Red Alert for WA Homeschoolers
Dear Friends of Christian Heritage,
Please read the following legislative Red Alert from Christian Homeschool Network (legislative liaison organization for Christian Heritage). This alert describes legislation introduced earlier this week which is potentially dangerous to our Washington State homeschool freedoms.
No action is needed at present, but please stay tuned! And please fervently pray with us for God’s protection on our abilitiy to legally continue discipling & educating our children at home.
Serving Christian Homeschoolers for God’s Glory,
Christian Heritage Home Educators of Washington
www.ChristianHeritageOnline.org
RED ALERT
RED ALERT RED ALERT
ATTENTION ALL HOMESCHOOLERS AND SUPPORTERS:
Monday evening CHN was made aware of a bill that would repeal most of the education code, which would include the home-based instruction laws. After much discussion with the prime sponsor of the bill Senator McAuliffe, who is also Chair of the Senate Education Committee, we were able to propose a simple solution to exempt the homeschool laws RCW 28A.200 the home-based instruction law, RCW 28A.225.010 the part of the compulsory attendance law which allows for home-based instruction and RCW 28A.195.010 which allows for homeschooling under private school extension programs. Not realizing that this would be so simple, Senator McAuliffe quickly agreed to make these changes to her bill!
Anticipating that a bill like this may be introduced this session, CHN began discussions last year with other state leaders at CHN’s State Support Group Leaders Summit. We all discussed what we need to do to prepare and how best to protect the homeschool laws. Thankfully, this helped us to be ready, when speaking with Senator McAuliffe, to present a reasonable, simple and united solution. Also, this is why we asked you to write your legislators in the fall asking them to protect the homeschool laws. Your actions helped us to gain support from other lawmakers on this issue.
As some of you may remember there was a similar bill in 2001 which also would have repealed the education code including the homeschool laws. At that time due to the opposition of homeschoolers this bill died in committee.
However, at that time many homeschoolers seem to be confused as to what are the homeschool laws versus what laws affect homeschooling. Many of us say “don’t touch our law” but we have not defined what that means. Click here to see a document CHN prepared for state homeschool leaders to help clarify what we mean by the “homeschool law” and help us all to be united on this issue.
CHN passed out a similar document to the Senate Education Committee at the February 6th hearing so that they, too, would be better informed on our laws. We followed up with many senators on the Education Committee and they showed their support for our proposed changes and agreed to take us out of the bill!
No action is needed at this time. However, we wanted to make sure you were aware that this is a potentially dangerous bill and we all need to be informed and ready to take immediate action if necessary.
We all need to stay diligent in monitoring this bill. Please contact us immediately if you hear anything. You can reach Scott and DiAnna Brannan at our home telephone (253) 639-3325 or via e-mail at chnow@msn.com.
This has been a fast session and this bill is moving very fast as well. It was introduced on Tuesday, had a hearing Wednesday morning, and could be voted out of committee today (2-7-08)—which means it could go to the Floor for a vote soon.
We will keep our Legislative Activity Page updated as necessary and will keep you posted on the progress of this bill.
Our status in Washington State must stay at RED ALERT until this bill passes or the legislative session has ended.
FYI- As soon as CHN heard about this bill they alerted Christian Heritage, Home School Legal Defense, Family Academy, and the Washington Homeschool Organization. Thank you Christian Heritage for immediately alerting your prayer chain. Your prayers greatly sustain us and are very much appreciated.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
See Senate Bill SB6929.
To learn more about this bill read the Senate Bill Report. This report clearly states that it is not the intention of this bill to repeal the homeschool law.
Preserving homeschool freedoms for today and tomorrow!
Christian Homeschool Network
www.CHNow.org
We are able to continue our work as a result of your gifts. It takes a large amount of financial resources to maintain a presence in Olympia each session, put together an annual newsletter, research and prepare reports, make thousands of copies, and maintain a website and a free e-alert system.
We sincerely welcome your financial support, which is the lifeline God uses to allow us to exist. We do not have any financial grants, or other sources of income to provide for this work. We pray that you will consider helping with this great mission. Your participation will help us preserve our homeschool freedoms today and for future generations.
To support our efforts monetary gifts to CHN are appreciated; however as with all political lobbying organizations they are NOT tax deductible, but nevertheless remain vital to our continued efforts on behalf of homeschooling. Please make checks payable to: CHN, 10638 SE 236th St., Kent, WA 98031 Or become a member by joining us today.
© 2008 CHN all rights reserved. Permission to copy and distribute if copied in its entirety, or contact chnow@msn.com.
This information is not intended to be and does not constitute the giving of legal advice. Before making any decisions that could affect the legal status of your homeschool program contact Home School Legal Defense Association www.HSLDA.org for advice.