The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers
VaHomeschoolers.org
Your Resource. Your Voice. Your Association.
The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers
VaHomeschoolers.org
Your Resource. Your Voice. Your Association.
March 5, 2007
by Celeste Land, The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers, Government Affairs
The Virginia General Assembly officially adjourned on February 24, marking the end to another eventful legislative season for our VaHomeschoolers Government Affairs team.
As usual, this end-of-session report recaps the fate of many good and bad bills which died somewhere in the legislative process. Most of the bills discussed in this report are dead for now, but the ideas behind them are still very much alive, and may well resurface in next year's General Assembly.
Educational tax credit bill HB 1843 (Saxman, R-Staunton) passed the House of Delegates, but died in the Senate Finance Committee on February 13 when it failed to report out of committee. HB 1843 would have created income tax credits for businesses and individuals who make contributions to educational scholarship foundations. Scholarship foundations could be established to benefit public schools, private schools, or homeschooled students.
Under HB 1843, homeschooling parents would not have received a tax credit for their educational expenses, but qualifying homeschooling families could receive scholarships for educational expenses from a scholarship foundation. The language in HB 1843 regarding homeschoolers was open to interpretation and was problematic on many fronts. Amendments proposed in Senate Finance addressed some of these concerns but raised others. We look forward to working with Delegate Saxman in the coming year to help craft more effective language on this matter.
This year's crop of tax credit and voucher bills defied the usual expectations, first dying in committee, then miraculously coming back to life in unexpected shapes or forms, often defying the laws of parliamentary procedure in the process. Senator Stotsch (R-Glen Allen) introduced multiple bills to give money to private schools which serve disabled students (SB 757 and SB 1394) and to grant tuition credits to disabled children (SB 759 and SB 1419). While these bills did not directly affect homeschoolers, they had the potential to affect Virginia homeschooling laws in the future. Senator Stotsch's bills all died and revived multiple times before finally expiring, leading one education lobbyist to jokingly refer to the process as "the night of the living bill".
At the recommendation of The Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers, Senator Wagner (R-Virginia Beach) amended his day care worker bill, SB 1353. This bill established qualification guidelines for program directors, program leaders, and general staff for regulated child day care centers. The amended language made it possible for all homeschooled graduates (including those who homeschooled under the religious exemption or approved tutor provision) to apply for these positions. Unfortunately, immediately after approving the amendments, the Senate Rehabiliatation and Social Services Committee killed the bill. VaHomeschoolers thanks Senator Wagner for his assistance with this bill.
HB 3052 (Alexander, R-Norfolk) would have allowed high school students age 16 or older to serve as "officer of election interns" and receive the same training and compensation as adults. Homeschooled students "in good academic standing" would have been allowed to participate in the program. This bill died in the House Privileges and Elections Committee.
Other legislation of interest which died in committee this year included HJ 702 (Peace, R-Mechanicsville), a resolution to form a joint subcommittee (with homeschoolers on the panel) to study online education resources in the public schools.
Omnibus bill SB 795 (Potts, R-Winchester) requires all school boards to post their policy manuals on their school division website, and make the manual available to the public. This will make it significantly easier for homeschooling parents across the state to locate and read their school division's local policies on part-time enrollment, transfer credit, extracurricular activities, special education, and other issues. Currently only half of Virginia's school divisions have online policy manuals.
SB 795 also makes technical changes to the law on transfer credit for private and homeschooled students, reflecting the new language in the Standard of Accreditation (SOA). Similar legislation (HB 2093, Tata, R-Virginia Beach) died in House Appropriations.
Legislation to add the HPV (Human Papillomavirus) vaccine to the list of required immunizations for school aged female children (including homeschoolers) has passed both the House and Senate, and now goes to the Governor for his signature. If signed, HB 2035 (R-Newport News), and SB 1230 (Howell, D-Reston) would require female children entering sixth grade (including homeschoolers) to be vaccinated against HPV. Both bills include an opt-out provision for parents. (A similar bill, HB 1914 (Ward, D-Hampton), was incorporated into HB 2035.)
The House and Senate Transportation Committees this year considered numerous bills of interest to homeschooled teens and their parent driver instructors. SB 1039 (O'Brien, R-Clifton) bars drivers under age 19 from using cell phones while driving; this bill has passed the legislature and now goes to the Governor for his approval. Meanwhile, the legislature rejected a bill to extend the number of hours behind the wheel required for driver education (HB 1655, Lohr, R-Harrisonburg), a bill to require use of "professional" driver training schools and instructors (HB 2702), and several other bills limiting the use of cell phones by teen drivers (HB 1876, Caputo, D-Chantilly and HB 3066, Miller, D-Norfolk).
Parents have asked us about religious freedom bill HB 3082 (Lingamfelter, R-Woodbridge), which passed both the House and Senate with amendments and now goes to the Governor for his approval or amendment. HB 3082 reiterates an individual's freedom of religion and prohibits a government entity from unduly burdening such rights. HB 3082 raises many important issues which are of interest and concern to all Virginian citizens. We do not consider this bill to be homeschooling legislation at this time.
Persons wishing to express an opinion on legislation should contact their own delegate or senator as appropriate. For complete text of any bills, see "Legislative Information" on the General Assembly's web page or contact VaHomeschoolers for more information.
The General Assembly's Constituent Viewpoint office provides a toll-free, intrastate telephone message center (during session) to take calls from citizens of the Commonwealth wishing to express an opinion on legislation. Callers will be asked to provide their name, address, and the issue on which they are expressing their opinion. The message will be transmitted to the constituent's appropriate legislators. If a caller seeks additional information concerning legislation or wishes to speak directly with a legislator, the operator will provide the telephone number. The hours of operation are from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. The number for the toll-free opinion line is (800) 889-0229. Callers in the Richmond area may dial 698-1990.