Attorney Deborah G. Stevenson

Executive Director

P.O. Box 704 , Southbury, CT 06488

UPDATE ON PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING SENATE BILL 162

NHELD would like to thank everyone who attended the public hearing before the Select Committee on Children on February, 19, 2008 to testify concerning Rep. O’Neill’s withdrawal bill, Senate Bill 162, “An Act Concerning the Withdrawal of Children from Enrollment in a Public School.” You can view the video of the hearing by going to CT-N’s weblink, mms://ctnv1.ctn.state.ct.us/C/kid_2-19-08.wmv We had a great group of parents and children who took the time to rise early in the morning to make the long trek to Hartford, yet another time, to voice their opinion on this bill. Their efforts are greatly appreciated. We especially thank the children who waited so patiently and who duly impressed the committee by their well-mannered behavior. We also thank CHN, TEACH, and the Family Institute of Connecticut for helping us spread the word to their members, and for their continued support.

As you know, the day began with some trepidation as to exactly what the committee was going to do, given the fact that the language in the bill mysteriously was changed from the language originally proposed. The bill, as originally proposed, was a simple measure to ensure that public schools accept a letter of withdrawal from parents and immediately consider the child withdrawn. The bill, as mysteriously changed, was a measure that became a procedure for parents to follow so that they “may” withdraw their children if granted permission by public school officials. As you know, NHELD could not support that change.

Fortunately, the committee Chairman, Senator Ed Meyer, announced at the beginning of the public hearing that the intent of the committee was to vote on the bill as originally proposed, that the committee would proceed with the hearing with the understanding that the committee intended the bill as originally proposed to be acted upon, that the mysteriously changed language would be eliminated and the original language would be substituted in its place, and that the committee likely would vote to approve the amended version of the bill containing the original language as proposed by Rep. O’Neill. To make it clear which version the Committee was moving forward on, Senator Meyer read into the record the language as proposed by Rep. O’Neill.

We expressed our thanks to Senator Meyer and the Committee for their understanding and support of the original bill, but the parents also voiced their opinion. on the record, about their disapproval of the mysteriously changed language, and their approval only of the original language. Some parents testified about their positive experiences with their school districts. Other parents explained how they were threatened with truancy or reports to DCF by their school districts when they tried to withdraw their children from school. The Committee members expressed their concern about what those parents had to endure, but also praised the efforts of parents for taking on the task and for successfully homeschooling. While several of the committee members asked questions of the parents who testified, of the committee members who spoke, all praised homeschooling and its successes.

As the Chairman of the committee remarked, noticeably, no one from the state Department of Education or from the state Department of Children and Families testified against the bill. In fact, no one from the legislature, or the public, testified against the bill. On the other hand, there were many members of the legislature who did attend the hearing to testify in favor of the bill including: Rep. Arthur O’Neill, Rep. Patricia Widlitz, Rep. Pam Sawyer, Rep. Al Adinolfi, Senator Edith Prague, Senator Rob Kane, Senator Dan Debicella, Rep. Elizabeth Ritter, and Rep. Larry Miller.

The next step in the procedure will be when the Committee on Children meets again to formally adopt the amended version of the bill containing Rep. O’Neill’s language. The next scheduled meeting of that committee will be on February 21, 2008 and we have been told that they will be acting on that bill in that meeting. When the committee votes favorably on that bill, it will be forwarded to the Education Committee for review and for action.

We are more concerned with what the Education Committee will do. In previous years, the Chairmen of the Education Committee, Senator Thomas Gaffey and Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, have refused to place the bill on that committee’s agenda for any action at all, effectively killing it. Just because the public hearing was successful in impressing the members of the Children’s Committee, as Senator Meyer told those in attendance at the public hearing, our work is not done. It is extremely important for parents to call, write, or email every member of the Education Committee to request their support for Rep. O’Neill’s version of this bill, particularly because that committee was responsible for killing it in years past. It is especially important for parents to ask Senator Gaffey and Rep. Fleischmann for their support.

Constituents of Senator Gaffey are trying to arrange a meeting with him to discuss this issue. So far, however, he has not agreed to any such a meeting.

The Education Committee has a scheduled meeting on March 5, 2008. That would be the earliest scheduled meeting at which the Education Committee could place the bill on its agenda, assuming that the Committee on Children has acted on the bill at its meeting February 21^st,

Please act quickly, and repeated, to contact the members of the Education Committee to urge their support for this bill, in its original form (the language proposed by Rep. O’Neil).

We truly hope that, if this bill is adopted, it will send a clear message to the public school districts to respect the right of parents to withdraw their children from enrollment, and to respect the right of parents, generally, to homeschool. We don’t want to continually have to battle the school districts. All we want is to homeschool in peace and in freedom. Please help us in this effort.

Again, many thanks to all for your continued support. We will keep you posted as events develop. Please let us know what responses you receive from the legislators with whom you have any contact in the days to come.