My family attended -- husband, myself and our two teenage children. I took extensive notes, but will try not to bore everyone with too much information....

Here goes...

Attendance -- I thought it was over 1,000 people, one of the legislators mentioned 1,200 towards the end of the meeting.

Red definitely outnumbered blue, red was a great choice, bright colors really grab the eye, while the "blues" blended in, esp. since the seating was blue.

Speakers, First Session –

· Rep. Jess Stairs (Education Committee Chairman) -- general welcome, intro of committee/panel members.

· Rep. Sam Rohrer (Sponsor of the Bill and homeschooling father) -- gave a little info about the 1988 Law and the new Bill.

· Chris Klicka (Home School Legal Defense Association ) -- An eloquent defense of freedom and advocate of eliminating burdensome laws!! He listed the unfair & arbitrary requirements by many school districts that are outside and above the law. Also said that HSLDA deals with many more cases of District problems and abuses in PA than in other states. Regulations do not make better students, parents have a fundamental right (14th Amendment, upheld by the Supreme Court) to educate (or direct the education of) their children as they see fit.

· Idetta Groff (School Board Member/Lancaster Area) -- Mentioned the high homeschool numbers in her area (and implied this was due to Amish/Mennonite population). Also mentioned the fact that the children seem to do well, but she wants to keep the current accountability because it is the State's responsibility to provide for an educated citizenry.

· Carol Saylor (Manheim Central SD Superintendent) -- Supports and recognizes high achievement of home education / homeschoolers but wants to keep the current standards and requirements, wants to have accountability, due to concerns about lack of protection for children (mentioned immunizations, no testing or review under proposal, no knowledge of felony charges for home educating parents, etc.).

· Dr. Brian Ray (NHERI - research & stats, was also a public / private teacher) -- Homeschoolers have proven to have high academic and social achievement, and this success is NOT tied to the amount of state regulation. No cause and effect, not even a correlation, can be proven between high regulation and high achievement of HS'ers. However the less regulation a district has over the HS'ers in their district, the BETTER their own PS students perform - indicating that a trend of less regulation by government promotes freedom AND responsibility.

Second Session --

· Maryalice Newborn (PHEN member, statistician, HS mother of five) -- The proposed Bill acknowledges court findings regarding parental rights (and that they supersede governmental / state concerns). Took a survey of reported Districts (~30% of total SD's) and found 92% exceed the law in requirements for HS'ing families. Only 0.09% of HS'ing families were reported (not proven) to have given an improper or inadequate education, at a great cost to districts. HB2560 will SAVE state education money. People are moving from, or refusing to move to, PA because of the rigid HE law (she had 60+ confirming letters attached).

· Ellen Kramer (Catholic Homeschoolers of PA ) – The present law is ambiguous and burdensome, exacerbated by ignorance / abuse by districts. ALL diplomas should be EQUALLY recognized, including parent-issued. Some kids are denied State Grant money for college because they cannot get the SD to sign a certificate EVEN though they have fully complied with the law and their HE program has been approved after each year in high school.

· Carol Lugg (HS mother from north central PA) -- Felt the law was fine, did not mind having to comply with the regulations (although she did admit she would not mind if a few "hoops" were removed). Said she spent less than $400 a year per child (*note* this is a LOT of money to a low-income family, especially if they have a large family - the woman next to me had SEVEN children, all close in age...that adds up to quite a bundle of cash, eh??). [Editor’s note: When comparing notes with others we found that Carol actually claimed $390 per child, from grades 3 to 12, strictly for complying with the law. This does not include actual educational materials and is an average of $39 / year per child for the Lugg family.] Not sure if Carol uses a diploma program or charter school, but she felt these programs offered accountability and maintained high standards, resulting in the high regard towards PA HS'ers.

· Dr. Howard Richman (PA Homeschoolers ; PHAA) -- Runs a family business and diploma program for homeschooling families. Offers "recognized" (NOT accredited) diplomas, evaluations, testing, sells booklets/materials to families on how to comply with the PA law (booklets that recommend overcompliance). Howard is a former educator and part of the original committee that came up with the current PA Home Ed. law (when questioned by one Rep. he admitted he has a vested financial interest in maintaining the status quo). I was a bit irritated by his statements which came across as a complete lack of trust in the ability and integrity of home educating parents and implied that the only reason HS'ers in PA do so well is because they are held accountable and FORCED to, otherwise we'd all be too "busy". Howard seemed terrified (and a bit angry) that the proposed law would eliminate diploma programs and would lead to a downfall in standards of HS'ed students in PA. He recounted a meeting with the sponsoring Rep. Rohrer in which he was told that his diplomas would be protected / included in the new law, and was upset when this offer was removed (I was later told, by more than one person who were in attendance at the above mentioned meeting, that this was not true. Mr. Richman has refused from the get-go to agree to any Bill that did not conform to his strict desires and has refused any offer of compromise -- he will not acknowledge the worth of a parent-issued diploma). Mr. Richman proposed keeping the current Bill as is, but allowing a new "alternative" law for others who do not use a diploma program (implication is that this second choice would be "substandard" to his diploma program).

· Dr. Bruce Eagleson (CHAP ) -- The present law is complex and difficult to interpret, Districts enforce the law in an uneven, and often, unfair manner. HS'ers are known to be successful, devoted and diligent, but waste money and time in order to comply with a law that is not proven to raise performance. This $ and time would be better spent on the HS'ed children by providing true education with their families rather than fulfilling documentation.

· Mary Hudzinski (Mason-Dixon Homeschoolers Association Diploma Program ) -- Also runs a diploma program like Howard Richman, but she supports the new Bill. Feels some parents would still choose to use a diploma program and yearly evaluators, and this would be allowed and recognized under the proposal. She was not threatened by the new Bill and welcomed the freedom.

· Rep. Sam Rohrer (Sponsor of the Bill and homeschooling father) -- In closing remarks made it absolutely clear that it was not, is not, and will not be his intention to take away any rights from diploma programs or families that choose to use them and that anyone who asserts this is wrong. Although he graciously stated that he would not name names, it was obvious who he was referring to.

A few personal notes...meeting was informative & did not drag (too much). The kids in attendance were absolutely wonderful -- the 10 or 12 little ones near me were well-behaved and very quiet. The HSLDA guy was a bit long-winded but I could tell he was trying to get a lot of information out in such a short time. The committee members asked some interesting questions, although the Rep. asking about "religiously backed racism" made no sense. There was one woman Rep. who had socialist leanings, she was very concerned about "state responsibility" in education. You could feel a bit of tension in the later session, esp. during Mr. Richman's statement, and at the end when he was visibly angry at a comment made by Maryalice Newborn (regarding "purchased" diplomas). Great comments by Rep. Bob Bastian, who has HS'ed grandkids) and by Rep. Paul Clymer (pointed out HS'ed teens rarely have drug/alcohol problems, are registering to vote & involved in gov't / society, and have a moral upbringing to care for others, along with strong family units / involved parents). On that note...almost everyone had to admit that involved parents make for better students and one-on-one learning was the best, esp. for special needs children. Parental education level mattered very little in HS'ed children's achievement. I think the legislators were very favorably impressed by the large turnout and by the enthusiasm and passion that was evident in the audience. Special Needs was brought up a few times...there is an amendment to the Bill already in the works concerning these children.

For those who have cable and PCN...the meeting will be broadcast later tonight and I think tomorrow also---their website is PCN .