HSLDA Threat in Wisconsin

State of Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Parents Association has issued a response to HSLDA’s meddling in the new mandatory online filing form required of Wisconsin homeschoolers.

WPA Members and Other Homeschoolers,

Please share this information with others. People need to know that following the Home School Legal Defense Association’s (HSLDA’s) counsel is dangerous to individuals and to all homeschoolers. You may understand the importance of filing the form correctly and maintaining our good homeschooling law, but not all homeschoolers do. Tell them and support WPA.

Despite the fact that the homeschooling form PI-1206 has worked well for 27 years, HSLDA is counseling Wisconsin homeschoolers to change their filing in ways that would undoubtedly result in individual families being charged with truancy and in court cases and/or legislation that could lead to greater regulation of homeschooling in Wisconsin. [Read more...]

The bottom line is: WPA wants you to know, “It is very important not to follow HSLDA’s counsel.” Please be sure to share this information with other homeschoolers, and please support WPA.

HSLDA has some top-notch attorney’s at their disposal and it’s wonderful that they analyse proposed legislation and give their opinion, though it would be more appreciated if their opinions are shared privately with state groups and homeschooling leaders first. Most statewide homeschooling groups have excellent attorney’s at their disposal (it’s amazing how many attorneys homeschool their own children), and are far more familiar with the state homeschooling climate.

In 2008, leaders from every statewide group held conferences with HSLDA attorneys to work out details on how to best handle a legal matter that had arisen with In Re Rachel L. in California. They came together, voiced their opinions, and worked out the details in a cooperative manner. HSLDA did not come to California and press their agenda — which is, of course, to keep the doors open. We don’t fault them for trying to stay in business, but let’s at least be honest about it.

HSLDA should have brought this to the attention of the statewide leaders in Wisconsin. They should have discussed the issue and made a cooperative decision on how to proceed. I’m waiting to hear if HSDLA even bothered to make any contact with state leaders before charging ahead. The parents in the state of Wisconsin should be the ones to dictate how to proceed; after-all, these parents will be forced to live under these laws.

Be sure to read the rest of the message and make an informed decision. Do not follow HSLDA blindly down the wrong path.

CA: Know the Code

Families nationwide have been focused on tightening their belts, with the rising gas prices, rampant inflation has hit the family budget hard. It’s no wonder the State of California has financial troubles and this time we can’t blame the legislators.This time the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the State of California Department of Education — once again, we find them wasting taxpayer dollars.

AB 354 was passed by the California Assembly and was approved by then Governor Schwarzenegger on September 29, 2010. The provisions spelled out in the bill become effective on July 1, 2011. The bill makes several significant changes in the law.

Existing law prohibits the governing authority of a school or other institution from unconditionally admitting any person as a pupil of any private or public elementary or secondary school, child care center, day nursery, nursery school, family day care home, or development center, unless prior to his or her first admission to that institution he or she has been fully immunized against various diseases, including hepatitis B, pertussis (whooping cough), and varicella (chickenpox), and any other disease deemed appropriate by the State Department of Public Health, taking into consideration the recommendations of specified entities. This bill would add to these entities the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Basically, this just means the American Academy of Family Physicians has been elevated to a God-like status. They were added to the group of medical professionals in the U.S., who have a voice in how the rest of the population is tortured (just checking to see if you are following this). No big deal really.

There are a couple of issues I have with this piece of legislation but first I’d like to get right to the point.

Today, I received notification of an alert that went out to HSLDA members and a select number of subscribers to Private and Home Educators of California, which was then emailed to California State-wide homeschooling organizations, encouraging parents to comply with requirements that are not required under California law. You can read the alert here: NEW Required Documentation for All Students.

The new law does not require you to use any certain form. Yet their letter says…

The current “PM 286B form (1/02)” does not have a space to document the Tdap  immunization. In order to document the compliance status of the student to the Tdap booster requirement on the PM 286B, the California Department of Public Health has created a sticker, form PM 286 S, which is to be completed and placed on the upper left corner of the front of the existing PM 286B “Blue Card”, which should already be in the student’s file.

Instead of simply editing the current form, which is already online (PM 286B) available for anyone to download, someone at the California Department of Education and/or the California Department of Health got the bright idea to print off millions of stickers and mail them, using the U.S. Postal Service to households throughout California. This is a huge cost to taxpayers and huge waste of taxpayer dollars. I hope the new Governor gets a handle on things soon — from the looks of things employees are still wasting our money.

This is huge, we are talking about printing and mailing stickers to be attached to EVERY single file for EVERY single school aged child in the state of California and HSLDA isn’t giving private home educators good legal advice. The law does not spell out any such form that must be used. It simply required a record to be kept on file. Read the legislation for yourself, it’s written in pretty straight-forward language, the state even provides handy definitions and references.

I simply can’t understand why HSLDA would recommend that private school administrators (home educators) contact the Department of Health. Part of the problem with that is this bill also gives more teeth to the law, which should worry you. Look at this provision:

Incentives to public health authorities to design innovative and creative programs that will promote and achieve full and timely immunization of children.

Specific “incentives” are not spelled out. It could mean anything.

Commencing July 1, 2011, notwithstanding subdivision (b), full immunization against hepatitis B shall not be a condition by which the governing authority admits or advances any pupil to the 7th grade level of any private or public elementary or secondary school.

This bothers me…

Hepatitis B virus is carried in and transmitted by the blood and body fluids of an infected person. People can spread hepatitis B virus without even knowing they have it. The first stage of it may lead to loss of desire to eat, feeling tired, pains in muscles, joints, or stomach, diarrhea or vomiting, yellow skin or eyes and death. You can recover from this illness (90-95% do), but still spread it through the above mentioned. [Learn more...]

AB 354 (2010) is a huge power grab. Check out this next provision.

The department may specify the immunizing agents which may be utilized and the manner in which immunizations are administered.

That statement gave me cause for pause. This appears to give a great deal of power to those that administer immunizations. But wait, it gets even better.

The department may adopt emergency regulations to implement subdivisions (c) and (d) including, but not limited to, requirements for documentation and immunization status reports, in accordance with the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code). The initial adoption of emergency regulations shall be deemed to be an emergency and considered by the Office of Administrative Law as necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, or general welfare. Emergency regulations adopted pursuant to this subdivision shall remain in effect for no more than 180 days.

I assume this means if an outbreak of whooping cough takes place, the powers that be can quarantine your children and/or your entire family for up to 6-months, but the emergency powers haven’t been spelled out here.

I have plenty more to say on this topic but I’m waiting until I get a little sleep and I have more details come in. I would love to hear what you think on this topic.

California homeschoolers have been told for years to “Know the Code” and follow the law — it’s still that simple. This bill has some teeth in it and asking homeschoolers to go above and beyond that which is required by law is simply bad advice, in my opinion. These are simply that: my own thoughts on this topic – I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV.

Mississippi Homeschooling

If homeschooling is legal in all 50 states and in many countries, then I ask, “Why is this judge fishing for homeschoolers?

Mississippi Judge Goes Fishing for Home-schoolers

A Mississippi judge appears to be on a personal fishing expedition to find all the home-schoolers in his jurisdiction — and despite federal law and his own state’s Education Department, he is not taking “no” for an answer.

On March 24, Judge Joe Dale Walker of Mississippi’s 13th Chancery District Court ordered school attendance officers within his five-county jurisdiction to send him the names and addresses of all home-schooled students and parents in their districts. “The order,” explains the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), “has no case number, no county of venue, and lists no parties to any dispute. It appears to be simply information that the judge would like to have.” Read more…

Who does this judge think he is? Why doesn’t this judge respect the privacy of the homeschoolers in Mississippi and what is HSLDA doing about it?  They seem to get their hands in a great many pies. Only time will tell if HSLDA is helping or hurting the cause of homeschoolers in Mississippi.

The article goes on to say…

Clearly Walker has vastly exceeded his authority in this case, and his order should be rescinded or overturned. If he is permitted to proceed with his fishing expedition, it will open the door for other judges to seek massive amounts of information unrelated to any specific cases before them. “The plain fact is if judges start behaving this way — people [could be targeted] who attend churches or synagogues [or other groups],” HSLDA attorney James Mason told WND, adding that it “would have a chilling effect on freedom of association, and the exercise of other freedoms.”

Let’s hope this judge is put in his place. His flagrant abuse of power must not be tolerated. This judge should be brought up on charges for abusing the power of his office.