home : THSC Legislative Update : 79th Texas Legislature

79th TEXAS LEGISLATURE NOW IN SESSION

The 79th Texas Legislature officially began its regular session on January 11, 2005. It is often said, “No man’s freedom or property is safe when the Texas Legislature is in Session.” The Texas Home School Coalition Association will be monitoring the bills and activities of the Texas legislature closely. We will sound the alarm when bills that would be detrimental or helpful are before a committee or one of the houses of the legislature—and opposition or support is needed. If you are not getting this e-mail directly and would like to be updated on vital legislative issues, just drop us a message at staff@thsc.org and asked to be added to the e-mail list.

Our number one agenda item is to protect the freedoms that we currently have 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 in Texas.

In the early 1980s the Texas house debated the issue of home schooling in relation to a bill that would have increased the penalties for truancy. The House rejected that attempt to criminalize home schooling. The House also rejected an attempt to repeal parent taught driver education in 1997, in part because it was seen as an attack against home schooling. In the last session, in the House Public Safety Committee, a bill that would have made it more difficult for parents to teach their children to drive was withdrawn because home schoolers opposed the bill and it was seen as anti-home schooling.

Twenty years ago few people in general and even fewer legislators were familiar with home schooling. We were basically hiding as private schools. Today the success of home schooling academically is well known, and our political success in defending our freedom is well known among legislators. We should approach this legislative session without fear and with a determination to defend our freedom and make legislative changes that will enhance home schooling in Texas. Regulation of home schoolers can only take place if legislation is passed in both houses of the Texas legislature and signed into law by the Governor. Although this is technically possible, if we do our job, it will not happen.

Representative Susanna Hupp will be filing legislation to reform Child Protective Services (CPS). CPS reform has become a major issue with the highly publicized deaths of several children and the response or lack thereof by CPS. A consensus has developed that this agency needs to be seriously reviewed and reformed. However, many argue that the agency merely needs more funding and more staff to prevent these kinds of terrible tragedies.

This issue will likely be our top priority for this legislative session. This situation is an opportunity to adopt some safeguards for parents who have been harassed by CPS or—even worse—lost their children to this agency. It is vital for families that have had problems with CPS workers and have been wrongly harassed or worse to present their stories. We must show that there is a serious and systemic problem with this agency in regard to its treatment of families due to anonymous tips. In order for this to occur we must demonstrate that the problem is serious enough to address.

If you have suffered at the hands of CPS, or know families who have, please document your experiences and send them to us. Let us know if you would be willing to testify before legislative committees about the situation you experienced. We will follow this and other issues and keep you notified as they develop.

If you did not receive this e-mail directly from us, please contact us and sign up for our regular legislative updates. This is our lifeline during this legislative session, and it is vital that Texas home schoolers stay aware of legislation being considered and take action at appropriate times to protect our freedom and make legal changes to enhance that freedom.

In your service,

Tim Lambert