gtnas5
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Hearing on House Bill 2979 (Lightening Homeschool restrictions) UPDATE 4-15-09
Forward from OHEN
(Please forward to other homeschooling lists! Thanks!)
What: Hearing on HB 2979 by the House Education Committee
When: Wednesday, April 15, 1-3pm
Where: State Capitol, Hearing Room E, Salem
HB 2979 was introduced at the request of OHEN and OCEANetwork. If passed, it will remove registration and testing requirements for homeschoolers -- treating them in the same way as other privately educated students.
It is very important that the House Education Committee hear from homeschooling families. Quite a few of the committee members are new, and have not heard about the issue of home education freedom.
PLEASE make your voice heard by:
-- Attending the hearing on Wednesday if you can, or
-- E-mailing or calling the members of the House Education Committee, if you
can't.
If you are e-mailing or calling, please remember:
-- Keep your message short and courteous
-- Pick one or two key "talking points" to emphasize.
Examples of talking points:
-- Home education is private education, and should be treated equally. Private schools have the choice of whether or not to register with the state, and have the choice of whether or not to use standardized tests. Homeschoolers don't have these choices.
-- Standardized tests are designed to compare large groups. They are not designed to assess an individual child's learning progress. The available data shows that, as a group, homeschoolers do about twice as well as expected in comparison with the public schools.
-- In the public schools, there are no consequences for individual children based on their standardized test scores -- the tests are used to measure the schools, not the individual students. Homeschoolers don't have that freedom.
-- No Child Left Behind specifically exempts private and home schools from its accountability requirements, in recognition of the fact that private and home schools don't accept public funding.
-- Oregon has a significant high school drop-out and truancy problem in the public schools, and of children with special needs not receiving the services that they need. Our limited public education dollars should be spent
addressing these issues, not on the unfunded mandate of ESD supervision of
private homeschoolers.
Here's the contact information for the House Education Committee:
-- Sara Gelser, Chair (Dem., HD 16, Corvallis)
rep.saragelser@ state.or. us
-- Michael Dembrow, Vice-Chair (Dem., HD 45, NE Portland)
rep.michaeldembrow@ state.or. us
-- Sherrie Sprenger, Vice-Chair (Rep., HD 17, Scio)
rep.sherriesprenger @state.or. us
-- Chris Harker (Dem., HD 34, Beaverton)
rep.chrisharker@ state.or. us
-- John E Huffman (Rep., HD 59, The Dalles)
rep.johnhuffman@ state.or. us
-- Betty Komp (Dem., HD 22, Woodburn)
rep.bettykomp@ state.or. us
-- Ron Maurer (Rep., HD 3, Grants Pass)
rep.ronmaurer@ state.or. us
-- Arnie Roblan (Dem., HD 9, Coos Bay)
rep.arnieroblan@ state.or. us
-- Kim Thatcher (Rep., HD 25, Keizer)
rep.kimthatcher@ state.or. us
-- Suzanne VanOrman (Dem., HD 52, Hood River)
rep.suzannevanorman @state.or. us
IMPORTANT: If you are a constituent of any of the committee members, make SURE that you mention this in your e-mail or phone call. You can find your state representative here:
http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/
(Scroll all the way down to the end of the resulting list to find your STATE, not federal, representative. )
Thank you for doing your part to protect and strengthen home education freedom in Oregon.
Last edited by gtnas5, 4/15/2009, 10:43 pm
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4/11/2009, 8:05 am
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gtnas5
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Hearing Update from OCEANetwork
================ OCEANetwork Political Action Update ================
The Oregon House Education Committee held a hearing on our Home EducationFreedom/Equity bill (HB 2797) this afternoon -- sort of. Due to a mixup, testimony from the two sponsoring organizations (OCEANetwork and the Oregon Home Education Network) was limited to just a few minutes. For those of you who were watching on the internet, you know it was quite frustrating. But it was an honest miscommunication.
I believe that Rep Sarah Gelser, the Committee Chair, is genuinely open to our concerns. You may remember that she voted with us last session against her caucus' bill to lower the compulsory attendance age -- a bill which would have forced unready 6-year-olds into the public schools. And she told me today that she would not be holding a hearing on a similar bill introduced this year.
I was able to talk personally with three of the Committee members after the hearing and ask them to read my full testimony, which I had not been able to give in the hearing. I also talked with the office staff of the other Committee members, explaining the main points and asking them to have their boss read my testimony.
Thank you for praying, and for emailing and calling the Committee members in support of our bill. One of the staff members said there had been lots of emails from supporters.
When I talked with Rep Gelser, she indicated that she would not be moving the bill forward as she doesn't have the votes on the House floor to pass it. But this has been an opportunity for us all to help educate the Committee members about home education. Most of the Committee members this session are new to the Education Committee.
I am including my written testimony for today's hearing below. I believe it clearly states why the status quo is unfair to home educators.
Thank you for your support.
Rodger Williams
OCEANetwork Legislative Coordinator
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prepared Testimony for the Oregon House Education CommitteeHB 2797April 15, 2009
My name is Rodger Williams. I am the Legislative Coordinator for the Oregon Christian Home Education Association Network.
Thank you for hearing HB 2797, which would provide equity under the law for private home educators. I would like to talk about three topics this afternoon: First, who private home educators are. Second, the fact that our students are being singled out for high-stakes testing. Third, the unequal application of the compulsory attendance law against our students.
Who we are: Please look at the diagram I have provided. I believe you have seen this before. It shows four types of education, divided according to who pays for the education and where the education takes place (for the most part). We are in the quadrant labeled Private Home Education. * We do not take Oregon K-12 education money* We asked to be written out of the education tax credit bill* Online virtual charter schools are not giving us services (their students are explicitly public school students, not part of us)* We are private educators, not part of the public education system
Our students are being singled out for high-stakes testing: I have been asked here at the Capitol, "Why should homeschoolers be excused from taking statewide tests when my child in the public school has to take them?" The reason in simple. If a public school child scores low on the test, there are no serious individual consequences to that child. It's just, "Let's see if we can't do better next time." But when a home schooled child scores low, that child is subject to being yanked out of their home school and forcibly placed into an institutional school. The presumption is that children will do better in the public school than at home. But the Department of Education cannot tell you whether, on balance, the group of students who were remanded to public school in the past were actually helped or harmed. Ask them. The point is, our students suffer severe consequences for low scores and public school students don't.
Unequal application of the compulsory attendance law against our students: 339.010 School attendance required; age limits. Except as provided inORS 339.030, all children between the ages of 7 and 18 years who have notcompleted the 12th grade are required to attend regularly a public full-time school of the school district in which the child resides. It's pretty straightforward, isn't it. Students need to be in school except under specifically defined exceptions.
Now, what actually happens in the public schools? According to the Department of Education, 13.7% of public school high schoolers drop out. Additionally, 8 out of every 1000 7th and 8th graders drop out. So between the end of 6th grade and the end of 12th grade, 14.5% of public school students drop out. If the ten of you on this Committee were typical 6th graders in Oregon public schools, one or two of you would drop out of school by the end of 12th grade.
Here is my question: Isn't dropping out of school a violation of the Oregon statute we just looked at? Why are students allowed to just decide to drop out? Here are the reasons dropouts give, available on the Department's website:
* Frequent health problems
* Does not speak English well or at all
* Substance abuse
* Felt peer pressure to not achieve
* Pregnant or student parent
* Homeless
* Needed at home to care for family members
* Lack of parental support for education
* Dysfunctional home life
* Attended 3 or more high schools
* Frequent discipline referrals
* Too far behind in credits to catch up
* Conflicts with school personnel
* Lack of appropriate alternative education opportunities
* Student unable to get personal attention needed to succeed
* School curriculum did not meet student needs
* Working more than 15 hours a week
* Obligations to support family
These reasons are not given as exceptions in the compulsory attendance law. But the public school dropouts still walk away. Home educated students are not allowed this luxury. Our students are remaining involved in the educational process at least to the point where they are still taking tests. But they still can be, and are, forced out of their home school into an institutional school. Can you imagine what would happen if a home educated student said, "My school curriculum did not meet my needs." Or, "My home life is dysfunctional." How about, "I feel peer pressure to not achieve." They would be remanded to an institutional school setting, period. Releasing us from this double standard is reason enough to support this bill.
We are asking for an equal application of the compulsory attendance law. Unless the State of Oregon starts dragging the public school dropouts back into the classroom, I must respectfully say that you have no moral right to single out privately home educated students and force them out of their homeschools just because they score low on a test.
Please support this bill.
Thank you.
..............................................................................
If you know an Oregon home educating friend who would be interested in this topic, please pass this message along.
You can subscribe directly to the free OCEANetwork Alert and Information E-mail Service at http://www.oceanetwork.org/membership/signup.cfm.
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4/15/2009, 10:42 pm
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