Freedom for Homeschooling Parents Preserved with Last-Minute Amendment!

hslda.org/post/freedom-for-homeschooling-parents-preserved-with-last-minute-amendment

St. Thomas Aquinas Academy greatly appreciates the assistance that Home School Legal Defense Association offers to home educators. One of the recommendations to advise our members is to enroll with HSLDA. As there is a membership fee for enrollment, STAA offers a discount code for $20 off each family's membership fee to HSLDA. The discount code is #299911. Please use this on the HSLDA website on the enrollment form.

Good Afternoon To All! I wanted to send an update that came to me from Homeschool Legal Defence Association. They wanted me to pass this information on to everyone who participates in a homeschool option program run by your local school districts that you are relinquishing some of your rights as a homeschooler. 

Two rights you relinquish are: 

1. Your right to keep a social worker or police officer/deputy sheriff from speaking to your children privately. As a homeschooler here in Colorado if a social worker or police official comes to your home questioning your homeschooling, you reserve the right to tell the social worker or officer that they may speak to your lawyer from HSLDA, and you would remain in the room with your children the entire visit. BUT if you participate in an options program, these officials reserve the right to speak to your children privately and HSLDA may not be able to intervene. 

2. Your right to not participate in standardized testing. Currently as a homeschooler in Colorado you are asked to test your children in  3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11 th grades. The results of those tests are held by your family in your home records. If you participate in homeschool option programs run by your school district or any government funded program, they reserve the right to have your child participate in standardized testing at any time regardless of the odd year clause in the homeschool law. Again, this is a right that the options programs reserve for their students, and HSLDA may not be able intervene. 

Just wanted to bring these to your attention as we begin the very preliminary preparation for our next school year. Please feel free to contact me with any question. 

Dear Homeschool Families,

We are writing to ask you to take immediate action to oppose HB 19-1312 School Immunization Requirements.

Click here to take immediate action!

HSLDA has stated that "HB 19-1312 would impose significant and unreasonable burdens on all families in Colorado relating to the reporting of exemption or compliance with immunization regulations.  The bill would also affect all homeschoolers regardless of whether they seek an exemption from immunization."

Although CHEC neither encourages nor discourages parents from immunizing their children, we oppose all attempts by the state to interfere with parents deciding what is best for their children especially when the state seeks to require burdensome paperwork or create databases to track its citizens.

Below is a list of what you need to do to oppose this bill. This is time sensitive and WE HAVE HOURS TO ACT.

1. Call AND email ALL members of the House Health and Insurance Committee to let them know that you oppose this bill.
2. Attend the committee meeting on Wednesday, April 10th at 1:30 pm. One of the main ways that we can get the attention of the bill sponsor is if there is a large showing at this meeting.
3. Post on social media to get the word out about this serious attack on parental rights.
4. Pray fervently. "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever He will." Proverbs 21:1. Ultimately, only God is able to change the hearts of our leaders so that this bill is stopped.

God help us!
Steve Craig
CHEC Executive Director
Carolyn Martin
CHEC Homeschool Legislative Liaison

The link above no longer works, but you can still read about HB 1032 here: www.afa.net/activism/action-alerts/2019/colorado-lawmakers-want-to-teach-your-kids-this-take-action/

After much consideration of a new logo design and part of the updating of everything, a graphic designing friend updated our STAA logo and came up with design for our school. Hope you all like it and please feel free to share any feedback about the design.