CHNOW.ORG - Newsletter 3 of 3

Legislative Update from the Christian Homeschool Network (April 11, 2010)Part 3 of 3

April 13, 2010 Sine Die-Special session has ended-The Washington State Legislature has adjourned.

There were approximately 4500 bills this session. CHN scans through these bills to make sure none will have an impact on home education or the home-based instruction law. CHN worked on several bills this session; here are some highlights.

HB2428 House Supplemental Operating budget included cutting the funds for alternative learning programs, K-6^th grade, from the budget. Due to confusion created by those calling in opposing these cuts, CHN spent several days educating legislators and staff about the difference between alternative learning programs and independent home education.

In the meantime, CHN is anticipating that the actions of those in the alternative learning programs have drawn much negative attention. In fact, CHN has been told this will likely result in legislative activity next session. Therefore, CHN is preparing a campaign which will start at the Christian Heritage conference to counter this threat.

HB2571 was a bill that needed to be fixed and DiAnna worked several long days to do so. Thankfully, she was able to negotiate a simple wording change to correct this mistake. The bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Appleton, agreed with CHN and introduced an amendment from the Floor. This took a lot of work and coordination with legislators and staff. We also appreciate the assistance of Rep. Hurst, chair, and Rep. Pearson, ranking minority member, of the committee along with their staff. Their assistance was helpful in correcting this oversight.

Under the predatory law, people in authority who prey upon students are defined as predators and receive an enhanced sentence. Homeschool students were not covered under the current law. HB2571 was an attempt to correct this. While the prime sponsor and committee members thought they were making a simple change in the law to protect children, the unintended consequences to home-based instruction could have been great.

The original bill would have placed home-based instruction under the definition of “school” thereby creating unintended consequences, which may have included new regulations that homeschools currently do not have. This is something neither we nor the other state homeschool organization could support. CHN coordinated with Christian Heritage , Home School Legal Defense Association, and Washington Homeschool Organization.

HB2571 died in the Senate Judiciary Committee because it did not make the deadline to pass out of committee. Rep. Appleton worked with the Senate Judiciary committee to include the agreed upon language into HB2424. Senator Kline and Hargrove introduced the striker amendment, which was adopted. HB2424 has passed into law.

Bills that accidentally included home-based instruction or left home-based instruction out

CHN worked on three bills to correct these oversights. SB6620 would have amended the home-based instruction law, which was unnecessary. We had the bill amended to have this language taken out. SB 6252 and HB2513 defined education as public and private school, leaving out home-based instruction. We worked to have this corrected. The bill was amended.

While these appear to be minor changes, we worked hard to amend these bills knowing that the exclusion (or, in some cases, inclusion) of homeschooling in the wording could lead to major negative repercussions in the future. CHN testified at two hearings and attended a third, met with key people, and followed up with them to make sure these bills were corrected. Bills died in committee.

This bill would enact a new section in Washington law that would allow any person to petition a court for visitation rights with a child if they have “established an ongoing and substantial relationship with the child.”

CHN opposed this bill because it is unconstitutional and undermines parental rights. Third party visitation rights have already been challenged and overturned by the 2000 US Supreme Court in the case of Troxel v. Granville. The court reaffirmed the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment which protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children

There were five grandparent visitation bills activated from last session. Supporters of these bills put all of their efforts into HB2421. We still kept an eye on these bills but knew there was a good chance they would not be going anywhere.

SJR 8222 This bill was introduced by Senator Stevens and would have amended the Washington State constitution to protect parental rights. The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right. The bill went nowhere.

Parent-Taught Driver Education. Due to much opposition to this bill, CHN decided not to introduce it again this session. We have a lot of work to do to get this legislation passed. The current political climate is not favorable to this bill, nor have we been able to get much support from the homeschool community or grassroots on this issue. Also, very few states have been able to get this type of legislation passed. Just because we did not introduce the bill does not mean we have not worked on it this session. DiAnna has had several meetings with key people in preparation for introducing the bill again next session.

Early Learning bills- the legislature continues to expand the early childhood development program. Our concerns are that some are redefining education to include preschool (or even from birth). These programs could eventually become mandatory and thereby lower the compulsory school age. CHN is currently evaluating this movement and its impact.

Rep. David Quall announced he will retire after this session. Rep. Quall has served 17 years in the legislature, and several of those years as the Chair of the House Education committee. At the 2008 Home Educators’ Day at the Capitol event, CHN, Christian Heritage and WHO gave Rep. Quall an appreciation award for his many years of service. That was the same year that he also sponsored the first House Resolution honoring the hard work and success of home education. This means that next legislative session a new chair will be appointed to the House Education Committee. The chair of a committee sets the agenda for the committee, is influential as to what bills are heard and what bills are worked on in committee and is also a key advisor to their party on legislation. Pray that the new chair of the House Education Committee will be supportive of home education and protect our freedoms.

In the Washington State Legislature all 98 seats in the House of Representatives and half the seats in the Senate are up for election this November.

I (DiAnna) would like to share some of the experiences I have had while in Olympia during the legislative session.

My daughter Allison and I were meeting with a new legislator. He was very excited to talk about homeschooling. When he found out that Allison worked with horses, he asked her if she had ridden an Icelandic horse? She said, “No.” He told her that they had a very unique gait. He then proceed to demonstrated the difference between their gait and other horses’ gaits. I do not know much about horses but according to Allison it was a very good demonstration. We had such a memorable time meeting with him. This busy, important, well-educated individual felt it was more important to get to know those he was working with than to try to get through some agenda. We could not agree more.

The first week of the session we had some homeschoolers join us for our Lobbying Days and to help pass out CHN’s legislative packets. We met with a legislator and afterwards prayed for her. How wonderful to stand there in her office holding hands and praying for God to give her wisdom as she makes decisions. What a joy to be a blessing to those who sacrifice so much to serve the citizens of Washington State.

After working several long days on a difficult issue, I discovered a legislator was having a crisis in his life. While our agenda is always important, we believe that people come first. The next day I made sure I brought him some resources to help him with his situation. In a follow-up meeting I made it clear that our prayer team was praying for him and his family. He was very appreciative of our support.

One day, while sitting in the cafeteria with my daughter, the man at the table next to us, in a loud voice, was going on and on about how homeschoolers were not socialized, badly behaved, and, even worse, poorly educated. The color drained from my young daughter’s face. You could imagine how I felt. The room was full of lobbyists, policy makers, and staff. I walked calmly over to his table and introduced myself and informed him that I could not help but overhear his loud conversation. I then advised him that he was misinformed and offered to give him and the others at his table information about home education. I am always thankful how the Lord has us where we need to be at the right time. However, it always saddens me when our children are exposed to this kind of unkindness.

I could go on and on about the stories of legislators who gave career advice to our son, talked horses with our daughter, and gave encouragement to our children or other homeschool youth who were with us, as well as the stories from legislators and staff about the wonderful homeschool families in their district, and our favorite, of course, sharing our faith. We hope this has given you a glimpse into the work of CHN.

If you knew the power the legislature had over your lives you would be more involved.

Senator Stevens 39^th district, ranking minority member of Health and Human Services Committee

For the past seven years, Scott and DiAnna Brannan have invited homeschool families and youth to spend one to two days assisting them in their lobbying efforts during the first week of the legislative session. They visit each legislator’s office, leaving them a packet of information about independent home education. They also meet with key legislators. One year, youth helped DiAnna work on potential legislation, which passed into law!

Every year CHN has to educate legislators and staff about the difference between independent homeschool education and government school-at-home programs. Most assume that homeschooling is done through public school programs. Many do not realize that we can homeschool independently of the public school.

CHN’s Lobbying Days serves several purposes: (1) It informs new legislators and their staff and reminds veteran legislators of the benefits of home education; (2) It establishes and strengthens our working relationship with them on a professional level; (3) It leaves them with a way to contact us in case of any questions on legislation and when their constituents may have questions on home education.

This event is vital to the many new legislators and their staff who are not yet familiar with independent home education. In fact, a significant number of legislators and staff have no idea how independent home education works practically or legally. These visits go a long way to help them see that homeschoolers are normal, law-abiding citizens, living and working in their district.

Many legislators and staff are curious about independent home education. Most have positive comments and questions, which we are able to answer from our own knowledge and experiences or with the packet of information provided to them. If you would like to help next year, contact Scott and DiAnna at CHNow@msn.com

Scott and DiAnna Brannan conduct workshops for support groups at no charge. To support our efforts, non-tax deductible donations to CHN are greatly appreciated. CHN is a political non-profit 501c4 organization, so non-profit organizations may donate to CHN within certain limitations.

If your support group is a 501c3 non-profit, it is acceptable to invite CHN to speak and give a legislative update, to discuss legislation relating to home education, or to speak about issues affecting home education.

WORKSHOP: Homeschooling for Today and Tomorrow! CHN will share our vision as an organization. We will discuss the homeschool movement: where we have been, where we are going, and what we need to do to preserve our homeschool freedoms for our children and our children’s children. We will discuss some of the current issues that are affecting homeschool freedoms—what you need to know and what you can do.

Life will bring your children many struggles;
remember that it will not be the academics that pull them through these times but their relationship and faith with our LORD Jesus Christ.
From CHN “Homeschooling for Today and Tomorrow” Workshop, 2007

The Christian Homeschool Network (CHN) is legislative liaison to Christian Heritage Home Educators and a state liaison to Home School Legal Defense Association. CHN started in 2004 as a statewide grassroots lobbying organization. Founders Scott and DiAnna Brannan have done most of the lobbying efforts. DiAnna Brannan is our official registered unpaid lobbyist. CHN is the only Washington State homeschool organization with a registered lobbyist in Olympia.

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