************************************************ CALL TO ACTION: July 11, 2002 ************************************************ ************************************************ WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE NEW HOME SCHOOLING BILL, HB2560? ************************************************ First thing of note is that the Red Team clearly demonstrated to the House Education Committee Informational Hearing on June 13, 2002 that Pennsylvania homeschoolers definitely support HB2560. How did that help? One benefit appears to be, that due to your overwhelming Red Team attendance at the hearing, we have gained 3 or 4 more votes in the House Education committee. We are making progress! A second benefit is that we are shifting the debate to our terms. Most of the representatives we talk to now agree that there are problems with the current law. They agree that it should be fixed. Unfortunately, some of the legislators feel that “HB 2560 goes too far.” What reasons do legislators give us for not supporting HB2560? In a word-Accountability. They feel that we need to be accountable to the government. They are fearful that parents would not do what is necessary to educate their children unless the government watches over them and makes sure they are doing it. They are unaware of the vested interest that homeschooling parents have in their children. We have been working to answer these fears with facts. In our many lobbying visits, we are making the following points: * Homeschoolers across the United States are doing well, regardless of the level of accountability to the state. It is a fact that homeschool parents do what is best for their children without government oversight. * 99.9 % of homeschoolers in Pennsylvania are succeeding according to PA Department of Ed’s own statistics. Homeschoolers in less regulated states are succeeding at approximately the same level. * Policing homeschoolers is expensive in terms of time and money for both homeschoolers and school districts. It is an unfunded mandate on the school districts draining their already limited finances. Given the 99.9 % success rate of homeschoolers this makes no sense. School systems do not even come close to this kind of success rate. * The most important factor in educational success is the involvement of parents. Homeschoolers have this in excess over all other methods of teaching. Notice that the important criterion is parents, not teachers. Brian Ray noted during the June 13, 2002 hearing that a national study showed that there is a direct correlation between the success of the public schools and the freedom of homeschooling: In states which have less homeschool regulation, the public schools demonstrate greater success. Even when we make these points many representatives seem stuck on accountability. To us, this is a straw man. If they were not stuck on this, their only other choice would be to support the new law. The argument still needs to be made, but it seems to us that what we really need is to get this bill out of the Education Committee with some old-fashion political pressure. First we used that old-fashioned political pressure to keep a long and cumbersome law from being introduced. Then we used that same old-fashioned political pressure to keep the bill alive in the Education Committee. We have been told that the Informational Hearing was the largest committee hearing ever held at the Capitol and the first one to be held in the Forum Building! ************************************************ WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO NOW? ************************************************ We need to have the constituents contact the members of the House Education Committee. At the end of this email there are two lists. The first list needs to be thanked, encouraged and asked if they would talk to their fellow Education Committee members who are opposed to this bill. The second list needs to be strongly encouraged to get on board to support HB2560. We would ask those of you who have representatives serving on the House Education Committee to contact your representative by phone, fax, snail mail, personal visit, and/or email their district office at this time, or to their capitol office (information at the end of this email). We have reason to believe that the district office contact would be appropriate at this time since they are in their district offices most of the summer. Please let them know that you are in their district and that as your representative, you want them to support HB2560. We also suggest that you encourage them to get the bill out of the Education Committee as soon as possible, and no later than mid-August. This is because it will surely die in committee, or never have enough time to get through the House and the Senate floor if it is not taken out of committee before the fall session starts. Though they are out of session for the summer, we have been told that the Education Committee will meet a couple of times this summer. Please send a note to the CHAP email or snail mail address so we can have external evidence of what is happening. ************************************************ WHAT ELSE SHOULD WE BE DOING? ************************************************ It is time to begin preparing the ground in the Senate. Write/call/fax/email/visit your own state senator asking him to support home schooling relief and returning the rights and responsibilities of education back to the parents. Send a copy of your contact to Senator James Rhoades, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee and to CHAP so we can report to them accurately about the response. We know that this is a little more work for you and for us, but it sure helps when we go to visit a legislator and know that he/she has had at least XXX number of contacts from constituents/voters on this issue. If you are in Senator Piccola’s district, we’d suggest you contact him requesting that he sponsor the Senate version of HB 2560. This is especially important. This bill needs a sponsor in the Senate. ************************************************ SUMMERTIME IN PENNSYLVANIA – CAN WE TAKE A VACATION? ************************************************ Your continued action through the summer will mean the new law has a chance of making it through the House and the Senate before the end of this legislative session. The legislature is on summer vacation now until September 23, 2002, but we cannot go on vacation with them! We must use this summer time to move the bill out of the House Education committee and to set up support in the Senate. The fall session, interrupted by the elections in November, is just 23 days spread over September, October, and November. This legislative session ends on November 27, 2002. At that time, any legislation, not voted into law by both legislative bodies and signed by the Governor, dies. In January, we would then have to start over with new bills in both the House and Senate and work to see them passed in the two-year legislative session. It is imperative that we utilize the only resources that we have available. Our one resource is that of a continued grass-roots contact via phone, letter, and email, letting them know that the majority desire to see these changes made before the end of this legislative session. Our other resource is prayer. Pray that God’s hand would “move the hearts of the legislators,” for ultimately, “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." (Proverbs 21:1) The CHAP Board, Bruce and Mary Ann Eagleson, Larry and Kim Huber, Clyde and Pam Gwin, Doug and Nada Rothgaber, Jim and Robbie Warren, and all our children, the reason for the journey ************************************************ SUMMARY OF ACTION STEPS TO TAKE: ************************************************ 1. If your representative is on the House Educ. Committee, please contact to them: * State that you are a constituent – this is important. * If they are on the favorable list, state your gratefulness for their support for HB2560 and asked if they would encourage their fellow Education Committee members who are opposed to this bill. * If they are wavering, encourage them to support HB2560 2. If your representative is not on the House Education Committee, then we are asking you folks to contact your state senator requesting that they support the Senate version of HB2560 when it comes to the Senate in the fall. 3. If your state senator is Jeff Piccola (Dauphin County), please contact him encouraging him to sponsor the Senate version of HB2560. ************************************************ THE CAPITOL MAILING ADDRESS FOR ALL REPRESENTATIVES ************************************************ Representative XXXXXX P. O. Box 202020 Harrisburg, PA 17120-2020 ************************************************ DISTRICT OFFICE ADDRESSES ************************************************ District office address for your state representative and/or senator can be located at: http://capwiz.com/hslda/dbq/officials/ ************************************************ LISTING OF HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE ************************************************ LIKELY SUPPORTERS ************************************************ Listed in the following order: Name - County - Email address - local address - Local phone; - Capitol phone Bob Bastian - Somerset - bbastian@pahousegop.com -130 So Main, Somerset, PA 15501,- (814) 443-4230- 717-783-8756 Paul Clymer - Bucks - pclymer@pahousegop.com - 311 N. 7th St.,Perasie - (215) 257-0279 - 717-783-3154 Patrick Fleagle - Franklin - pfleagle@pahousegop.com - 116 W. main St., Waynesboro, 17268 - 717-783-5218 Bev Macereth - York - bmackere@pahousegop.com - West Gate Plaza, 1550-C Kenneth Rd., York, 17404 (717) 767-3947 ; 717-783-2655 Daryl Metcalfe - Butler - dmetcalf@pahousegop.com - Municipal Building, 2525 Rochester Road, Suite 201, Cranberry Township, PA, 16066 - (724) 772-3110; 717-783-1707 Sam Rohrer - Berks - srohrer@pahousegop.com - 100 Love Road, Reading, PA, 19607 - (610) 775-5130; 717-787-8550 Thomas Stevenson - Allegheny - tstevens@pahousegop.com - 246 Washington Road, Pittsburgh, PA, 15216 - (412) 571-2169; 717-787-2047 William Robinson - Allegheny - wrobinso@pahouse.net - 2203 1/2 Wylie Avenue. Pittsburgh, PA 15219, (412) 471-7760; 717-787-9460 John Lawless - Montgomery - jlawless@pahouse.net - Audobon Village Center, 2812-A Egypt Road, Audobon, PA, 19403; (610) 631-5100; 717-787-5741 Rich Grucela - Northampton - rgrucela@pahouse.net - 26 South Broad Street, Nazareth, PA 18064, (610) 614-1312; 717-705-1878 Tom Yewcic - Cambria/Somerset - tyewcic@pahouse.net - 535 Fairfield Avenue, Johnstown, PA 15906 (814) 536-8400 - 717-783-0248 WAVERING REPRESENTATIVES: ************************************************ Listed in the following order: Name - County - Email address - local address - Local phone; - Capitol phone Jess Stairs, Maj. Chair - Fayette/Westmoreland - jstairs@pahousegop.com - RD #1, Acme, PA, 15610, (724) 423-5141; - 717-783-9311 Fred McIlhattan - Armstrong/ Clarion - fmcilhat@pahousegop.com - 21 North 6th Avenue, Clarion, PA 16214,(814) 226-9000; 717-772-9908 Edward Krebs - Lebanon - ekrebs@pahousegop.com - 445 West Penn Avenue,Cleona, PA, 17042, (717) 270-1905; - 717-783-1815 Jerry Nailor - Cumberland - jnailor@pahousegop.com - 2929 Gettysburg Road, Suite 6, Camp Hill, PA, 17011, (717) 761-4665;717-783-5282 Robert Flick - Chester/Delaware - rflick@pahousegop.com - Barr Building, Suite 302 266 Lancaster Avenue, Malvern, PA 19355,(610) 251-1070; 717- 787-8579 Lynn Herman - Centre/Clearfield - lherman@pahousegop.com - 301 South Allen Street, Suite 102,State College, PA, 16801, (814) 238-5477; 717-787-8594 Ronald Miller - York - rmiller@pahousegop.com - 6872 Susquehanna Trail South P.O. Box 277, Jacobus, PA 17407-0277, (717) 428-9889; 717-783-8389 Jere Schuler - Lancaster - jschuler@pahousegop.com - Municipal Building, 852 Village Road, P. O. Box 268, Lampeter, PA, 17537-0268, (717) 464-5285; 717-783-6422 Nick Colafella, Min. Chair - Beaver - tmclaugh@pahouse.net - 3489 Broadhead Road, Monaca, PA 15061, (724) 728-7655; 717-787-5475 Thaddeus Kirkland - Philadelphia - tkirklan@pahouse.net - 29 East Fifth Street, Chester, PA 19013, (610) 876-6420; 717-787-5881 James Roebuck - Philadelphia - jroebuck@pahouse.net - 4800 Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19143, (215) 724-2227; 717-783-1000 Lawrence Curry - Montgomery - lcurry@pahouse.net - One Jenkintown Station, Suite 211, 115 West Avenue, Jenkintown, PA 19046, (215) 572-5210 ; 717-783-1079 Phyllis Mundy - Lurzerne - pmundy@pahouse.net - Park Office Bldg., Suite 113, 400 Third Avenue, Kingston, PA 18704, (570) 283-9622 ; 717-783-1614 Sara Steelman - Cambria/Indiana- ssteelma@pahouse.net - The Atrium, 665 Philadelphia Street, Indiana, PA 15701, (724) 465-0220 ; 717-772-2046 P. Michael Sturla - Lancaster - msturla@pahouse.net - 8 North Queen St., Suite 1100, The Griest Building, Lancaster, PA 17603, (717) 295-3157 ; 717-787-3555