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Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV)

To: Home Educators of Virginia
From: Joe Guarino, director of government affairs
Date: Monday, January 28, 2005

2005 General Assembly Update: Legislation is Moving Quickly

HB 1767
HOME INSTRUCTION; NOTIFICATION REGARDING EXAMINATIONS=.
This bill would direct local school boards to notify homeschoolers of the availability of Advanced Placement (AP) and Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) examinations, and the availability of financial assistance to low-income and needy students to take these examinations. The bill passed the House last week and has been referred to the Senate Education and Health Committee. It will probably not be heard until February 10.

Presently, local superintendents are the only ones with a list of homeschoolers in their district, and they report only the number of homeschoolers in their district to the state Department of Education. As such, we shared our concerns about privacy with the patron. We suggested a friendly amendment to have school boards direct “the local superintendents” to notify homeschoolers about the tests. He thought it satisfactory and said he would consider adding it.

Introduced by the Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers, HEAV does not support this bill in its original form. If amended as requested, we will support the bill.

HB 1770
TESTING OF STUDENTS RECEIVING HOME INSTRUCTION.
This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to maintain a list of achievement tests that may be used to satisfy homeschoolers’ yearly testing requirement. The bill passed the House Monday and has been referred to the Senate Education and Health Committee. Introduced by the Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers, it will probably not be heard until February 10.

HEAV spoke with the patron about our concerns regarding the State Superintendent keeping a list of specific tests. Our initial concern about limiting our choice to a list of tests was confirmed in a conversation this week with Home School Legal Defense. We agreed the best avenue would be to ask for acceptable tests to include “any” nationally normed, standardized achievement tests rather than limiting the choice to four or five specific tests. We will work toward language that will give parents more freedom in testing choices rather than restricting their choices to a limited list.

HB 2040
CHICKEN POX VACCINE; IMMUNIZATION FOR CHILDREN.
This bill would add the chicken pox vaccine to the list of required immunizations before a child enters the sixth grade. The bill has still not been heard in committee. HEAV will monitor this bill.

HB 2235
TETANUS VACCINE; IMMUNIZATION REQUIREMENTS FOR CHILDREN.
This bill would add the tetanus vaccine to the list of required immunizations for a child at age 11 to 12 years if at least five years have elapsed since the last dose of tetanus vaccine. The bill has still not been heard in committee. HEAV will monitor this bill.

HB 2297
CHARTER SCHOOL AND HOME SCHOOLED STUDENTS; PARTICIPATION IN INTERSCHOLASTIC ACTIVITIES. This bill was heard Monday evening in the House Education Subcommittee on Students and Day Care. It was intended to require the Virginia High School League (VHSL) to write new regulations to give charter school and homeschool students the opportunity to play interscholastic sports in the public schools. The VHSL, the Virginia School Board Association, and the Virginia Education Association all spoke in opposition to the bill. The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers spoke in favor of the bill saying they “favor access to public schools when possible.” We remain neutral on the bill. (Another similar bill, HB 1731, had been rolled into this bill.)

During the debate, concerns were raised on how to track the grade point average of homeschoolers. Since many homeschoolers don’t use or have GPAs, but do take standardized tests every year, the test scores could be used instead. One delegate countered that public school students receive their GPAs each semester. The patron mentioned that this issue could be resolved in the regulations promulgated by the VHSL.

Another concern raised was how homeschoolers are tracked. The patron deferred to me to explain the homeschooling laws, demonstrating that homeschoolers under the regular homeschool law must offer a notice of intent every year they intend to homeschool.

Delegate Van Yahres was worried that a superstar homeschool athlete might bump a mediocre public school athlete from the team. While I did not counter with a response, one would think that the local high school would highly desire the best athletes from the community. This would give them a better team, leading to more victories, more prestige, more scouts, and ultimately more money for the sports program.

By the time the bill was heard around 8 p.m., several Republican had left the committee altering the committee make-up in favor of the Democrats. Though the subcommittee typically has 11 members, the vote from the remaining subcommittee members was 5-2 to table the bill. While subcommittee recommendations are non-binding, a vote this lopsided will usually produced doom for the bill at the full committee level. In addition to the four Democrats on the subcommittee, Republican Delegate Melanie Rapp voted against the bill. By Wednesday, the patron had informed me that he was going to request that the bill be stricken, or removed, from the docket. If this happens, the bill will be dead for the session.

HJ 712
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT; PARENTAL RIGHT IS A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT (FIRST RESOLUTION). This resolution is asking the General Assembly to allow the people to amend the Virginia Constitution to include an article stating that the God-given right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right, subject only to those same limitations as other fundamental rights. While a very good resolution, the patron shared with me that she did not have the time to pursue proper support for it. Therefore, she plans to have the resolution stricken, or removed, from the docket, effectively killing it for this session.

SB 713
PARENTAL LEAVE FOR SCHOOL INVOLVEMENT.
This bill would require employers to permit employees who are parents of school-aged children to take up to four hours of annual leave so they can attend a function at or otherwise be involved in the child's school. This bill has not yet been heard in committee. HEAV will remain neutral on this bill.

SB 838
ABSENTEE BALLOTS; APPLICATIONS BY PERSONS WHO HOME SCHOOL OR CARE FOR PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN IN HOME. This bill would expand the category of caregivers entitled to use absentee ballots to include people who are primarily and personally responsible for the care or schooling of preschool or school-aged children who are cared for at home or homeschooled. While this bill will certainly help homeschoolers, it does not effect home education. HEAV will remain neutral on this bill.

The patron, Senator Ken Cuccinelli, is the only senator who homeschools all of his children. During the subcommittee hearing on the bill Monday, the patron shared that, when his wife took their five daughters to vote, she was told she could not bring them into the voting booth with her. While regulations allow children under 15 to enter the booth with their parents, the voting officials at Mrs. Cuccinelli’s voting station apparently did not know this. When the next election occurred, Mrs. Cuccinelli attempted to vote absentee with her husband, only to be told that she did not fit any of the categories allowed for voting absentee. Sen. Cuccinelli was, therefore, asking that the category for caregivers be expanded slightly to include stay-at-home moms. The senator pointed out that, last year, the General Assembly passed a law allowing people who work 11 hours a day outside their voting district to vote absentee. The bill was given a unanimous recommendation of approval by the Senate Privileges and Elections Subcommittee on Voter Registration and Polling Procedures. Tuesday evening, the full committee reported the bill unanimously. It will go before the full Senate beginning Thursday.

SB 1290
COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.
This bill would change the date for beginning compulsory attendance at school from September 30 to July 31. We’re sorry to report, this bill was killed Thursday in the Senate Education and Health Committee.

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HEAV (Home Educators Association of Virginia)
2248-G Dabney Road
Richmond, VA 23230

Phone: 804-278-9200
Fax: 804-278-9202
Website: http://www.heav.org
E-mail: info@heav.org; for legislative matters, legislative@heav.org