Threatening Bills Tamed in
Harrisburg
by Howard
Richman
In general , things look
pretty safe for homeschoolers in Harrisburg.
Here is a quick update on three bills that we are following in the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives:
Teacher
Certification Bill Amended
If House Bill 2100 passes,
as it is likely to do this fall, many homeschool evaluators will get a letter
five years from now from the Secretary of Education telling them that their
teaching certificates are "inactive." However, they will not need to panic.
Rep. Jess Stairs, the
Republican Chair of the House Education Committee, has added an amendment to HB
2100 which says that "inactive" teachers will still be able to do
home education program evaluations!
Thank you to the many homeschoolers
who took around our fact sheets about this bill during last September's
Homeschool Excellence Day. You did
it!
Compulsory
School Age Bill Dying
In the last issue I wrote
about House Bill 2125 which would lower the beginning compulsory school age
from 8 to 6. After that many
homeschoolers with Republican legislators asked their legislators to ask Rep.
Jess Stairs to kill it in his committee.
We can also especially thank
the Chester County homeschoolers for their action after Republican Representative
Elinor Z. Taylor added her name to the list of sponsors. After receiving calls from homeschoolers in
Chester County she quickly decided to take her name off of the list of
sponsors.
Because of these actions, HB
2125 remains an almost purely Democrat-sponsored bill, and Rep. Jess Stairs
has decided to let it die in his committee (the House Education Committee).
That means that it will not be voted upon this session.
New School Age
Bill Introduced
A new bill (HB 2344) was
introduced on March 12, 1998. Like HB
2125, it would lower the compulsory school age and has very little chance of
passage this session. However, a bill
like it may pass during some future session, especially if Democrats regain
control of the House and Senate.
Those whose representatives
are co-sponsors, may want to contact their representatives and express their
disagreement and perhaps get others in their district to do the same. It would do all of the following:
ü Lower the compulsory school
age from 8 to 6.
ü Require all school districts
to provide all-day kindergarten. (Currently most school districts only provide
a half-day kindergarten.)
ü Require school districts to
make schooling available for all children 5 and up. (Currently it is 6 and up.)
The sponsors of the bill are:
·
Connie
Williams, Democrat, Montgomery
·
Fred
Bellardi, Democrat, Lackawanna County
·
Patricia
Carone, Republican, Butler County
·
Mark
Cohen, Democrat, Philadelphia
·
Frank
Dermody, Democrat, Allegheny County
·
Mike
Horsey, Democrat, Philadelphia
·
Harold
James, Democrat, Philadelphia
·
Babette
Josephs, Democrat, Philadelphia
·
Kathy
Manderino, Democrat, Philadelphia
·
Anthony
Melio, Democrat, Bucks County
·
William
Russell Robinson, Democrat, Allegheny
This bill is unlikely to pass given the fact that Republicans are currently in control of the PA House and Senate and the Governorship and it only has one Republican sponsor, Rep. Carone whose home office is in Cranberry Township of Butler County.
Apparently, the goal of
those who want to lower the beginning school age is to get ever earlier
education into the public schools and make it compulsory. l
by Howard
Richman
On April 22 the first bill
that would have saved homeschoolers some income tax money passed the United
States Senate It is called "Sen. Coverdell's A+ Education Savings Accounts
Bill."
During the week leading up
to April 22, the National Center for Home Education (an offshoot of the Home
School Legal Defense Association) mounted a very strong lobbying effort. As part of that effort, we passed on their
e-mail messages to recipents of Pennsylvania Homeschoolers e-mail tree.
Meanwhile in Washington Jon
Matias, a homeschooled senior in the Pennsylvania Homeschoolers Accreditation
Agency diploma program, was active lobbying for the bill. Jon has served as an Intern with the HSLDA
for the spring term while finishing up his requirements for high school
graduation. Next fall he plans to
attend Northland Baptist Bible College in Wisconsin.
On Monday morning, the 20th,
he met with the staff members of various Senators including Molly Birmingham,
a legislative assistant for Senator
Specter. She was basically non-commital.
"Senator Specter never tells me or anyone else how he is going to
vote," she said.
That afternonn Jon attended
a rally and press conference in favor of the bill hosted by its sponsor,
Senator Coverdell. Jon helped hold up the back drop behind the Senators while
they spoke.
On Tuesday, Jon spoke with
Senator Santorum's office by phone. He
asked the receptionist if she was receiving any phone calls in favor of
Coverdell's bill and the receptionist said, with weariness in her voice,
“hundreds and hundreds and hundreds.”
When he called Senator Specter's office
they told him they were flooded also.
On Wednesday, Jon monitored
the votes live on C-Span while sending
out Fax and e-mail alerts to homeschoolers around the country about their
results.
The key vote occurred on
April 21 when the Senate voted by 60 to 38 to defeat Senator Glenn’s Amendment
which would have excluded homeschooling and other forms of private school
education from the A+ Accounts. Both of
Pennsylvania's senators voted against that amendment.
On Wednesday amendments were
added which would eliminate Goals 2000, School-to-Work, and national testing.
Senator Santorum voted for these amendments while Senator Specter voted against
them. Then the bill as a whole came up
for a vote and passed 56 to 43 with Senator Santorum voting for and Senator
Specter against.
If this bill passes, parents
and relatives of homeschoolers could contribute to savings accounts which could
accumulate tax free and then eventually be spent for educational expenses. However, don't start your children's savings
accounts yet. This bill is expected to be vetoed by President Clinton and the
proponents do not currently have enough votes to over-ride his veto.
Stay tuned for the next
installment. If you join the
Pennsylvania Homeschoolers e-mail tree you will be informed right away so that
you can register your opinion with your legislators whenever this or any other
bill that affects homeschoolers is about to come up for a vote. l