Subject:	Thank you for the meeting re: SB268 and homeschoolers
Date:	Wed, 29 Mar 2006 20:56:01 -0500
From:	Chris Hamilton
To:	Mary Heath <mheath@ed.state.nh.us>
CC:	Christen Bergeron <Christen.Bergeron@nh.gov>, "Lyonel B. Tracy" <ltracy@ed.state.nh.us>, Roberta Tenney <RTenney@ed.state.nh.us>

Dear Ms. Heath,

Thank you very much for taking the time to meet with myself and other homeschoolers last Thursday, March 23. I hope that the meeting produced a better understanding of why homeschoolers are so concerned about SB268. Many people believe that if there are no changes to RSA 193-A, then legislation will have no effect on homeschoolers. To the contrary, the home education law exists in an environment of other laws, and changes to them can have an impact on homeschoolers. This is especially true of changes to RSA 193:1, as home education is an alternative to attendance at a public school. If you want to see how many laws in the 1006 legislative session I have identified as having a potential to impact homeschoolers, please feel free to visit my website:

http://webpages.charter.net/beaverlodgehs/legislation/legislation2006/

Attached is the letter which I gave to you and to Christen Bergeron from Governor Lynch's office. Also attached is a brief announcement of that meeting being sent to the homeschooling community.

We homeschoolers are trying to work as a group, partly to be more effective at presenting positions we may have in common (homeschoolers are a diverse lot), but also to make it easier for public officials such as yourself to deal with us. This slows us down a bit in reacting publicly to events, but please don't interpret our delay in responding as lack of interest in or appreciation for the meeting.

I hope that you have had some success in communicating with the sponsors of SB268 regarding some sort of amendment. None of the homeschoolers present at that meeting have heard back from you, or from any of the sponsors. Since the House Education Committee hearing is Tuesday, April 4, we will be contacting the sponsors directly to gauge their interest in language similar to that proposed in my letter.

Sincerely,

Chris Hamilton
Beaver Lodge Homeschool