March 22, 2013 Radio Commentary

Home Schoolers: H.B. 283 Looks Better Now

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, March 22, 2013 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim.  A first reading of H.B. 283 introduced February 11th by Representative Brooks Coleman alarmed families who home school their children.  Especially worrisome was Section 23 (c) (2) requiring parents to report to the local school superintendent a home-schooled child suspected of having a disability.  Also, that same section deleted the law that says enrollment records and reports will not be used for other purposes.  But that has been changed!

Good news!  House and Senate committees re-wrote H.B. 283 Section 23 (c) (2), removed the new requirements and reverted back to current law.  However, they deleted “or for verification of attendance by the Department of Public Safety for the purposes set forth in subsection (a.1) of Code Section 40-5-22,” that’s now in the law.

Committees also removed Section 23 (6) (A) that allowed “a rebuttable presumption that a child is deprived,” to trigger child custody action if home-school records were not current.  Section 23 (6) (A) now contains only one sentence, which is: “A written or electronic confirmation of attendance shall be submitted annually to the department by the parent or guardian of a child attending a home study program confirming that the child has met the attendance requirements of Cod Section 20-2-690.1 for the previous school year.”However, the current version of H.B. 283 Section 23 (6) (B) indicates home-school data may be shared, directly contradicting current law that says attendance records and reports will not be used for anything else, unless a parent or guardian gives permission or there’s a court subpoena.

The original version of H.B. 283 requiring parents to report a child “who is suspected of having a disability” was very unsettling.  On December 4th all of us, especially parents of disabled children, barely dodged a bullet, from potential UN interference in the care of ANY disabled person.   The issue was whether disabled children and adults in the U.S. could by-pass parents, care-takers and doctors to complain directly to the U.N. about their health care.

Since President Obama signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on July 24, 2009, this is an imminent danger.  Thankfully, it cannot affect the U.S. unless the U.S. Senate passes it with a two-thirds vote, which is more dangerous than you think.  On December 4th, 61 of 100 U.S. senators voted FOR ratification.  So, the constitutional mandate protected us!  

Last September, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin thought the treaty was so good that he moved that it pass by “unanimous consent.”  If Utah’s Senator Mike Lee had not objected, it could have been instantly ratified, without a second thought or time for debate.  Thank God for stand-up Americans who still believe the U.S. is a sovereign country that should reject UN interference.

Call 404 656-0057 and ask Senate Rules Committee Chairman Mullis to delete the data sharing language, as well.   For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.