Natalie’s making points at her blog:

• Letter to Sen. John Warner re HR 1815, Sect 522
• “So, what’s the big deal?”
  Sect 522 would allow the dept that oversees the armed forces to create ONE definition for ALL homeschoolers that will usurp any state-level definition (or lack thereof). Furthermore, as parents, citizens and homeschoolers, we will not have any say in just what that definition is and no recourse if we don’t like it. Additionally, other federal agencies (Social Security, Homeland Security, etc) will latch on to this definition in the future, simply because it’s already there.Under a federal definition of homeschooling, who stands to lose the most? Easy answer: We do. And who stands to gain the most? Not as easy, so here’s a hint: They wrote Section 522.
• HR 1815 and HSLDA: Connecting the dots
  Federal definition of what constitutes “homeschooling” is precisely what we want to avoid, because federal law usurps state law (or lack thereof in reg-free states). Compliance may not be mandatory, but states often cave when funding is attached to the adoption of federal statutes (the way that highway funds were used to pressure states to raise the drinking age to 21 and, most recently, the way NCLB has been forced into the “state-mandated” standards for public education.).

Daryl is cooking again, as usual:

• So tell me … despite the military memorandum of January 2005 – you still won’t give up what?? give up your ongoing quest to federally codify and regulate homeschooling? or your quest to become the Federal Department of Homeschooling?
• Furthermore, each branch of the military has a different mission, and should be free to recruit based on the type of individual who would be most successful at accomplishing that mission. Section 522 doesn’t level the playing field for homeschoolers, it puts every branch of the military in the position of ignoring its mission when evaluating homeschooled recruits.
• On the not insignificant chance that the amendment hasn’t been pulled, I called Warner’s office a few minutes ago. They’re getting lots of phone calls about it.

Chris gave my laundry list a mention.

Barb, now in Virginia, posted the VaHomeschoolers Legislative Report

• Special Report on Federal Legislation: Recruitment/Enlistment of Homeschooled Students & HONDA 2005However, the issues and language of HR 3753 /S 1691 are likely to linger for quite some time to come. The original bills are largely promotional in nature. They publicize and call attention to the issues, and allow certain lawmakers to demonstrate their support for homeschooling through their sponsorship. Meanwhile, interested lawmakers can select the language for a specific issue in the original bill and quietly insert it into another bill which is more likely to actually become law. This is a common practice in Congress and has already happened at least once with this legislation, when the recruitment/enlistment language in S 1691 was used as the basis for the language in Section 522 of HR 1815.

And the petition has 1000 signatures.

Tags: home education, Homeschool NonDiscrimination, homeschooling, military enlistment, military recruiting, military recruitment, Sec. 522

This entry was posted on December 17, 2005 at 12:17 am and is filed under Federal News, Military Homeschoolers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.