This Constitutional Researcher believes this bill in its previous lives and the current reincarnation is BAD law and that the New York State Legislature is capable of constructing a law that will PROTECT the Rights of Parent Educators rather than POLICING them.  It should be adamantly opposed.

Paul S. Matte
June 16, 2005

Here are the changes:

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2001-02, S.4767-Committed to Rules, A.11364-Referred to Education
2003-04, S.2060-Passed Senate, A.4598-Referred to Education

STATUS:
S3641-A  WINNER
Education Law
TITLE....Provides for the imposition of certain procedures and standards regarding home instruction to maintain competent and equivalent instruction of home schooled students

NOTE that reference is made to the OLD [bracketed] numbers

Page 2

    Line 52 remove: [c]; add: d (references 3 d. Probation) found on page 3

Page 3

    Lines 6 & 7 remove: [, or other person,]

    Line 8 add: or panel

    Line 12 remove: [c]; add: d; remove: [,]; add: or

    Line 13 add: group; remove [or other person]

S3641: (Original bill)

     4   b.  Alternative  evaluation methods. An alternative form of evaluation
     5 shall be permitted to be chosen by  the  parent  only  as  follows:  for
     6 grades  one  through  twelve,  a  written narrative prepared by a person
     7 specified in this paragraph. For the purposes  of  this  paragraph,  the
     8 person who prepares the written narrative shall be a New York state-cer-
     9 tified  teacher,  a  home  instruction peer group review panel [, or other
    10 person,] who has interviewed the child and reviewed a  portfolio  of  the
    11 child's  work.  Such person or panel shall certify either that the child has made
    12 adequate academic progress or that the child has failed to make adequate
    13 progress. In the event that such  child  has  failed  to  make  adequate
    14 progress,  the  home  instruction  program  shall be placed on probation
    15 pursuant to paragraph [c] d of this subdivision. The certified teacher[,] or peer
    16 group review panel [or other person] shall be chosen by the parent. Any  result-
    17 ing cost shall be borne by the parent.

EXPLANATION: 
	Matter in italics (OR underscored) is new 
	Matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted.

You will find the following changes 
that strip the Right of the Parent to direct the education and its assessment by 
the Parent Educator.

S3641-A: (Amended bill)

     4    b.  Alternative  evaluation methods. An alternative form of evaluation
     5  shall be permitted to be chosen by  the  parent  only  as  follows:  for
     6  grades  one  through  twelve,  a  written narrative prepared by a person
     7  specified in this paragraph. For the purposes  of  this  paragraph,  the
     8  person who prepares the written narrative shall be a New York state-cer-
     9  tified  teacher or a  home instruction peer [group] review panel who has
    10  interviewed the child and reviewed a portfolio of the child's work. Such
    11  person or panel shall certify either that the child  has  made  adequate
    12  academic  progress  or  that  the  child  has  failed  to  make adequate
    13  progress. In the event that such  child  has  failed  to  make  adequate
    14  progress,  the  home  instruction  program  shall be placed on probation
    15  pursuant to paragraph d of this subdivision. The  certified  teacher  or
    16  peer  group  review  panel  shall be chosen by the parent. Any resulting
    17  cost shall be borne by the parent.

Alert:
Bill S3641 has been revised to S3641A. The narrative review sentence has been modified to removed the words "or other person", preventing anyone but a certified teacher or peer review panel from writing the narrative.

"I told you so:" (don't you hate that?)  I have said in the past that I didn't want to see CR100.10 turned into official legislation, even if it seemed to reduce paperwork. One reason is because then the anti-homeschooling lobbies (teachers' union, etc.) could easily lobby for tinkering and even drastic changes to tighten the State's control. Here we see that happening, even before the bill becomes law. It would be just as easy to have this tinkering take place after the bill becomes law, perhaps easier since precedent would be set for tinkering with no outcry from us.

I recommend that you contact your state Senator and Assemblyman today to express your views on the subject. Also call those on the education committee; see the list below. Perhaps you would like to use multiple methods. Here are the ways to do that, in descending order of effectiveness:

• Personal visit
• Hard copy letter
• Faxed letter
• Phone call
• E-mail
• Petition or survey

Mike Ebbers
June 16, 2005
 

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