2004 Legislation

5/22/04: WE DID IT! Congratulations folks....your hard work paid off. Yesterday the conference committee decided that the requirements would be a 3.0 GPA or a 21 ACT for public and accredited (SACS) private schoolers and a 21 ACT for homeschoolers and non-accredited private schoolers. The reasoning behind a 21 was that the retention rate for a graduate with a  3.0 GPA was approximately the same as the retention rate for a graduate with a 21 ACT score. Details to follow...

5/20/04:11:30 a.m.: Great News! The House passed HB2134 85 to 13.  Just previously they adopted Rep. Bobby Wood's (R-Chattanooga) amendment to change the qualifying score to a 19 with 67 Ayes and 25 Nayes. Now it's the Senate's turn to vote on this.

T5/20/04 11:17 a.m. The House is in Session and, according to THEA's Mike Bell, has been discussing HB2134 for some 20 minutes. There have been 12 amendments filed which raise and lower the qualifying score using 19, 21 and 23 among other things. Hold tight. 

5/19/04: 5:21 p.m.:  Get on the phones before 8:45 a.m. Central Time! Call your legislators, every legislator, before 8:45 a.m. Central Time Thursday morning. I would encourage you to insist on equity for all students. I care less about what the final score is and more that an ACT score for one child is no different than for another. Contact information, including how to call toll-free, can be found at: http://TnHomeEd.com/LContact.html. 

The latest from Mike Bell of THEA:

SB2114 was amended by Sen. Cohen (D-Memphis) in the Finance Committee. His amendment would equalize the scores so that everyone must score a 23. However, members of the Education Committee feel this was such a substantive change that this bill should come back to them so they can vote on it. 

HB2134 was amended by Rep. Chris Newton (R-Benton) was amended to require homeschoolers to obtain a 21 ACT and 980 SAT. This is better but still not on par with the scores required of public and accredited private schoolers which is 19. 

Rep. Bob Patton did withdraw his amendment allowing homeschoolers who took the Gateway's to only have to score a 19 ACT. He was inundated with phone calls. 

5/19/04: 12:52 a.m. HB2134 has been scheduled for a hearing in the House Budget Sub-Committee for tomorrow, Thursday, 5/20/04. 

5/19/04 11:25 a.m.: (Latest update from Mike Bell (THEA) at the Capitol.) SB2114 was recommended for passage by the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee this morning with an amendment from Sen. Cohen raising the score for everyone to 23. It now heads for the full Senate for a vote. Raising the score to 23 for all will provide some $16 million in lottery proceeds for pre-K programs. 

There is still no movement on the House version. The House is currently holding a full floor session and so it will be later today before any committees can meet.

5/19/04: 9:08 a.m: Keep calling, faxing, e-mailing: From a phone call with Mike Bell (THEA lobbyist) who is at the capitol this morning... 

In yesterday's Finance Committee meeting Chairman Tommy Head (D-Clarksville) announced that Rep. Bob Patton (R-Johnson City) wanted to remove his amendment. There was an immediate objection saying it was no longer his (Patton's) and that Budget had passed it on to this Finance Committee. Budget Chair Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) tried to convene the Budget Committee right there and again there was an objection. It was then decided to send the bill back down to the Budget sub-committee. 

Mike understand this to mean that the amendment is still attached until the Budget sub-committee removes it. The Budget Committee will meet when the Chair calls them. At this late date (looking to close the entire legislative session tomorrow) this could happen quickly or not at all.

The Senate Finance Committee was just about to vote on the state budget as Mike and I were speaking. Mike had been told by Chairman Douglas Henry (D-Nashville) that our bill wasn't going to be heard until after the state budget. So SB2114 could be heard sometime this morning...but nothing is guaranteed.

Keep in mind that the House and the Senate versions are now different and so it'll have to go to a conference committee. When they would meet, again if they would have time to meet, is unknown.

I don't believe that pulling the bill so that Patton's amendment won't be enacted is the best choice. This bill impacts military dependents, students who attend schools just across our borders because it's closer, students who graduated early among them. I'd rather we take the hit  than harm them. It's not their fault there are a couple of leigslators that are being unreasonable.

5/18/04: 9:21 p.m.: According to and e-mail sent to one of us from Rep. Bob Patton his amendment was removed from HB2134. It's scheduled to be heard again in the Budget sub-committee tomorrow.  No further word on the Senate version at this time.

5/18/04: 5:00 p.m.: Curiously, HB2134 has been sent back down to the House Budget sub-committee. No word on SB2114 yet. Stay tuned. Keep contacting. 

5/18/04: 12:05 p.m. URGENT: The lottery scholarship equalization bills are very 'fluid' at this point. HB2134 was heard by the House Budget Sub-committee. At the last minute Rep. Bob Patton (R-Johnson City) filed an amendment to SB2134 which would allow homeschoolers to obtain these scholarships with a 19 ACT BUT they must submit to Gateway testing.

This amendment is unacceptable to most homeschoolers. We're not afraid of a high qualifying score. We want equity. Our educational choice is as valid as any other. When the legislature said public and accredited private schools only had to obtain a 19 ACT they made homeschoolers second class.

This afternoon both the House (HS2134) and the Senate (SB2114) versions will be heard in their respective Finance committees. There is a possibility that this bill may die, it may pass on the floor and come through a conference committee in another form (since the House and Senate bills are different and must be reconciled) or this amendment could be stripped from the bill during a floor vote.

Please take the time to contact your legislators, the committee members and let your opinion be known. You'll find contact info at: http://TnHomeEd.com/LContact.html 

5/13/04: Both the Senate and House versions of the bill that would equalize the qualifying scores will be heard next week. SB2114 is scheduled for Monday, 5/17/04 and HB2134 is scheduled for Tuesday 5/18/04.

Time is getting very short. Legislation will move very quickly from this point on. It was in the rush to finish business last year that homeschoolers were overlooked and this inequity was created. We need to make sure that this doesn't happen again. I strongly encourage each of us to take the time to fax or call each of the committee members and our own representatives. You can find contact information at http://TnHomeEd.com/LContact.html . 

5/5/04: HB2134 was recommended for passage and both sets of bills that will equalize lottery scholarship qualifying scores are headed to their respective finance committees. The normal rules have been suspended since they're pushing to finish the legislative session so notice of when bills will be heard could be very short. http://TnHomeEd.com/LContact.html gives instructions on how to check on the status of bills.

 Mike Bell, THEA's lobbyist reports that several legislators [Rep. Richard Montgomery (R-Seiverville) and Rep. Dolores Gresham (R-Somerville) specifically] spoke up on our behalf when Rep. Ulysses Jones (D-Memphis) offered two amendments to the lottery omnibus bill. One would require homeschoolers to take Gateway tests and the second would require homeschoolers to have an ACT of 23 (which is the current law). 

From Mike Bell's report which you can read in full from the our legislative list: or request from THEA:

Rep. (Chris) Newton the sponsor of 2134 told Rep. Jones if the state did not fix this inequity the state was setting itself up for a lawsuit. Rep. Montgomery and several other lawmakers agreed. Rep. Jones finally withdrew this amendment (keeping the score at 23) when the Chairman of the House Committee, Rep. Leslie Winningham, (D-Oneida), agreed to turn this issue over to a special ad hoc committee created to look at 'problems' with the lottery scholarships.

You can read the amendment creating the ad hoc committee here. 

You can get contact information for both the House Budget Committee and the Senate Finance Committee on TnHomeEd's Legislative Contact page.

The Senate Finance Chair has made it clear that SB2114 will not be heard until the state budget has been heard. 

4/28/04: The House Education Committee rolled all the lottery bills until next week (5/5/04, Wednesday, 8:30 a.m.) The excuse being the schedule was just too full this week. Stay tuned. 

4/27/04 10:39 p.m.: According to the State’s legislative website the omnibus bill which includes the ACT/SAT equity for homeschoolers along with a lot of other adjustments was recommended for passage and passed on to the House Education Committee and will be heard tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. House Hearing Room 16.

Also, Tre Harget’s (R-Shelby County) bill (HB2321) containing only the equity legislation was also recommended for passage and passed up to the Education Committee but is  not yet scheduled.

HB2174 (Mike Turner D-Nashville) was taken off notice today. HB2185 had been taken off notice last week. Both of these are the same as Tre Harget’s bill (above) and could be reintroduced if necessary.

4/27/04: According to THEA's lobbyist, Mike Bell, the lottery legislation scheduled for today's House Higher Ed sub-committee were moved by the chairman on to the full Education Committee which will vote on the legislation tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. While there was no mention in the discussion, which centered on finances, of homeschoolers there is still some concern that testing will be mentioned tomorrow. I would encourage folks to contact the Education Committee members and express your opinion regarding these bills to bring equity to homeschoolers in qualifying for these scholarships. 

HB2114, HB2174, HB2321

You might also touch on the testing issue. According to the DOE web page (http://www.state.tn.us/education/gateway.htm) Gateway tests must be passed in order to receive a public school high school diploma. The State doesn't issue homeschoolers a diploma at all.  If they did it might be reasonable to require these tests, except the homeschooling law also requires that the tests we're subject to be 'standardized' which is not the case. Finally, as noted before the test drives the curriculum. Many of us aren't looking to replicate the public school curriculum in our homes.

4/20/04: Same song 3rd? verse: All lottery legislation that was scheduled to be heard in the House Higher Ed sub-committee was rolled one week. That means we'll be back there on Tuesday, 4/26/04 at Noon. According to the committee Chair (Rep. Tommie Brown D-Chattanooga) there had been a report received saying that the funds available were not going to be as much as expected and so she wanted to hear from all interested parties regarding the financials before entertaining any of the several bills that would expand the number of students eligible to receive these scholarships.  Rep. Dunn took his HB2185 'off notice'. This means it's no longer scheduled to be heard. It can be placed back 'on notice' fairly easily. 

4/13/04: The House Higher Ed Committee announced that they had decided that they'd hear these  lottery bills today but would 'roll' them one week and vote on them next Tuesday, 4/20/04 at Noon. Rep. Newton did explain his omnibus bill tweaking several lottery items (HB2134). No one asked about or discussed the merits of equalizing these scores. The committee didn't finish hearings on the entire agenda and so HB2185 and HB2321 weren't even heard. It had been announced at the beginning that Rep. Turner's HB2174 was being rolled a week. Stay tuned. 

4/9/04: House versions of the scholarship equalization bills are all scheduled to be heard in the House Higher Education Committee Tuesday, 4/13/04, 12:00 p.m. HB2134 sponsored by Rep. Chris Newton has been rewritten to include several additional details about the lottery that needed tweaking and so may have the best chance of passage. Follow this link to find contact information for this committee. When you write or call you should mention the bill numbers: HB2134, HB2321, HB2174 and HB2185.

3/31/04: SB2114 was heard in the Senate Education Committee and was recommended for passage (Ayes 8, Nays 0, PNV 1). It now moves on to the Senate Finance Ways & Means committee. 

3/30/04: SB2114 (Cohen) has been amended to become an omnibus bill which includes several changes needed to the lottery legislation. In its "Section 11" is the original wording to equalize the lottery scholarship scores for homeschoolers: 

"Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-4-908(2)(A), is amended by deleting the number "23" and by substituting instead the number "19" and by deleting the number "1060" and by substituting instead the number "890".

This bill is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Education Committee at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 31, 2004. The other two Senate bills making this correction are also scheduled to be heard at this same time.

The House versions have all been referred to the House High Education Sub-Committee of the Education Committee but haven't been scheduled for hearing.

3/24/04 7:04 p.m.: Senate versions of two of the Score Equity bills are scheduled for hearings. SB2101 and SB2117 are on the Senate Education Committee calendar for this Wednesday, 3/31/04 at 8:30 a.m. Check http://TnHomeEd.com/LContact.html for current committee contact information.

3/24/04: Lottery Scholarship Score Equity bills status: Yesterday (3/23/04) I was downtown at the Capitol. I attended some of the THEA Rally Day activities and visited with some legislators, staff members and lobbyists while there. 

Here is contact information for the K-12 sub-committee of the House Education committee.

2/17/04: None of the current legislation is scheduled for hearings at this time.

1/28/04: 10:32 a.m.: This from Rep. Mike Turner this morning:

• He would place HB2163 'off notice' for now. This is one step back in the process and gives us a bit more breathing room. (As of this writing it hasn't been done.)
• He said that any of the three parties (homeschoolers, private schoolers and public schoolers had veto power over this legislation. I believe he wants the bill to make it to a committee hearing before such a 'veto' could be invoked. 
• He said he would forward to TnHomeEd a statement covering his reasoning for introducing this bill for me to post on this website and TnHomeEd e-lists. He said that no one (group) was behind this bill and that this was his own attempt to gather data and diagnosis the educational system. He did confirm that he had two different homeschooling family members that 'homeschooled' unsuccessfully, in his opinion. But that wasn't his motivation.
• He said that he did stand on the House Floor the evening of 1/26/03 and comment on the whys and what's of this legislation. It's his experience that folks, to include legislators, are asking what homeschoolers are afraid of and hiding. Also, when he explains this legislation to some homeschoolers they think this bill is a good idea. And that he'd gotten calls from his constituents saying they welcomed this testing of homeschoolers. 
• He said he expected the bill was going to be reworded as it made it way through. That he was not going to include any punitive language in the bill and that he wasn't sure whether the tests would be the current gateway tests, ACT's or some other test yet to be devised.

I believe we need to read his statement, when it comes, and respond with facts and rational explanations for our objections that touch on parental rights in regard to how we educate our children. This seems like a huge waste of resources, both for the government education system and private families that will be required to comply. This reminds me of the 'running amok' situation from several years back. Legislation is introduced based on anecdotes with no basis in fact. There is, obviously, an undercurrent that says we've got to get these homeschoolers under control. There are public education officials that mistakenly think that their job description includes the oversight of all school aged children. Such is not the case. We have opted out of their system and will resist every attempt to force us back in.

1/27/04: All three lottery scholarship score bills are on the Senate Education Committee Calendar for TOMORROW at 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Room LP12-14 if you're going to attend. In a conversation with Sen. David Fowler this morning he said they were only going to run one of these bills. Since they're all identically worded that seems like a good plan. 

On the testing front: I called Rep. Mike Turner's office again today and his office staff knows about this bill but their response is he hasn't decided for sure to pull the bill. From two sources I've been told that Rep. Turner said on the House floor last night that he wouldn't run this bill until all three sides came to an agreement. I expect that sides one and two are homeschoolers and private schoolers and suspect that side three may be the education establishment. That is speculation on my part pending a real conversation with him. The House Education Committee calendar for 1/28/04 does not contain any legislation at this time and the bill isn't scheduled for a hearing according to the legislative website. 

1/23/04: There are two additional pieces of legislation to equalize scholarship qualifying scores.

HB2185/SB2101 sponsored by Rep. Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville) and Senator David Fowler (R-Signal Mountain) http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/bills/currentga/BILL/HB2185.pdf This bill is first out of the chute and is scheduled to be heard before the Senate Education Committee THIS WEDNESDAY, 1/28/04 at 8:30 a.m.

HB2321/SB2631 sponsored by Rep. Tre Hargett (R-Shelby County) and Senator Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/bills/currentga/BILL/HB2321.pdf

All three of the bills amending the lottery scholarship scores for homeschoolers read exactly the same.

1/21/04: HB2163 and SB2157 have been introduced. The summary is: 

"Extends public school testing requirements to students in non-public schools."

 Check for more detailed information here: http://TnHomeEd.com/HB2163-SB2157.html

1/18/04: In last year's lottery legislation home schooled students were required to obtain higher ACT and SAT scores than their private and public school peers. This inequity was nearly immediately addressed by Rep. Chris Newton when he pre-filed HB2134. Since that time Senator Steve Cohen has also sponsored the companion senate version SB2134. The bills read at this time:

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

SECTION 1: Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-4-908(2)(A), is amended by deleting the number '23' and by substituting instead the number "19" and by deleting the number "1060" and by substituting instead the number "890".

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.

 At this time the legislation isn't scheduled for any hearings and Rep. Gresham has signed onto the House version as a co-sponsor.

Check for more detailed information here: http://TnHomeEd.com/HB2134-SB2114.html