May 9, 2000

Dear LEAH families,

This note is to keep you updated on activities in Albany.

In our communications with the Senate Education Committee during the past several weeks we understood that they were engrossed in completing work on legislation related to the budget.

In the midst of that dawn to dusk activity last week Senator Kuhl managed to craft a letter to Commissioner Mills. When we contacted them this week, they realized that home educating families had not been informed of this action.

We were informed that the Senate Education Committee is aware of the Commissioner's intentions regarding High Stakes Testing (HST) and that they are prepared to deal with him. One of the staff members told us that Senator Kuhl will not allow the HST to be imposed on the HS community as it would be an increase in CR100.10 and he is opposed to any increase in the Regulations.

We spoke on the phone with Duane Motley today. He informed us that Senator Kuhl said that Special Needs would have to be addressed later because he sees it as a separate issue that would complicate action on the other items addressed in his letter.

We will be sharing this letter with the NY home educator community to keep us all informed. We will have it posted on www.leah.org
sometime tomorrow as a PDF and/or a TIF file.

** REMINDER **
New York State's First Homeschool Legislative Day
May 15, 2000 - 8 AM to 5 PM

www.leah.org/events/homeschool_legislative_day_2000.html

In service to the King,

Paul.....

He hath shewn thee oh man what is good and what does the Lord require of thee but to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly before thy God. Micah 6:8

SENATE EDUCATION Fax    May 9 '00 9:53 P. 02    SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

SENATOR JOHN R. KUHL JR.
CHAIRMAN
ROOM 846-A
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING
ALBANY, NEW YORK 12247
(518) 455-2631
FAX (518) 426-6919

May 3, 2000

Commissioner Richard Mills
State Education Department
Education Building
Albany, New York 12234

Dear Commissioner Mills:

I have had a number of discussions with homeschooling organizations recently which have led me to believe that some modifications should be made to homeschooling regulations in New York State. The Commissioner's regulations governing home instruction were established July 1, 1988, with the addition of the new section 100. 10. Since that time, homeschooling regulations have not been changed, nor has the issue been revisited. I would like to discuss these regulations further with you.

Modifying the regulations on homeschooling has the potential to reduce administrative burdens for the homeschooling family, the local school district and the State Education Department. I believe that there are a number of regulatory sections that could be reformed:

· CR 100.10, (g) requires homeschooling parents to file quarterly reports with the local school district. These quarterly reports could be eliminated, as they are not used to measure academic progress, and are an administrative burden for both local school districts and homeschooling families.

· CR 100.10, (b) (c), (d), (e) require homeschooling parents to provide both an initial notice of intent to homeschool and an individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) to the local school district, This "double notice" requirement should be eliminated. These sections of the regulations also require detailed curriculum information to be provided to the district. Providing curriculum information is not necessary, because the regulations prescribe what courses must be taught at each grade level.

· CR 100.10, (h), (2) permits the homeschooling parent to utilize an alternative evaluation for annual assessment for grades one through three, and only every other school year for grades four through eight. Homeschooling parents should he permitted to utilize the alternative form of evaluation as the annual assessment at every grade level.

· CR 100.10, (h) mandates the submission of annual evaluation results to the local school superintendent. This requirement should be eliminated. Homeschooling parents can take remedial action if the evaluation indicates the student's progress is not adequate. 

· CR 100.10, (h), (1), (ii), (c) & (d), and CR 100.10, (h), (2), (iii) mandate that the local superintendent must consent to the person conducting the annual evaluation. This requirement should be eliminated. If the test administrator is deemed qualified according to the test publisher, no additional assessment of that person's qualifications is necessary. For alternative evaluation methods, the teaching parent is qualified to prepare the report of the student's progress.

I would be interested to hear your response to these recommendations. The homeschooling organizations who have contacted me would like to participate in any regulatory reform that results from these discussions.

Thank you for your attention to this important issue. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Sincerely,


John R. Kuhl, Jr.
Senator

JRK/yd