which will relieve public school officials
and home schooling parents from burdensome administrative tasks. Home
educators have earned the right to less state oversight after
demonstrating their success under the current law for the past 14
years. Support only the amendments favored by Representative Sam
Rohrer."

Please call as many members as possible. We recommend that you first
call the Harrisburg office before trying to reach the legislator in
the district office.

HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE MEMBERS WHO ARE UNDECIDED OR OPPOSED TO
H.B. 2560

(Listed in the following order:
Name - County - Email address - Harrisburg phone - District phone)

Rep. Jess Stairs, Maj. Chair - Fayette/Westmoreland -
jstairs@pahousegop.com - (717) 783-9311 - (724) 423-5141
Rep. Fred McIlhattan - Armstrong/ Clarion - fmcilhat@pahousegop.com -
(717) 772-9908 - (814) 226-9000
Rep. Edward Krebs - Lebanon - ekrebs@pahousegop.com - (717) 783-1815 -
(717) 270-1905
Rep. Jerry Nailor - Cumberland - jnailor@pahousegop.com - (717) 783-
5282 - (717) 761-4665
Rep. Robert Flick - Chester/Delaware - rflick@pahousegop.com - (717)
787-8579 - (610) 251-1070
Rep. Lynn Herman - Centre/Clearfield - lherman@pahousegop.com - (717)
787-8594 - (814) 238-5477
Rep. Ronald Miller - York - rmiller@pahousegop.com - (717) 783-8389 -
(717) 428-9889
Rep. Jere Schuler - Lancaster - jschuler@pahousegop.com - (717) 783-
6422 - (717) 464-5285
Rep. Nick Colafella - Min. Chair - Beaver - tmclaugh@pahouse.net -
(717) 787-5475 - (724) 728-7655
Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland - Philadelphia - tkirklan@pahouse.net - (717)
787-5881 - (610) 876-6420
Rep. William Robinson - Allegheny - wrobinso@pahouse.net - (717) 787-
9460 - (412) 471-7760
Rep. James Roebuck - Philadelphia - jroebuck@pahouse.net - (717) 783-
1000 - (215) 724-2227
Rep. Lawrence Curry - Montgomery - lcurry@pahouse.net - (717) 783-
1079, (215) 572-5210
Rep. Rich Grucela - Northampton - rgrucela@pahouse.net - (717) 705-
1878 - (610) 614-1312
Rep. Phyllis Mundy - Lurzerne - pmundy@pahouse.net - (717) 783-1614 -
(570) 283-9622
Rep. Sara Steelman - Cambria/Indiana - ssteelma@pahouse.net - (717)
772-2046 - (724) 465-0220
Rep. P. Michael Sturla - Lancaster - msturla@pahouse.net - (717) 787-
3555 - (717) 295-3157

COMMITTEE MEMBERS WHO SUPPORT HOUSE BILL 2560.
Please call them and ask them to attend this crucial meeting.

Rep. Bob Bastian - Bedford/Somerset - bbastian@pahousegop.com - (717)
783-8756 - (814) 443-4230
Rep. Paul Clymer - Bucks - ekrick@pahousegop.com - (717) 783-3154 -
(215) 257-0279
Rep. Patrick Fleagle - Franklin - pfleagle@pahousegop.com - (717) 783-
5218
Rep. Bev Makereth - York - bmackere@pahousegop.com - (717) 783-2655 -
(717) 767-3947
Rep. Daryl Metcalfe - Butler - dmetcalf@pahousegop.com - (717) 783-
1707 - (724) 772-3110
Rep. Sam Rohrer - Berks - samrohrer@aol.com - (717) 787-8550 - (610)
775-5130
Rep. Thomas Stevenson - Allegheny - tstevens@pahousegop.com - (717)
787-2047 - (412) 571-2169
Rep. John Lawless - Montgomery - jlawless@pahouse.net - (717) 787-
5741 - (610) 631-5100
Rep. Tom Yewcic - Cambria/Somerset - tyewcic@pahouse.net - (717) 783-
0248 - (814) 536-8400

(2) We also ask you to contact your own state representative if he is
not on the Committee, ascertain his position on H.B. 2560, and then
either thank him for his support or urge him to vote for this bill.
If H.B. 2560 passes the House Education Committee, it is likely that
it will move quickly to the full House for consideration.

To get the name and telephone number of your state representative,
use HSLDA's Legislative Toolbox at: http://www.hslda.org/toolbox , or
you can call the office of the Chief Clerk of the House of
Representatives at (717) 787-2372.

(3) Additionally, please contact your state senator asking for
support of this legislation. We are advised that if the House of
Representatives passes House Bill 2560, the full Senate may vote on
it without having the Senate Education Committee first pass it.
Again, this may take place very quickly after consideration by the
House, so there may not be time to make calls to senators later.

To get the name and telephone number of your state senator, use
HSLDA's Legislative Toolbox at: http://www.hslda.org/toolbox , or you
can call the office of the Chief Clerk of the Senate at (717) 787-
7163.

(4) Finally, please attend the hearing of the House Education
Committee on Wednesday, October 23, 2002. The best information we
have is that the hearing will take place in the Ryan Building at 9:30
a.m. It is important to arrive early because of limited space in the
meeting room. There will be overflow space in the lobby to
accommodate hundreds of interested home educators. As was done at the
earlier meeting of the House Education Committee on July 13, 2002,
supporters of House Bill 2560 are urged to wear red to show their
support of this legislation."




From Moon: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE---- If you live in PA DO SOMETHING to support this bill. There is no time to waste. MAKE SOME PHONE CALLS!! The homeschoolers of PA will thank you!

[missymommy]

I really had no idea what this was about so I looked it up. This is what I found that discribed what will be done.


Pa. bill may relax home-school rules

By MATTHEW EPSTEIN, TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT EDUCATION WRITER

Pennsylvania may end its 14-year run as one of the most restrictive states in the country for home schooling.
State legislators discussed a bill that would take away most school district involvement in front of a packed crowd of home-school families in Harrisburg yesterday.

But the bill has divided parents who aren’t all sure that going from one extreme to the other is the right plan.
Betsy Luprek thinks Pennsylvania’s current home-schooling law is too restrictive, but said she doesn’t want to get rid of all but token oversight, either.

“It takes away all accountability. I don’t feel that as humans we can have no accountability,” Luprek said in a telephone interview from her Geistown home, where she has taught her children for the past six years.

Others say they would like to be rid of rules that require meticulous record-keeping of everything their children do throughout the year.

“At the end of the year you have to prepare a portfolio of all the work you children have done in every subject,” said Bob Atwood, of Johnstown. “That’s probably not done in 48 other states.”

In addition to the portfolio, home-school families have to file notarized affidavits every year, be evaluated by a certified teacher, take standardized tests and fulfill 180 days of instructional time.

All those requirements but the last one would be eliminated under House Bill 2560, and school districts would be far less able to oversee what goes on.

“At the end of the year, I would like to continue the evaluation, because for me as a mom, it helps me,” Luprek said.
In Cambria, Somerset and Bedford counties, 615 children were home schooled in 2001-2002, out of about 40,000 schoolchildren, according to state statistics.

Bedford Area School District had 85 of those, by far the largest number in 28 districts. Schools Superintendent Pat Crawford said he doesn’t think the current law is overly oppressive.

“I think we need to maintain a strong connection between the public school system and parents,” he said in a telephone interview.

Bedford has tried to be supportive of home schoolers, he said, allowing them access to extracurricular activities and sports, which only half the state’s districts do.

Home schoolers who want to take a class in the school system are also welcome, he said.

State Rep. Bob Bastian, R-Somerset, who is co-sponsoring the bill, said he thinks the vast majority of families don’t need all the hoops to jump through.

“Most people are doing well. They’re doing a lot better than the public schools,” he said in a telephone interview from Harrisburg. “These are committed parents.

“If education doesn’t start at home, it doesn’t start at all.”

An attorney for the Home School Legal Defense Association, a Purcellville, Va.-based group that advocates for homeschoolers’ legal rights, supports the changes.

Christopher Klicka told The Associated Press that the group has represented more than 1,000 families whom school officials have “arbitrarily abused” under the current law. He cited examples, including a woman who was asked to file a criminal history record with a school district in Berks County, though the law did not require her to.

“We believe parents have proven themselves and have earned the right to have less restrictions on their freedoms,” Klicka said.

About 1,400 people showed up at the three-hour hearing, Bastian said, the most he has ever seen on an issue.
One thing that won’t change under the law, Bastian said, is the ability of home-school students to take part in diploma programs – which some had feared.

Home-school students need the diplomas from home-school cooperatives or a GED to qualify for student loans, but many prefer to avoid the stigma of the GED.

The bill should go before the full House in the fall, Bastian said.

State Rep. Tom Yewcic, D-Jackson, who is on the House education committee with Bastian and cosponsored the bill, did not return a telephone call.

[MoonChild]

PA's homeschool laws are the worst in the U.S. This bill would make PA's laws on par with the rest of the country FINALLY. If you don't live in PA, your prayers would be greatly appreciated. If you DO live in PA GET ON THE PHONE! THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!