Sample Letter #2: For parents who have children with special needs, but choose NOT to access school district services.

Date…

Your Address…

Name (Regent, or NYSED official, or legislator)

Title (New York Board of Regents, Commissioner of Education, New York State Senator, etc)

Address

Re: New York State Education Department’s Change of Approach to Treatment of Homeschooled Children with Special Needs

Dear Mr/Ms __________:

We are extremely concerned about the New York State Education Department’s recent change of approach to the treatment of homeschooled children with special needs that has eliminated special services for these children. This was done without any warning and without public comment after 17+ years of successful application. As parents of a homeschooled child with special needs, we are appalled at the SED’s actions.

Denying these special services will not only cause harm to our children, but it will also cause great hardship for our family as we face great difficulty in securing these services privately. Furthermore, by denying special services to those who need them most, the state is saying that it doesn’t care about our children. We have good reason to be concerned about how our children might be treated if we did put them into public school.

Homeschool families pay school taxes, yet we get very little for our tax dollars. We should be able to access these special services, be given a tax break to find those services ourselves, or be relieved of any regulations regarding our children.

I urge to use your power to reverse this unwise policy change and restore special services to homeschoolers who need them and want them.

Sincerely,