Vol. 3, Issue 1
| [Art.] 2-b. Parents have the natural right to control the health, education, and welfare of their children. |
Rep. Dan Itse, Pam Tucker, Paul Ingbretson, Paul Mirski, JR Hoell, Seth Cohn and Andrew Manuse introduced CACR 31 to the House again this year.
Last year's parental rights amendment, CACR 9 was voted 212-128, which lacked the requisite three-fifths vote necessary for passage. This year's language is shorter and more concise. Hopefully, CACR 31 will pass the House because parental rights continue to be under attack on many fronts.
With respect to education, there are currently over 5,400 registered home schoolers in NH. That's is roughly 3% of the school age population. Keep in mind that many home schoolers in NH are underground. Estimates are that nearly 5% of the school age population is home schooled. It is a nationwide grassroots movement that has occurred in large part due to the elimination of local control of public schools. If the needs of parents were met by local schools, they would simply have no need to remove their children from the schools.
Over the last ten years enrollment in NH public and private schools have fallen by 8% due to demographic changes. At the same time NH home schooling enrollment has gone up by 33% and that does not even include the underground home schoolers which comprise nearly half the home schoolers in this state! [Information taken from the NH DoE website: http://www.education.nh.gov/data/attendance.htm]
It's time that the legislature addressed this growing need to recognize and respect parental rights.
Rep. Shawn Jasper testified yesterday AGAINST HB 1571 on behalf of the House Republican Majority office, ie Rep. DJ Bettencourt. The GOP leadership was the ONLY opposition to the bill at the public hearing.
Please contact Rep. Jasper (shawn.jasper@leg.state.nh.us) and Bettencourt (betts24@gmail.com) and tell them to support this homeschooling bill. Even lobbyists didn't testify against HB 1571! 2012 is an election year and homeschoolers may recall that their homeschooling legislation did better under Democrats rule of the House in 2010 than under Republicans in 2012. In 2010 Rep. Ingbretson's homeschooling freedom bill fell 16 votes short of passage out of the House.
The current bill, HB 1571 eliminates the requirement to submit annual homeschooling evaluations, eliminates probation and eliminates termination of homeschooling programs in NH. Additionally, it protects homeschoolers from privacy violations as federal regulations now allow for the distribution of student data without parental permission, even to foreign countries.
Parents would still be required to have their children evaluated annually, but those evaluations would stay with the parents.
Text of HB 1571: <http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2012/HB1571.html>
Detailed analysis:
Given the that No Child Left Behind and other federal programs intrusively collect private student data and then allow the distribution of this information without parental permission, it’s reasonable to protect these private records, allowing parents to maintain these records and evaluations at home.
New rules were announced last month by the Obama Administration and its Department of Education regarding the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Students’ data is now more accessible. These new rules allow, without consent by parents, the government and even private companies to share students’ information. The government can even share this information with foreign countries.
So the need for privacy is a very real concern.
However, many parents currently work with public schools to have their home schooled children evaluated. So frequently both parties know the test results.
These test results should only a talking point. Our objective should be how can the district constructively help the child, if or when it is needed. Not how can the child be placed on probation or can someone terminate his program. No public school program is ever terminated over poor test results. So change is equitable.
Home schooled child’s records should not be maintained by public schools and disclosed under federal mandate.
Consider other home schooling statutes: 40 states have no procedure to terminate home schooling programs based upon test results.
Only 15 states require testing. 9 states require a review of the portfolio; one state (MN) requires a portfolio review but doesn’t require the submission of the evaluation.
Only 10 states have provisions to terminate a home schooling program. Probation is found in only 4 states ranging from 1 to 2 years.
NH has the highest bar for standardized testing in the nation: over 40th percentile. The range is 13th to 40th percentile or the top 2/3 to 3/4 stanine.
WV has essentially unlimited probation in that if the student is under the 50th percentile (which seemingly is the highest requirement), yet all that is needed is a demonstration of year-to-year incremental progress. A student can go from the 6th percentile to the 7th percentile in a year and that’s sufficient incremental progress. Thus, WV never terminates.
|
States |
Evaluation |
Probation |
Termination |
|
CO |
13th percentile |
|
yes |
|
FL |
|
1 yr. probation |
yes |
|
HA |
top 2/3 stanine (grades 3 & up only) |
|
yes |
|
NH |
40th percentile |
1 yr. probation |
yes |
|
NY |
33rd percentile |
2 yr. probation |
yes |
|
OH |
25th percentile |
|
yes |
|
OR |
15th percentile |
|
yes |
|
PA |
|
|
yes |
|
VT |
|
|
yes |
|
VA |
top 3/4 stanine |
1 yr. probation |
ye |
There are currently over 5,400 registered home schoolers in NH. That's is roughly 3% of the school age population. Yet many home schoolers in NH are underground, up to half the home schooling community is underground. Estimates are that nearly 5% of the school age population is currently being home schooled.
Home schooling is a nationwide grassroots movement in response to the lack of recognition for parental rights in public schools.
Over the last ten years enrollment in NH pubic and private schools have fallen by 8% due to demographic changes. At the same time NH home schooling enrollment has gone up by 33%, which does not even include the underground. [Information taken from the NH DoE website: http://www.education.nh.gov/data/attendance.htm]
Hundreds of union workers descended upon the NH Statehouse this week in opposition to HB 1163 (Rep. Sue DeLemus-R), which prohibits towns, cities and the state from withholding union dues. Union lobbyists made dire predictions that this bill undermines workers’ morale as well as the unions themselves.
Similar warnings were made with the introduction of The Toleration Act of 1819, proposing to separate Church and State. Towns would not longer be allowed to withholdmoney for the churches. Many proclaimed that the churches would be undermined and devastated.
"Pass the bill now on the table," said Mr. Hubbard, (Hubbard's speech, July 1819) "and the temples now consecrated to the worship of our Saviour of the world will soon be deserted and forsaken."
History of New Hampshire by George Barstow (1842), pg 434.
Our churches survived and so will the unions.
Union dues are used for partisan purposes, such as hiring lobbyists. These lobbyists oppose the initiatives of citizens, such as HB 1163. Government should not play a role in the collection of money for partisan politics any more than towns should collect money for churches. It’s divisive.
Union members can easily set up automatic withdrawals from their bank accounts for the payment of union dues.
It’s time to separate State and Unions and protect the rights of our citizens. Government should take no actions to support any church or enable any union.
HB 1342 (Rep. Steve Vaillancourt-R) was introduced to the prohibiting state and local governments from using funds to employ a lobbyist. Public funds should not be used to hire lobbyists who work in opposition to legislative initiatives submitted by citizens.
Many lobbyists are currently paid by taxpayer dollars that are collected by our towns and cities, or maybe even the state. Why are our tax dollars being used to lobby against us?
|
Lobbyist |
Non-Profit Organization |
Salary |
Total Revenues |
Total Assets |
Year |
|
Mark Joyce |
NH School Administrators Association |
$163,816 |
$866,033 |
$301,069 |
2010 |
|
Dean Michener |
NH School Boards Association |
$109,340 |
$881,292 |
$1,268,394 |
2010 |
For example, the Nashua 2012 Budget:
School Department: Membership Dues & Subscriptions $98,950
Conferences & Seminar Registration $28,250
Taxpayer money should not be used in a partisan manner against taxpayers. Lobbyists have an inherent conflict of interest and often deny the existence of problems in their department.
Self-government cannot succeed if taxpayers are forced to pay for lobbyists to work against them. Citizens can't afford to go to the State House day after day like lobbyists do. Publicly paid lobbyists supersede and replace the voice of citizens.
This bill would allow persons, who are 15 1/2 years old or older, to fulfill the driver's education requirement using an online course approved by the department of safety. What could be more reasonable?
Concerns have been raised by professional driving schools that this bill would undermine their business. Given the results from other states that have adopted online courses, this is not true. Many driving schools have incorporated this new online technology into their own programs helping to make drivers education more affordable. Online learning is a very efficient and effective new technology.
Consider the number of drivers who forgo any formal drivers education training and simply wait until they're 18 years old to obtain a driver's license. That segment of the population which would benefit from this alternative.
Having convenient and affordable alternatives benefits all the people of New Hampshire by increasing driver safety on our roads and highways.
Online drivers education is already approved in 38 states. NH legislators should seriously consider this technology.
The text of the bill: