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A Preview of What to Expect this Legislative Session

The Texas 80th Legislature officially began January 9 and will run through Memorial Day in May.  It is often said, “No man’s freedom or property is safe when the Texas legislature is in session.”  During this time, the Texas Home School Coalition Association will monitor bills and activities closely.  We will sound the alarm when legislation that could impact home school families is before a committee or one of the houses of the legislature and officials need to hear from us.

As many home-school-friendly people as possible need to receive this information!  Please forward this email to others in your support groups, churches, and families.  If you did not get this e-mail directly and would like to stay up-to-date on vital legislative issues, send an email to staff@thsc.org and ask to be added to our Email Network. We need to be ready to respond!

Let me explain our general philosophy.  Our top agenda item is always to protect the freedom that home educators currently enjoy in Texas.  If a bill arises that would erode that freedom, it becomes our top priority.  In addition, we have adopted a proactive agenda to seek legislative changes to resolve discrimination against home schoolers and/or give more freedom to home schoolers families in Texas.

The Texas House of Representatives reelected State Representative Tom Craddick as Speaker of the House, and he will appoint the House committees and chairmen very soon.  These committees and those appointed in the Senate by Lt. Governor David Dewhurst will consider bills filed, hold hearings on many of them, and vote on legislation to forward to the full House or Senate.  Bills passed there will be sent to the other chamber for consideration.

We will often give information that does not require an action in our Legislative Updates.  When new bills are filed that might impact home school freedom or that are of interest to the home school community, we will report that and track the status of those bills. 

If action becomes necessary, we will send a Legislative ALERT, explaining the issue and what action should be taken.  We will also include information about who needs to be contacted and when.  Sometimes there will be a call to contact (via email or phone) members of a specific committee, when an important bill is being considered at that level.  Other times, all members of the House and/or Senate will need to receive input from their own constituents who are home schoolers, when a bill is being heard by the whole chamber.  It is very important to confirm information and not react to unsubstantiated threats. If you receive a call-to-action from someone, check it out on our website or call our office at (806) 744-4441 before responding.

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