5
"..,Seeking a legislative resolution on Ehe maEter of home schooling has the greatesE poEential for success..." ...On August 25, six Alameda County homeschooling parents meE with Dr, Berck to discuss Ehe currenE legal situaEion. He said aE the meeting that he would not be disEributing the affidavit forms Eo private schools with an enrollmenE of four or less, However, two days laEer, Dr. Berck called me to say he had consulted again with Ehe county counsel and since Ehe forms are a pubLic document, he has no righE to wiEhhold Ehem. ...Dr, Berck advised us that if $/e wanE our disEricts Eo offer Independent Study Programs, we should work through Ehe school boards, preferably by identifying one sympatheEic board member to sponsor a proposal' We asked Dr. Berck if the county considered a legal opEion to enroll children in Ehe independenE sEudy programs of private schools. He admitted that he did not have enough information Eo give us an answer. l"le gave him what informaEion we had (e.g., the 1983 Hackecc case in L.A. ) and asked him Eo contacE us when he has consuLted with his legal advisors on this ouestlon. .'.,On Sept. 3, Ginny Schwingel, Connie Pfeil. and I meE wich Dr. Fred Fernandez of Ehe office of Non-Public Schools ac Ehe DepE. of Education in SacramenEo, Dr. Fernandez said he hooed Dr. Berck would indeed maiL out Ehe affidavits, bu! if not, his office wouLd suppLy us with a sEack of Ehe forms. He said he had seen many instances of zealous superinEendenEs deciding to "Eake you folks Eo courEr" and EhaE he usually tried Eo warn Ehem ChaE iC wouldn'C be as simple as Ehey thought. He explained that before a family is turned over Eo the Districc AEEorney for prosecuEion, they aEtend a hearing before Ehe School AtEendance Review Board. If the SAR Board determines that che children are being educaLed in a saEisfacEory manner, the D.A. most likelv- wilL noE Drosecute... Dr. Fernandez offered Eo speak at one of our meetings, and also advised us to conEacE Scate Superintendent Bill Honig, who has made private schooLs a priority on his agenda. We asked again abouE Ehe option of enrolling in a private school independent study program, and Dr. Fernandez said that alEhough he is concerned abouE parents being defrauded L,. L., ^LFrl -i vy rltt.,rry-uy-rrr5'rL , L^r,c iisruI not think EhaE such an action was againsE the law. Like Dr. Berck, Dr. Fernandez felt that a LegisLative resoluLion clarifying the legality of home education would make his job easier. After Ehe two-hour meeEing with Dr. Ferndandez, we went Eo the CapiEol and hand-delivered basic information packets on home edr:caEion, and the problems vre are having with the vagueness of the law, Eo Ehe 24 members of the legislature's Education CommitEee. None of the legisLators was available to meet with us since the end of the session has been exEended, but severaL expressed supporE or inEeresC. we met with Dede HeiEman, an aide to Assemblyman Bob CampbelI. She feLt that a simpLe resolution mighE not be enough Eo protect us, and suggested we Ery Eo seE up a task force Eo sEudy che issues of home educaEion (this seemed Eo work well in WashingEon SEate) before drafting a new law... The legisLaEure will noE open Ehe nexE session unEil December... 6ROWING l,llTHOUT SCHOOLING #53
At this poin!' it seems most meda CounEy to let Ehe school officials see thaE we are acEive' organized, informed, and determined ' . . We hoDe EhaE anv familv who is contacted or' Ehreaienei by scirool auEhoriEies will notify us immediacely so we can help.. imDortanE for home educators in Ala-
IDR:
] Nancy Wallace (NY) told
us
thaE Ehe OakLand Tribune's editorial in suDDort of homF6E6Tfers (GWS #52)
was wriEten by her brotherl Also, MargareE Arighi (CA) told us of her soLuEion Eo Ehe Alameda
County probLem:
.,.I have aoolied and been the Mt. oiablo Home SEudy Program (GWS #52) in neighboring Contra Costa Country. My iniEial requesE was refused, buE chaE led to research which proved indeed EhaE slrch a program was not offered in Oakland'.. acceDEed bv
their portfolios examined, and of those who did, none were ju<iged inadequace. No superintendenE judged a homeschooled child's progress inadequate during Ehis year' and no family'who did noE comply wiEh Ehe '85 AcL was takei-Eo coirr-t, either. Some suoerinEendenEs Eried Eo imI'exEralbqal requirements" on the oose ^families' endlof-che-year evaluaEions, such as having Ehem consist only of standardized cest scores, but wheh challenged, a1I suPerinEendents withdrew Ehese requests. The FPEA is collecting Florida end-of-che-year evaluations to use as evidence thaE homeschooling works. Send a copy of your child's annual evaluation to Dr. Larry Walker, 9245 Woodrun Rd, Pensacola 32514. GEORGIA:
Homeschooling ParenEs
in CliiEon-County have been senE a leEEer telling Ehem to bring thei r diolomas to Ehe DepE. of Ed. to be xeroxed and placed-on file. The Dept. wiLl not give families the forms for filing the annual decLaration of ini:enE unless they comply wiEh this according to Ehe June/July request, ...AND STRUGGLE IN ANOTHER issue of Georqians for Freedom in EducaEion.G@ From Cecile Van Hudson, PO Box ionfit needing assistance should call I04, Gerber CA 96035: Jennv Henderson ac 471-4719. The GA comoulsorv actendance Law does not re. . . After much strugg Ie I I Years quiie dipiomas to be shown co the ago (and continuing), Tehama CounEy 16IucEantIy provided a Home Study Pro- Dept. of Ed...the Attorney General is looking into the matter"' gram as an-aiternacive. The teacher In CWS #51 , we rePorted that the iisits every two weeks or once a monEh, depending on how rural the scu- sEate was considering Eoughening the dent. ALI school supplies, books, and recenE homeschool law because of a field crips are provided. "large number of compLainEs" from couniy superj.ntendents. The "large Twice now, che home teachers' number" is acrually a toEal of two, contraccs have not been renewed. The according to the Governor's office! teachers worked hard ro make the proIOWA: Gregory Nichols wroEe in iE should be... "sram what ThC IOfiT-LOBBY FOR CONSTITUTIONAL LIB_ Please help gec the word out ERTY newsletter thaE three sEate thaE it is here as I am tired of the groups have joined to work for new struggLe co help Ehis grow.. ' We need Iegislation. They have appoi nEed a more sEudents and dedicated Parents as or the program wiII fade awaY and "IegisIaEive liaison" who will acE a full-time lobbyist, coordinate homedie... The newspaper in che area is schoolers' efforts, and teach educanoE interesced... tional seminars, The group plans Eo raise $10,000 ro pay Ehis Iiaison. The ILCL decided they needed OTHER LOCAL NEWS Ehis liaison during the pasE legislaFor addresses of sEare and Local Eive session, according co Gregory Nichols, when "Senator Taylor's amendorganizaEions, see GtiS #48, oI 99r ment Eo the Senate EducaEion CommiE"Homeschooling Resource List," $1. tee bill, an amendmenc EhaC wouLd ARKANSAS: ThC ARKANSAS CHRISTIAN have Lined Ehe bill up with Ehe GoverH0ME EDUCATToN ASSOCTATION reports nor's Eask force proposal, faiLed by thaE the SEace Dept' of Ed. recenEly four vores. Senator Taylor told us released the results of sEandardized thaE, had we had someone Ehere Ehat Eests given Eo homeschoolers, but week, that amendmenr would probably thaE it gave so litEle information have oassed. because some oi Ehose that the resulEs may be misleading. who vbced againsc iE were SenaEors we The state said Ehat 887" of the 317 had counted on, but the education homeschooLers in grades 1-6 "passed" Iobby gor to them and Ehey changed as did 6l"L of studenEs in grades their minds. We cannoE afford for 7-12. ACHEA complained that no menthis to hapPen agai n: " Eion was made of Ehe unusual definiMARYLAND: M-anfred Smith wrote in Eion of "passing," Ehe high average che sififrar-IIARYLAND HOME EDUCATION scores, progress from last year's ASSOCIATION newsLetter EhaE aLthough EesEs, or comparison to Public school home educaEion LegislaEion recenEly scores. COLORADO: From the Ausust ColoFor some hands-on education... racio fi6frECth6oi i ns ;\e cwork-i\ews--HO}IElIADE Ietter: "1ne 5c, Vrarn scnoor Doarc IN A 'TOIIEY THE DEF I ]I ITTI_I-GNTDE-TO'-SUCCESS has-Etrned down the requests of all HotlE BUSINESS--by Barbara Brabec 18 members of Master Sfudies lhome Exoanded and reyised 1987 edition. New school program] in an aEtempt to chaDter on uses of a conputer in a honeforce the CO sEate board co take a based business. UDdated RES0URCE secIook at iEs 'liberalr sEance on hometi on. Advi ce on getti n9 started, seschooling. DirecEor of Master Studlecting the right business, p'l anning for ies, Mike Moore, plans co aPPeaI to profits, and much nore. Reconuended by the state board of education, where the Snall Business Adninistration and all requests are expecEed co be used in college classroons! ! 304 pages approved. " SATTSFACTIOI'I GUARANTEED ! FLORIDA: The newsleEter of the JUST t12.95+ 13.00 p/h! ! FLORID'FE.RENT_EDUCATORS ASSOCIAT I ON (ltA residents add 7% tax please) r6^^ric rhar lho 'R5-'R6"- /-*_ vear uaq re1 I.'RITE FOR FREE CATALOG..IIA},IY IIEU ITEIIS atively Erouble-free for homeschoolTHE TII,IBERDOODLE ers in Ehe state. Few who complied El6l0 sPEilcER Lk. Rd. , SHELT0N llA 98584 with the '85 Home EducaEion Act had !