Home school advocates had the upper hand in a \u201cfriendly\u201d House Education subcommittee on Thursday, when they packed a small room in the General Assembly building at 7 AM to speak in favor of Delegate Bell\u2019s House Bill 947 that would not allow school divisions to participate in a league that does not allow home schoolers to take part in interscholastic activities. That equates to telling the VHSL to change their rules or they will have no members. All school divisions in the state currently operate under League rules. An attempt to add private school students failed; however, a five-year sunset clause added to the bill passed.<\/p>\n
Proponents of the bill were designated by Delegate \u201cDickie\u201d Bell to make their arguments first, and, by the time opponents were set to speak, the chairman stated that time was short and only a few were allowed to present testimony against the bill. Ken Tilley representing VHSL spoke first, followed by a spokesperson from the PTA and VSBA. VEA, VASS, VSBA and a number of others prepared to speak against the bill were not afforded the opportunity to testify. The bill passed handily, even though an equally divided, special committee of the House Education Committee held three hearings in 2011 and made the decision that the bill, as written, should not go forward. <\/p>\n
The House Education Committee is expected to vote on HB 947 at its regular meeting on Wednesday, February 1, and may or may not hear testimony, since the bill was supposedly \u201cvetted\u201d in subcommittee. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Home school advocates had the upper hand in a \u201cfriendly\u201d House Education subcommittee on Thursday, when they packed a small room in the General Assembly building at 7 AM to speak in favor of Delegate Bell\u2019s House Bill 947 that would not allow school divisions to participate in a league that does not allow home … <\/p>\n