An Idaho senate Democrat wrote a bill that just passed the senate (headed for the house now) seeking to give government oversight to officials regarding bullying in our home schools as well as public schools. ICHE (Idaho Coalition of Home Educators) needs help trying to stop this bill in the house. They are asking home educators to send emails. See below... I attached a copy of of a letter to give you an idea. It only took a minute. Be sure to send a copy to ICHE (e-address below letter) so they can keep count. Both email addresses are below.
Speaker Denney,
I would like to request the exclusion of home school families in bill SB1358. My reason?
The language Senator LeFavour uses in this bill is not properly defined. According it ICHE, Idaho Coalition of Home Educators, the term home school does not appear Idahos compulsory education statute so we dont even know what Senator LeFavour means by home school.
Also, bureaucratic oversight of home educators on this particular point is inappropriate and in my view, totally unnecessary.
Thank you for all you do.
Your Name
address
phone number
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 3:13 PM
Subject: Your Emails Urgently Needed
~Commemorating 20 Years of Defending Idaho Home School Freedom~
From: ICHE Legal Advisors
Subject: Home School Bullying?
Immediate Action Needed:
Despite our multiple efforts to exclude home schools from the broad sweep of anti-bullying legislation in Senate Bill 1358, the bill’s primary sponsor has failed to include, or even discuss, our requested language. The bill has now passed in the Senate. Please email House Speaker, Lawerence Denney, and Chairman of the House Education Committee, Representative Bob Nonini, asking them to oppose Senate Bill 1358. These friends of home education can be reached by email at:
In your subject line, please write, “Home Schoolers Oppose Bullying Bill SB1358.â€
Then include a one or two sentence explanation indicating why you oppose the bill. You can see some of those reasons in the Background section, below. Be sure to let them know how much you appreciate their strong stand for Idaho’s home educators!
BACKGROUND:
Senate Bill 1358 is sponsored by Senator Nicole LeFavour (D-Boise) and others. It is intended to provide additional measures to battle bullying in the public schools. When the bill was originally being introduced in the Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee, the sponsor was asked if it would apply to home schoolers. Unfortunately, her answer indicated that she certainly hoped so.
This created a quandary for home schoolers. While we certainly oppose bullying in the public schools, imposition of significant bureaucratic oversight of home schoolers on this point is inappropriate.
At the hearing in committee, ICHE opposed the bill based on the apparent inclusion of home educators. The bill narrowly passed the committee vote, but was sent for amendments. Two of the committee members then asked ICHE to provide Senator LeFavour with language that would exempt families who home educate.
ICHE sent Senator LeFavour language that would satisfactorily accomplish that task. We received no response to that email.
When the bill was introduced on the Senate floor with other amendments, it included an ambiguous provision on page 6 that was not in accord with other Idaho statutes. The language included by Senator LeFavour suffers from two specific deficiencies:
First, it uses the term “home school,†a term not used in Idaho’s compulsory education statute to describe home educators. The exemption for home educators needs to use the same terminology used elsewhere in the statutes.
Second, it provides protection only in the “home school setting†without defining that term. That raises the question of whether the law will apply to home schooled students when they are outside of their own home. They may be deemed no longer in the home school “setting†and, therefore, not protected by this exemption.
As a result of these shortcomings, ICHE requested that Senator LeFavour at least modify her language to bring it into conformity with Idaho’s compulsory education statute. Again, we heard nothing from the bill’s sponsor and the bill then passed on the Senate floor by a vote of 25 to 8
At this point, the bill has been sent to the House for consideration. The fate of the bill for the moment rests in the hands of the Speaker of the House and the chairman of the House Education Committee, Representatives Denney (R-Midvale) and Nonini (R-Coeur d’Alene). These two men, staunch friends of our home school freedoms, will decide whether the bill will move forward in the House and, if so, in what manner.
Please send an email note immediately to both of these Representatives asking them to oppose Senate Bill 1358. The more emails that they receive, the more likely this bill will be defeated or at least modified appropriately.
Thank you for standing with other home school school families to preserve Idaho home school freedom.
