Monday, March 30, 2009
Nevada Homeschool Network Legislative Alert
Dear Homeschool Parents and Friends of Homeschooling,
This has been a busy time for NHN Officers. We have been
tracking bills submitted to the 2009 Nevada Legislative session. We
are pleased to report that at this time none affect our Homeschool Freedom
directly. However, there are bills that may have affect upon some in
the homeschooling community.
We have listed the bills that we have reviewed in numerical order
for easy reference. We’ve also categorized the bills by
importance/interest to homeschool families.
After the bills section we explain different ways you can make your
opinion known on one or all of these bills. Thanks for staying engaged in
the Legislative process.
Assembly
Bills
Senate Bills_______________________
AB11 Millennium
Scholarship SB77
Mentoring/Public High Schools
AB155 Multicultural
Education SB81
Special Needs Scholarship
AB158 Millennium
Scholarship
SB283 Domestic Partnership Act
AB162 Autism Health Ins.
Coverage
SB286 Early Intervention Services
AB184 Gender Identity or
Expression
SB292 Child’s “Best Interests”
AB211 Local School Board
Meetings
SB317 Financial Literacy/Education
AB212 Millennium
Scholarship
SB326 Govern. of Public Education
AB343 Pupils/Entertainment
Industry
SB330 World-Class Education
AB351 Millennium Scholarship/Loans
SB378 Early Childhood Education
AB487 Pupils/Middle or Jr. High
Schools SB381 Immunizations Fee Coverage
AB489 Governance of Charter
Schools SB385 Govern. of
Charter Schools
AB505 Pupils in High
Schools
ACR2 Interim Study on Public
Schools
Bills in order of importance/interest to homeschoolers:
Children:
SB378 Requirements for Early Childhood
Education (Comm.
on Health & Educ.)
Requires the State Board of Education to develop a plan for early
childhood education; requirements for prekindergarten programs and other
matters.
NHN opposes this bill. The compulsory attendance
law covers 7-18 year olds. The state should not develop early childhood
education programs; this should remain a function of the private sector and
parents.
SB286 Early Intervention Services (Cegasvke)
Establishes early intervention services to infants and
toddlers with disabilities that are at risk for developmental delays, in
accordance with federal regulations as funds are available.
NHN is neutral on this bill.
Bills affecting Child Protection Laws:
SB292 Uniform Representation of Children in
Abuse, Neglect, & Custody Cases (Amodei) This bill requires and defines advocate or
attorney appointed to represent “the best interests of the child” in alleged child abuse,
neglect, or custody cases.
NHN opposes this bill and has requested Senator Amodei
to withdraw the bill. Sections 35, 48, & 49 will require a judge to
appoint a “best interest advocate or attorney” to a child whose parent(s) are alleged
to have abused or neglected the child. With so many false accusations
against legitimate homeschool parents this bill is greatly flawed.
Bills affecting the Millennium Scholarship:
AB351 Millennium Scholarships/Loans (Christensen)
Changes name from Millennium Scholarship to the Millennium
Scholarship and Loan Program. Establishes criteria for loans and
repayment. No interest loan if scholar remains in the state after
graduation. NHN supports this bill.
AB212 Millennium Scholarships (Munford, Pierce)
Restricts award of scholarship dollars to students who have been
caught cheating 3 or more times while enrolled in public school. NHN is neutral on this
bill.
AB11 Millennium Scholarships (Settlemeyer)
This bill would require all applicants to submit a “Free
Application for Federal Student Aid” (FAFSA) to prove citizenship.
NHN opposes this bill as over-burdensome, proof of
citizenship can be required without submitting a loan application to the
federal government.
AB158 Millennium Scholarships (Cobb)
This bill requires application within 2 years of high school
graduation, restricts award to those with incomes less than $100,000, amount of
scholarship scaled based on income/need, changes minimum GPA of 3.0 to retain
scholarship.
NHN opposes this bill based on the means and need
testing since the scholarship is funded from the Tobacco Settlement, not
tax-payer dollars and should be made equally available to all academically
qualified students.
Bills affecting State Governance of Education:
SB326 Revises governing of Public Education (Cegasvke & Raggio)
Eliminates State Board of Education; restructures Dept of Ed;
creates NV Charter School Institute for sponsorship of all charters to this,
not SBOE, districts, etc.
NHN supports and favors this bill over SB385.
SB385 Revises provisions governing Charter
Schools (Comm. on
Health & Educ.)
Creates NV Charter School Institute to sponsor and govern charter
schools instead of SBOE. Does not repeal SBOE which continues oversight
of public and private schools.
NHN supports this bill as far it goes, but favors
SB326
AB489 Revises provisions governing Charter Schools (Comm. on Education)
Creates new Charter Body for sponsorship. Eliminates State Board
of Education sponsored charters. Creates the Nevada Charter School
Institute would create regulatory control over charters, not Dept. of Ed., or
SBOE.
NHN supports this bill.
SB330 World Class Education NV (Horsford)
Revises provisions relating to the Superintendent of Public Instruction;
various changes to the Dept. of Education, the election/appointment of
State Board of Education members, as well as changes to other counsels and
commissions relating to public education.
NHN opposes this bill due to the potential this bill has
for controlling private schools and homeschools. Specifically:
The preamble due to terminology that does not
specify “public school pupils”,
Section 6 changes the name of the Superintendent of
Public Instruction. This title is established in the NV Constitution and
therefore should not be changed.
Section 8 regarding the election/appointment of
SBOE members.
Section 9, number 2 for vagueness.
ACR2 Interim Study on the governance and
oversight of public education.
NHN is neutral on this bill.
Bills affecting Public Education:
AB211 Meetings of boards of trustees of school
districts (Munford)
Requires local school boards to carry out certain actions
requested by the general public under certain circumstances.
NHN supports this bill.
AB343 Pupils in Entertainment Industry (Manendo)
This bill exempts students enrolled in public school who work in
the entertainment industry from minimum number of attendance days if the
course-work requirements have been completed.
NHN
supports this bill as “choice”
in meeting educational requirements.
AB505 Pupils in High School (Repeals three 392 exemptions) (Comm. on
Education)
Sets benchmarks for high school students for ease of transition
into workplace; Instruction in fiscal responsibility; peer mentoring for
transition from jr high to high school; time during school day to remedy
deficient credits in time to graduate or advance; ability to report unlawful
activity secretly. Sect 16 repels old NRS #s NRS 392.090, 392.100 and 392.110.
NHN opposes Section 16 of this bill as it limits
individual options; takes no position on other portions of this bill.
AB487 Pupils in Middle School/Jr. High School (Comm. on Educ.)
Middle School students-Academic Plan for first year in middle
school, separation of initially enrolled students from older students where
practicable, peer & adult mentoring in middle school.
NHN opposes this bill as it usurps local control of
education.
SB317 Financial Literacy in Public High Schools
(Copening, Parks,
Woodhouse...)
This bill requires that “financial literacy” be taught in public
high school.
NHN
opposes this bill because it
usurps local control of education.
AB155 Multicultural Education Requirements
This bill requires the State Board of Education to adopt a program
of multicultural instruction and for the local school district to ensure the
program is provided to students in grades 2-12. The bill also requires
that teachers submit proof of completion of a course in Multiculturalism.
NHN opposes this bill due to the fiscal implications of
the bill on an already over-burdened system as well as on Constitutional
grounds.
SB77 Peer mentoring for Public High School
Students (Comm.
on Health & Educ)
Authorizes local boards of trustees to establish “teen mentoring”
programs in public high schools. Bill passed the full Senate on
3/24/09.
NHN is neutral on this bill.
Bills affecting special needs students:
SB81 Special Needs Scholarship (Cegasvke)
Establishes a special needs scholarship program for certain pupils
with disabilities to apply for public funds to attend eligible private
schools.
NHN supports this bill.
Bills affecting the General Public:
AB184 Gender Identity or Expression in the Work
Place (Aizley,
Segerblom, Ohrenschall...Parks)
Employers may not descriminate against employees with respect to
“gender identity or expression”.
NHN opposes this bill.
SB283 The Nevada Domestic Partnership Act (Parks, Coffin)
Enacts legislation equating “domestic partnerships” with marriage
in Nevada.
NHN opposes this bill.
AB162 Autism/health insurance & health care
plans (Orenschall,
Buckley...)
Requires certain policies of health insurance and health care
plans to provide coverage for screening and treatment of Autism.
Note: this bill contains an unfunded mandate.
NHN is neutral on this bill. However, NHN recognizes
and is sympathetic to the difficulty that parents have in choosing to
homeschool their autistic children, often needing the services a public school
offers since their insurance doesn't cover needed therapies for the student’s
progress.
SB381 Immunizations (Comm on Health & Education)
Requires Medicaid, self-insurance plans, and health insurance
policies to cover any immunizations recommended by the State Board of Health or
the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention for children under age
18. Calls for full coverage without payment of deductibles, co-pays or
co-insurance of said immunizations.
NHN is neutral on this bill.
The
Nevada
Legislature's web site has a great feature where you can "Voice Your
Opinion" about a bill. If you go to the home
page at www.leg.state.nv.us and look at the right hand side of the
page, there is an option (7th on the list) entitled "Share your
Opinion on Legislative Bills." When you click on this option, you
will be brought to a page on which you can select a bill and state your
position for or against and write some comments.
Please take a moment to submit your opinions regarding any or all
of the bills we’ve brought to your attention. Don’t hesitate to write
a short comment. Contact information required to submit an opinion
will be kept confidential by the Legislative Counsel Bureau but will allow
legislators to know who is writing to them from their district. If you look at
the top of the opinion submission page, you can access reports about bills.
Here are reports that are available:
Also, individual comments (without identifying info) can be
viewed. Using this method notifies the
entire Assembly and Senate of your opinion on a bill.
You can also submit your opinion directly to
Committee members for a specific bill. This will help stop/change/improve a bill before it goes to
the floor. At the top of each bill (click the bill number above to link
directly to the bill), just after the date, the committee that the bill has
been referred to is listed. For email links to each committee member
click the Committee link below for:
Assembly: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/75th2009/committees/A_Committees/index.cfm
Senate: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/75th2009/committees/S_Committees/index.cfm Click on the name of the
committee and you’ll get a list of all the committee members with their email
links. This is the best method to use
to voice your personal concerns about a particular bill being heard by that
committee.
Phone numbers for Legislators can be found at http://www.leg.state.nv.us/75th2009/Legislators/
Staying informed and active in the Legislative process protects
LIBERTY FOR ALL.
NHN Officers
Frank Schnorbus,
Chair
Laura Siegal, Member
Elissa Wahl,
Secretary
Kelley Radow, Member
Barbara Dragon,
Treasurer
Missy Pique, Member
Carl Lucus, Member
Having problems with message search?
Fill out this form to ensure your group is one of the first to be migrated to the new message search system.
Offline 
Send Email
