Homeschooling in Montana – The Battle for Freedom Continues

The Battle to Preserve Our Home Educating Freedoms

SJ5 - Public School Truancy Resolution

Though the Montana 2005 Legislative session is not yet over, our biggest battle should be behind us. The introduction of SB291 by Senator Don Ryan (D – Great Falls) represented the single greatest threat to a parent’s right to home educate their children in Montana’s history.

Though SB291 was immediately tabled by the Senate Education Committee (02/14/05), Senator Ryan has been quoted in a meeting during the mid-session break that he has received letters from homeschooling parents, stating that they support his bill:

Present at the February 25, 2005 meeting were: Tim Callahan, Don Ryan, Bill Macfadden, JoanNell Macfadden, Janie Nicholson, Stu Nicholson, Dick Bennett, Joan Bennett, Bryan Dunn, Aart Dolman, Tom Maguire, Paul Comer, Diane Young, Harry Mitchell, Diana Talcott, and Chairman Ray Young....

...Don [Ryan] has received letters from home schoolers in favor of his bill, understanding that it is intended to help children. These parents are rightfully proud of the education they are providing and see the advantage of the selected Iowa Basics testing and of the monitoring element of the bill. Some states have developed a curriculum and require testing. Home school curriculum can be purchased but is expensive. Don's committee is also working on re-defining "an isolated school," and a joint House and Senate committee is putting together the basic framework for a plan to present to the Court.

The purpose of this open letter to the Montana homeschool community is (1) to address this issue, (2) revisit the history of home education in Montana, (3) provide some important background information that has never been shared in an open forum, and (4) encourage families to stand firm in their convictions to raise and educate their children.

To defend our freedom to home educate in Montana, it is critical that the home school community be well informed and united.

Montana Home Education History

For the last 20 years Montana parents have fought hard to make sure that our laws are preserved to protect our homeschooling freedoms. In the 1983 session, SB445 was introduced by Senator Bob Brown. This bill was designed to establish new laws in Montana that would provide rules that would exempt non-public students from the compulsory attendance laws that Montana (and every state) have. Ultimately SB445 was passed 50-0 in the Senate and 62-14 in the House. Thus, the formation of 20-5-109 MCA. (To read Montana Home Education laws, visit: www.mtche.org/mchelaw.htm)

Then, in 1988 the Montana School Boards Association (MSBA) began planning to introduce a testing bill aimed at the homeschooling families in the 1989 session. Prior to that session, we formed the Montana Coalition of Home Educators (MCHE) to organize a defense. After many meetings with OPI and MSBA, the testing bill was never introduced.

But in 1991, MSBA and the School Administrators of Montana (SAM) worked with House Education Chairman Representative Ted Schye, and introduced HB533 to require annual testing of homeschool students. In response to that bill, MCHE worked with Senator Del Gage (R – Cut Bank) to draft a bill that would benefit home educators. Senator Gage's SB287 was introduced with 48 co-signers. (That year, the Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate, and the Governor was Republican Stan Stephens.)

The testing bill, HB533, was defeated in the Rep. Schye's House Education committee. Senator Gage’s home education bill, SB287, passed the Senate 42-5 and passed the House 81-15. Senator Joe Mazurek was President of the Senate, and Rep Hal Harper was Speaker of the House that session. SB287 was signed into law on April 17, 1991 and is now 20-5-111 MCA. There are still many homeschooling families in Montana that remember driving many miles and writing many letters to preserve our freedoms in the 1991 session.

Since the 1991 session there have been a number of bills introduced that would have adversely affected the homeschooling community. Some of these bills would have raised the compulsory attendance age to 18, and lowered it to 6. Through hard work we have successfully fought those bills – all have died. And last session, we successfully killed SB276 - another bill introduced by Senator Ryan that was to require testing. But that bill included BOTH home and private schools - PLUS annual testing (SB291 only required 4th, 8th and 11th grades).

Full text of SB276: http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2003/billhtml/SB0276.htm

The battles that we fight in Montana benefit more than many realize. The result of our victory in 1991 served as an inspiration to South Carolina who had just suffered a massive legislative defeat. But, after hearing of Montana's victories, they rallied in the next session and experienced a turn-around victory. And on 03/18/2005 the Governor of Utah signed into law new statutes that dramatically improved Utah's homeschooling freedoms. Much of their new law was based upon Montana's law as was passed in 1991. What we accomplish in rural Montana has great impact to others across the country.

For more information on Montana's home education history, visit: www.mtche.org/mchehist.htm

There has been a number of other sessions where there has been plans to change the homeschool laws. In 1998, I remember being contacted by Ken Toole’s office for the purchase of one of Dr. Ray’s reports on homeschooling in Montana. Ken Toole (now Senator Ken Toole), is the co-founder of the Montana Human Rights Network. Since MHRN is typically involved in advancing homosexual rights in Montana, I was surprised that they were interested in home education.

In our phone conversation, Mr. Toole confirmed that their organization had formally adopted resolutions to seek new statutes to require the testing of homeschool students. In our discussion I explained to Mr. Toole that we would aggressively fight any bill introduced. In the end, MHRN dropped their attempt to create a bill. The link to their article relating to their interest in regulating homeschools is below:

http://www.mhrn.org/news/299home.html

And this session SAM once again testified in support of SB291. That was expected, since they had formally adopted a legislative agenda against home schooling freedoms in MT prior to the start of the session. The link below contains their formal resolution for the 2005 session:

http://www.mtche.org/sam2005.htm

The Battle to Preserve Our Home Educating Freedoms

Both in this session and last, the homeschool community has been required to defend their families and their freedom to home educate. In the concluding remarks by Senator Ryan and Senator Elliott, they spoke of the ‘shadow children’ and that the homeschool community needs to step forward and help find a way to find abusive families. Over the years we have been told that most are doing a good job, but there still needs to be 'accountability'.

Senator Ryan now states that he has received letters from homeschoolers that support his bill. I can only assume he is talking about SB291.

For those that have written letters to Senator Ryan regarding his bill, and wanting to help find a ‘solution’ to his problems of ‘shadow children’, it is very important to consider the entire homeschooling community. Anything that is being suggested or proposed that could divide the unity we now enjoy would be a tragedy. SB291 was a bill that we all agreed to fight. Not one homeschooling family testified as a proponent. And no homeschooler testified with suggestions to amend it to make it 'better'.

I can fully appreciate that some may wish to help Senator Ryan out, but I have been around politics for many years and fully appreciate how laws are formed. I remember a small change to the 20-5-110 was added in 1989:

"(1) adopt a district policy on assessment for placement of any child who enrolls in a school of the district and whose previous place of instruction was a nonpublic school that is not accredited; "

MCHE did not object, since it made sense for the school district to adopt a policy for re-entry. I never in my wildest imagination thought that a school district would abuse it. But, sure enough, Missoula adopted a policy that any non-public student that enters into their high school must attend all classes to graduate. That means that a 17 year old entering into a public school from a non-public or homeschool will not get a diploma unless they enter in as a 9th grader (17 years old) and take 4 years of classes. I testified as an opponent, at the school board meeting when they adopted the policy.

The point is, that once the ball starts rolling, it never ends.

Today, we are dealing with some that are serving that have little interest in a parent's right to educate without total government oversight and evaluation. On the floor of the Senate in the debate on SB198, Senator Ryan stated "Hatred does not begin in public schools. Hatred begins in the home."

In the debate over Senator Ryan's quality education bill (SB152), there was nearly 8 hours of debate on the floor of the senate. I was in the gallery for much of it. There were 23 amendments offered on the floor. 22 by Republicans. All 22 failed. There were two amendments offered by Senator Grimes (a strong supporter of non-public schools) that sent a chilling message to me. Both amendments caused Senator Ryan to become very agitated and very angry. He successfully led the charge to defeat them on the floor of the Senate. They were simply additions to the preamble of SB152:

"WHEREAS, the Montana legislature recognizes and respects the importance of values and religious convictions of families in Montana in the education of their children and will defer to the convictions of those families as much as practicable; and"

"WHEREAS, the Montana Legislature affirms and recognizes the necessity and right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children by choosing to enroll the children in public education programs or in a public school of their choice, to the extent practicable, or to choose to educate their children in a nonpublic school; and"

Both amendments failed.

In another interesting twist regarding Senator Ryan’s SB152, the initial version of his bill included two sections that would have modified the existing non-public school sections of law by replacing the words ‘instructional program’ with ‘educational program’. I felt that this was a significant change to our statutes. I testified against including the non-public school sections of statute in SB152 – a public school bill. The committee unanimously struck them from the bill. BUT, the same modifications were later included in SB291.

Full text of SB152: http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/billhtml/SB0152.htm

Last session, we successfully killed Senator Ryan’s testing bill, SB276 (a bill included BOTH home and private schools). I am still amazed that in his opening statement in that hearing, Senator Ryan actually testified that he was insulted that the leader of the Montana homeschoolers had never extended the courtesy of talking to him about his bill until just before the hearing. I was shocked. I began my testimony by telling the committee that I was the one that Senator Ryan was referring to - and that I had called him within a week of him putting the bill request in (June of 2002) - talking with him for about 20 minutes. And then I talked with him again on the phone a couple of months later - and then again in Helena. And then just prior to the hearing I introduced him to Dee Black of HSLDA. I could not understand why he would make a statement like that.

And then, two weeks after SB276 was tabled, Senator Ryan approved the draft of SB433. A bill designed to add a small tax to soda pop sold in Montana. It was initially intended to help fund programs for the elderly. But, when I examined the bill, it included the following section:

“Section 6. Disposition of tax. The collections from the tax imposed in [section 2], less any refunds, must be deposited in the state special revenue fund to the credit of:

(1) the office of public instruction for assessment requirements of nonpublic and home school students”

HB433 was introduced ONE WEEK (the draft was approved by Senator Ryan on 02/17/03) after SB276 had already been tabled 9-1 (2/13/03). The Senate eventually killed SB433.

Full text of SB433:

http://laws.leg.state.mt.us/pls/laws03/LAW0210W$BSIV.ActionQuery?P_BILL_NO1=433&P_BLTP_BILL_TYP_CD=SB&Z_ACTION=Find

And then prior to the hearing on SB291, Senator Ryan used the state email service (contrary to state policy) to solicit support for his bill. I chose not to publicize his memo, sensing that the homeschool community was already pretty upset with SB291 and I did not want to add more ‘fuel to the fire’. Here is the memo that Senator Ryan sent on 02/01/05 to public school administrators and county superintendents across the state:

"ALERT SB 291: A request from Senate Education and Cultural Resources Chairman Don Ryan

I need your help to explain to the legislators that all people who are home schooling are not doing a better job than public schools.

There are stories out there that need to be heard to protect children from "educational neglect."

If you have a story or situation you have encountered, please let me know!

The bill will be up in about 1 1/2 weeks.

Don Ryan"

This memo gave us the first clue as to when the hearing on SB291 would be held. But still we did not have an exact date. I had already given Senator Ryan all my contact phone numbers and email address asking him to please let us know when the hearing would be planned so that we could let folks know. I never received any phone call or email.

Then an interesting thing happened, that really helped us get ready. On Feb 3^rd, Senate President Tester was being interviewed on a statewide radio talk show – ‘Berg in the Morning’. The host asked Senator Tester about SB291. Mr. Berg stated that he had heard that the hearing would be the following Monday, Feb 7^th. Senator Tester said he was not sure, but that sounded correct. As you can expect, I instantly started getting emails and phone calls. This was the first that I had heard of a projected date.

I immediately called the secretary of the Senate Education Committee to verify the hearing date. She said that the hearing on SB291 was NOT scheduled for the following Monday (02/07/05), BUT for the NEXT Monday – Feb 14^th. She also had been getting calls as the result of the radio show. I asked her when the official notice would be posted and she stated that the notice would be either the 9^th or 10^th. That meant that the public would not be officially notified until just before the hearing (rules require at least 3 days).

All of our plans for the hearing on SB291 were made based upon the unofficial notice. But, it was the best we had and it gave us an extra week to arrange air travel for HSLDA and Dr. Ray. On the evening of the 9^th, the official notice for the hearing on SB291 was posted. I firmly believe that Senator Ryan knew weeks in advance of the hearing date and time. As Chairman of the Committee, he is solely responsible for setting all hearings, and the bills to be heard. The memo that he had sent out implied a hearing date was being scheduled.

Senator Ryan and others in government have demonstrated a deep distrust of parents that insist on raising and educating their children. With very little modification, bills like SB291 could easily be extended to challenge any parent in how they are raising their children. SB291 even included draconian language that would have made it totally impossible for parents of developmentally disabled children to home educate their disabled children. And when pressed, Senator Ryan said this was the most important part of the bill for him. (Only after the lobbyists for the disabled from Great Falls pressured him, did he offer to remove that section.)

The ‘Shadow Children’

In Senator Ryan’s remarks, he made many references to failing homeschools, truant students and abused children. Listening to those comments, one would assume that all of society’s ills are found only in homeschools.

Probably the most intense part of the hearing was to listen to the passionate testimony of a homeschooling mother from a small community South of Great Falls. In news articles prior to the hearing, Senator Ryan had been quoted "He also shared the story of a young woman in Ulm who had tried to enter nursing school after being home schooled. Her academic skills were below people of her age and, as a result, she didn't get into the school." (Bozeman Daily Chronicle 02/13/2005). Senator Ryan also used this example in his opening testimony for SB291.

Fortunately, the mother of the young nursing student attended the hearing. Near the end of time for testimony, she stepped to the mike and addressed the committee and Senator Ryan. She then gave ‘the rest of the story’. She explained that her daughter had been born with Cerebral Palsey and was also deaf. The mother had been told that it was unlikely that her daughter would ever be able to read. She decided to homeschool her daughter, whose dream was to become a nurse. Though her daughter had some problems entering nursing school, she is now a second year student. Though, upset about the misrepresentation of her family - this mother relished the opportunity to tell the committee of how proud she was of her child who overcame so many difficulties in life.

Unless, she had attended the hearing and come forward, her daughter would have remained one of the ‘shadow children’.

The real issue that needs to be addressed is TRUANCY. Those that feel that families and their children are hiding behind the homeschool law, need to examine Montana law.

Current Montana law contains very specific language regarding education. As in all the other states, Montana requires all children to attend school. Our compulsory attendance laws are very similar to other states. If a child is between 7 and 16, they must attend school (20-5-102 MCA). But, if the student complies with the elements of 20-5-109 MCA, there is provision for exemption from public school enrollment.

ANY student who does not comply with all required subsections of 20-5-109 MCA, IS NOT exempt from Montana’s compulsory attendance laws. HE OR SHE IS then technically truant. 20-5-106 MCA authorizes truant officers to act ‘whenever the truant officer discovers a child truant from school or a child subject to compulsory attendance who is not enrolled in a school providing the required instruction….’

Parents who falsely claim to be home schooling are not providing the required instruction. There is no loophole. Truant parents cannot pretend to be one of us – they are not home schoolers.

Does the truant officer need more power? NO.

A quick review of 20-5-105 MCA demonstrates that the truant officer has extraordinary powers. Subsection 1 gives him 'police power', which inherently includes the power to make investigations and explicitly includes the power to serve warrants. Subsection 2 gives the truant officers the authority to take children into custody and take them to school. Subsection 3 gives him the power to do ‘whatever else is required to investigate and enforce the compulsory attendance law.’ And Subsection 4 gives him the power to commence legal action against truant parents and children.

You will find no broader grant of authority to truant officers anywhere in the nation.

In Article II, Section 10 of the Montana Constitution, citizens are guaranteed the ‘Right of Privacy’. Every citizen has the ‘right of individual privacy’ and unless our government can demonstrate a ‘compelling state interest’, families expect their privacy to be honored. Rather than add draconian laws that cripple a parent’s right to raise and educate their children, the government needs to simply utilize existing statutes to protect children from harm – once they prove a compelling state interest.

The passage of SB291 would have done nothing to address the needs of 'shadow children'. SB291 was focused more directly on the rights of parents. As demonstrated above, there are more than enough laws that can be implemented to protect abused and neglected children. This session, Senator Trudi Schmidt sponsored SJ5 - a 'resolution to study truancy in public schools'. (Senator Schmidt also submitted requests for FIVE additional bills to add new regulations against homeschools). I was surprised that Senator Ryan and others, that have expressed concern with truancy, did not show up for the hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to support SJ5. I attended the hearing, and only a few educators and law enforcement officers from Great Falls attended. The bill was tabled shortly after the hearing (01/25/2005). BUT, on 03/18/2005 SJ5 was revived and 'removed' from the 'table' and passed 3rd Reading 40-8 in the Senate - and then sent to the House.. (Another example of how bills can be revived and moved along - it all depends on who is in power). (More about SJ5 - below)

SB291 – Was it really dead?

Though the legislative rules state that unless a bill is ‘transmitted’ to the ‘other house’ by the 45^th day (02/24), it is dead – there are exceptions. Revenue bills have a later deadline (71^st day – 04/04). And Resolutions have no deadline.

In previous sessions, both the Senate and House were very strict about these rules. But, the rules are totally in the control of the legislature. I have already seen some exceptions that should never have been allowed.

My concern over this relates to the statements that Senator Ryan made in Great Falls during the mid-session break (above). I have checked with experienced legislative leaders and experts in Legislative Services about SB291. They all agreed, that with some minor modifications it would possible to revive SB291 and take it from the committee and breath new life into it and send it to the full floor of the Senate. For weeks following the tabling of SB291, we monitored closely the status of this bill. It remains on the table.

I talked with a number of homeschoolers who left the hearing on SB291 with mixed emotions. On one hand, they were overwhelmed with excitement over the victory – rightly so. But on the other hand they felt sympathy for Senator Ryan and his defeat. My response was quick – Senator Ryan could have easily avoided this event. In 2003 he experienced a loss of similar dimension. He was completely responsible for what happened on Feb 14^th. This entire matter could have been avoided. We came to Helena simply to defend our families and children. SB291 was 5 times worse that his bill in 2003, and ultimately received 5 times the response.

Also, I had a sense that many could leave the hearing feeling freshly empowered. That is why I wrote a letter specifically reminding us to remain humble. And though we had demonstrated strength and unity – some may leave thinking that this powerful homeschool lobby (us) could fix all these ‘problems’ with ‘shadow children’ by leading an effort to draft ‘acceptable’ laws to help Senator Ryan and Senator Elliott. If this were to happen, the homeschool community would become fragmented – certainly a goal that our adversaries would applaud. Having been involved in this process for years, I would caution all within the homeschool community to seriously consider the freedoms we now enjoy, before drafting any correspondence that may add credibility to Senator Ryan’s (or others that would be quick to draft bills against the home schooling community) efforts to strip parents of their rights, either now or in the future.

Will the Battle Ever End?

Many are asking that question. There may be some that assume that if we simply allow (or suggest) some modification to Montana’s homeschool laws that this will be the end of the debate.

Benjamin Franklin stated:

“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”

And Margaret Thatcher stated:

“If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.”

For some, it may make sense to simply let the public school do a few tests. Some that may suggest this may have moved here from other states that have different laws, and were used to allowing the government to examine their children and families. But, still there are many that have moved to Montana for it’s excellent homeschooling opportunities.

Again, this battle is NOT about 'testing' - it is all about a parent's right to raise and educate their children (as well as the school district's declining enrollment and funding).

I have been involved as a citizen in the formation of Montana’s statutes for many years. I have witnessed first hand the total disregard that one legislative session has for the development of statutes by earlier sessions. They never explore the negotiations and debates from earlier bills that became law. In fact, they rarely even take time to examine the debate on sections of Montana’s Constitution that was put in place in 1972.

SB291 gives a clear roadmap that Senator Ryan and others have for the regulation of home schools in Montana. He actually admitted that he modeled SB291 after North Dakota’s law – one of the worst in the nation. SB291 was not about testing. It was a direct challenge to a parent’s right to raise and educate their children. SB291 stated that a parent without a college degree would need to be monitored. SB291 stated that a parent with a disabled child would lose their right to homeschool. And while our current law (20-5-111 MCA) states that we are SOLELY responsible for the testing of our children, SB291 was even drafted to require the homeschooling family to bring their children into a public school and be tested by a public school teacher using public school tests. And if you add in the language of Senator Ryan's SB276 (that failed in the 2003 session), the real goal would be to require ANNUAL testing of both home and private schools.

To witness the immediate tabling of SB291 was an incredible event. But still, I warned many, that even though the committee killed SB291 – that DID NOT mean that the Senate Education Committee was endorsing home education. Senator Elliott (as well as others on the committee), who made the motion to table SB291, is not a supporter of home education. Though it was difficult for him to make a motion to kill the bill of the Chairman of the committee, he stated that he still had hopes that laws could be formed that would ‘solve the problem’. Since the day of the hearing, Senator Elliott has written a letter to a Helena newspaper – ‘Queen City News’ that explains his position:

Read text of article: http://tinyurl.com/3m6g4

In his letter, Senator Elliott states: “Surely there are tests and testing conditions that home-school parents and the Office of Public Instruction can agree on, and both parties must work toward that goal with mutual understanding and respect in order to solve it.”

He is clearly stating that there will be more attempts to regulate homeschools in Montana.

And then recently, the Montana Standard provided an excellent multi-day report on homeschooling in Butte. But, in one of the articles, public school officials revealed what could be an even bigger motive for regulating home education out of existence – MONEY. (SB291 would have required home schooled students to register with the local school district, not merely notify them, which would have afforded more money to be allocated to the school district based on number of students “registered”. )

Read the complete article:

http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2005/03/03/newsspecialreports/hjjejgjgijiafd.txt

SJ5 - Public School Truancy Resolution

As referenced above, the final bill that could be of great concern is Senator Schmidt's SJ5 - 'Resolution to Study Truancy in Public Schools'. The big question is 'why should the homeschool community be concerned with a public school resolution?' The answer is, that over and over we have heard claims and accusations from opponents and skeptics of non-public schools stating that 'homeschoolers are really just families dodging public school by claiming to be homeschoolers'. SJ5 would establish a committee that will meet for the next two years to create a list of agenda items that could very likely be aimed directly at the homeschooling community. Realizing that Senator Schmidt had many other bill requests to test homeschool students, it is not hard to imagine that the focus of the SJ5 committee could easily spend all their time putting together another SB291. And if they do, next session's battles would be against a committee's recommendation - rather than the request of a single legislator. This is common practice by those with long-term goals and a focused agenda.

(The strangest thing about SJ5 is that since it related to truancy, you would have expected it to be heard before the Senate Education Committee - BUT, SJ5 was heard before the Senate Judiciary Committee - proving to many that truancy has little to do with education, rather it is simply a law to keep children in a 'school building'.)

SJ5 is assigned to the House Education Committee. It seems logical that it would have been in the House Judiciary Committee (since it was in the Senate Judiciary Committee), but the House Education Committee is a much more 'friendly' committee for this bill (in the House). And to realize that SJ5 was originally tabled, and in LESS than a week it was taken from the committee table and passed through the Senate and to the House is pretty amazing. (A real example how things can happen quickly)

MCHE presented testimony in opposition to SJ5. As described above, Montana already has some very powerful truancy laws on the books. What Montana school administrators lack is the fortitude to enforce those laws. Bills like SB291 do nothing to address the truancy problems. And I am convinced that bills like SJ5 will produce more bills aimed against Montana homeschooling families in future sessions.

The full text of SJ5: http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/billhtml/SJ0005.htm

SJ5 was killed by the House Education Committee shortly after the hearing ended on 04/04/2005.

Summary – Freedom is Never Free

As you can see, dealing with lawmakers and legislature is often unpredictable. For many years, Montana homeschoolers have fought hard for the freedoms that many now enjoy. Other states have fought similar battles. During our battle on SB291, I received many letters from other states – CA, CO, WA, ID, WY, etc.. Homeschooling families and groups were praying for us daily. It was humbling to see so many people that I may never meet, join with us in our fight. The battle to defeat SB291 was being closely watched by many home educators across the country.

As Abraham Lincoln stated:

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

As Thomas Jefferson stated:

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

There is a very real battle being waged for the next generation of Montana citizens. It was incredible to see so many families from all different political and religious viewpoints join together to fight SB291, IN FULL UNITY.

The answer to the above question “Will the battle ever end?” is NO. As long as there are families who love their children and are willing to fight for the right to raise and educate them free from government ‘monitors’, this battle will continue. I was stunned to see so many bill requests in this one session against home education. I am still convinced that if the homeschool community had not rallied as it did, it is likely that the other bill requests would have been drafted and introduced. (To view the complete list of un-introduced bills requests, visit: www.badbills.com/stage_1.htm )

Our conviction needs to extend beyond our own benefit. Even after we have completed our own homeschooling experience, we will need to join with those that have just started out. The founders of this country fought for principles that they knew 'they themselves' would never enjoy. They were fighting for future generations, even while some suggested compromising to avoid conflict.

We gain nothing by compromising what we have fought so hard to achieve in 1983, 1991, 2003 and 2005. The homeschooling laws in Montana are working – contrary to statements from those who oppose the freedom to homeschool.

When the 2005 Senate rejected Senator Grimes’ amendments to SB152 (above), I instantly recognized the new personality of Montana's lawmakers and their growing disregard for parents and their families. I also recognized that Montana's homeschool community MUST FIRMLY resist ANY legislative attack on our present statutes.

Homeschool parents need to be more involved in helping elect individuals to office who demonstrate support for Montana parents and families.

Everyone that was part of the process on SB291 and its quick defeat was able to learn firsthand the power of citizen involvement. That is why I started www.badbills.com. I believe that as more people learn how to become involved and take the time to participate, our state will benefit.

I hope that this letter will help you understand the importance of fighting for what is right. Unless we remain vigilant and involved, our freedoms will disappear as quickly as a ship in the fog. And remember the rock wall that was stolen – one rock a day – in broad daylight.

Our children's, Montana's next generation, future is at stake. This is a very serious time in history.

We need to press on.

God Bless You and Your Families,

Steve White white@imt.net

MCHE, Legislative Liaison