BILL NUMBER: DATE: HCB 1 3/28/2024 COMMITTEE: Special Committee on Education Reform TESTIFYING: IN SUPPORT OF IN OPPOSITION TO FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES
WITNESS NAME INDIVIDUAL: WITNESS NAME: PHONE NUMBER: AMANDA BLACK BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION NAME: TITLE:
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EMAIL: ATTENDANCE: SUBMIT DATE: amandablack922@gmail.com Written 3/28/2024 5:39 AM THE INFORMATION ON THIS FORM IS PUBLIC RECORD UNDER CHAPTER 610, RSMo. When we decided to withdrawal our daughter from SPS three years ago we were fortunate to have guidance in filling out the letter from other homeschool organizations. We were met with disapproving behavior and had to remind the school several times that we would like a copy of the signed document. The principal drug her feet getting it to us along with the requested school documents from her previous work. It very much felt like a show of power to be on their time and be anxiously hoping they complied so that we had what we legally needed. Homeschooling has been the absolute best change for our family. My high schooler was withdrawn his sophomore year after he couldn’t keep his grades up with teachers saying they were behind and not getting his work graded and entered into the canvas system. His leaving the public school was not quite as stressful but there was a waiting period for documents to be returned. MISSOURI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WITNESS APPEARANCE FORM
BILL NUMBER: DATE: HCB 1 3/28/2024 COMMITTEE: Special Committee on Education Reform TESTIFYING: IN SUPPORT OF IN OPPOSITION TO FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES
WITNESS NAME INDIVIDUAL: WITNESS NAME: PHONE NUMBER: ANDREW WELCH BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION NAME: TITLE:
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EMAIL: ATTENDANCE: SUBMIT DATE: la199121@gmail.com Written 3/27/2024 10:05 PM THE INFORMATION ON THIS FORM IS PUBLIC RECORD UNDER CHAPTER 610, RSMo. MISSOURI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WITNESS APPEARANCE FORM
BILL NUMBER: DATE: HCB 1 3/28/2024 COMMITTEE: Special Committee on Education Reform TESTIFYING: IN SUPPORT OF IN OPPOSITION TO FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES
WITNESS NAME BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION: WITNESS NAME: PHONE NUMBER: DANIELLE DENT-BREEN 816-914-8373 BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION NAME: TITLE: MISSOURI HOMESCHOOL ALLIANCE ADDRESS: 17613 E 36TH STREET CT S CITY: STATE: ZIP: INDEPENDENCE MO 64055 EMAIL: ATTENDANCE: SUBMIT DATE: missourihomeschool@gmail.com Written 3/28/2024 7:35 AM THE INFORMATION ON THIS FORM IS PUBLIC RECORD UNDER CHAPTER 610, RSMo. I am testifying on behalf of Missouri Homeschool Alliance, a state-wide not-for-profit homeschool support and advocacy group. In the changing environment of school choice legislation, we at MHA are thankful for the homeschool protections set forth in this legislation. If enacted as written, HCB1 will establish four distinct protections that homeschool advocates have been asking for:1. HCB1 provides statutory separation of the definition of a homeschool from Missouri's compulsory attendance law , making it less likely in future sessions for our homeschool statute to be unintentionally opened; 2. HCB1 prohibits a homeschool from participation in any government funding programs, thereby reducing the risk for calls for additional regulation;3. HCB1 places additional protection around homeschooling by specifying that a prosecuting attorney must have probable cause in order to open an investigation into a homeschooling family for educational neglect, to reduce the ability for judicial harassment; and finally,4. HCB1 eliminates the optional and confusing notification of intent to homeschool from our law.We appreciate the efforts of the Legislature to hear the voices of homeschool advocates, and to provide protection for homeschooling for future generations. We ask that you would support this bill as written. MISSOURI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WITNESS APPEARANCE FORM
BILL NUMBER: DATE: HCB 1 3/28/2024 COMMITTEE: Special Committee on Education Reform TESTIFYING: IN SUPPORT OF IN OPPOSITION TO FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES
WITNESS NAME INDIVIDUAL: WITNESS NAME: PHONE NUMBER: HANNAH HUFF BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION NAME: TITLE:
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EMAIL: ATTENDANCE: SUBMIT DATE: hhuff08@yahoo.com Written 3/27/2024 10:22 PM THE INFORMATION ON THIS FORM IS PUBLIC RECORD UNDER CHAPTER 610, RSMo. I would love to see the letter of intent to homeschool removed from the law. I know several parents who have been harassed by schools and even a DA in one county who repeatedly sends letters to homeschool families trying to discourage them from homeschooling. MISSOURI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WITNESS APPEARANCE FORM
BILL NUMBER: DATE: HCB 1 3/28/2024 COMMITTEE: Special Committee on Education Reform TESTIFYING: IN SUPPORT OF IN OPPOSITION TO FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES
WITNESS NAME INDIVIDUAL: WITNESS NAME: PHONE NUMBER: JENNIFER WELSHOFER BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION NAME: TITLE:
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EMAIL: ATTENDANCE: SUBMIT DATE: jennthompson1432@gmail.com Written 3/27/2024 11:05 PM THE INFORMATION ON THIS FORM IS PUBLIC RECORD UNDER CHAPTER 610, RSMo. MISSOURI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WITNESS APPEARANCE FORM
BILL NUMBER: DATE: HCB 1 3/28/2024 COMMITTEE: Special Committee on Education Reform TESTIFYING: IN SUPPORT OF IN OPPOSITION TO FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES
WITNESS NAME INDIVIDUAL: WITNESS NAME: PHONE NUMBER: KATHRYN BARNES BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION NAME: TITLE:
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EMAIL: ATTENDANCE: SUBMIT DATE: katiem.bug91@gmail.com Written 3/27/2024 11:25 PM THE INFORMATION ON THIS FORM IS PUBLIC RECORD UNDER CHAPTER 610, RSMo. MISSOURI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WITNESS APPEARANCE FORM
BILL NUMBER: DATE: HCB 1 3/28/2024 COMMITTEE: Special Committee on Education Reform TESTIFYING: IN SUPPORT OF IN OPPOSITION TO FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES
WITNESS NAME INDIVIDUAL: WITNESS NAME: PHONE NUMBER: KIM QUON BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION NAME: TITLE:
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EMAIL: ATTENDANCE: SUBMIT DATE: kquon@netzero.net Written 3/28/2024 8:14 AM THE INFORMATION ON THIS FORM IS PUBLIC RECORD UNDER CHAPTER 610, RSMo. If you truly want to help and support our homeschool community, please vote yes and push to get this bill across the finish line by May. Many still believe that homeschoolers are Christian, right wing families; however that is far from the truth. Our community is as diverse as they come with crossing the political isles and including a large variety of worldviews and religious beliefs. Homeschoolers do not need/want money from ESA's and do not want to be part of the problematic rules in the MO Scholars program, but this bill should be an issue that all our Representatives and Senators would be able to get behind.Repealing RSMo 167.042 would be such a tremendous help to us. Our families are constantly being faced with push back from the schools to sign the school's optional written declaration of enrollment (letter of intent). Schools do not understand that it is not required and often intimidate families with the idea that they have to sign. This statute continues to bring confusion and misunderstanding to both the schools and homeschool families. Eliminate the confusion.Another big plus with this bill is including "probable cause" in the language for when a prosecuting attorney could investigate educational neglect. Our families should not feel threatened or intimidated that they will be investigated for the sheer reason that they made the decision to homeschool their children, a legal form of education in Missouri. Just because they choose to withdraw their children from a public school should not immediately set off an educational neglect charge when they have done nothing wrong. Like any other family, they are only trying to make the best decisions possible for the education of their children. Thank you for listening and please vote yes for this bill. MISSOURI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WITNESS APPEARANCE FORM
BILL NUMBER: DATE: HCB 1 3/28/2024 COMMITTEE: Special Committee on Education Reform TESTIFYING: IN SUPPORT OF IN OPPOSITION TO FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES
WITNESS NAME INDIVIDUAL: WITNESS NAME: PHONE NUMBER: MEGAN DUGAS BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION NAME: TITLE:
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EMAIL: ATTENDANCE: SUBMIT DATE: mmdugas05@gmail.com Written 3/28/2024 7:41 AM THE INFORMATION ON THIS FORM IS PUBLIC RECORD UNDER CHAPTER 610, RSMo. MISSOURI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WITNESS APPEARANCE FORM
BILL NUMBER: DATE: HCB 1 3/28/2024 COMMITTEE: Special Committee on Education Reform TESTIFYING: IN SUPPORT OF IN OPPOSITION TO FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES
WITNESS NAME INDIVIDUAL: WITNESS NAME: PHONE NUMBER: SHANNAJO CATHERINE BARBER BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION NAME: TITLE:
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EMAIL: ATTENDANCE: SUBMIT DATE: shannajobarber@gmail.com Written 3/27/2024 11:19 PM THE INFORMATION ON THIS FORM IS PUBLIC RECORD UNDER CHAPTER 610, RSMo. My name is Shanna Barber. I live in Dixon, MO and I have 5 children, 2 of school age and the rest are smaller. I homeschool my 5-year-old, and I am trying to homeschool my 8-year-old. I plan to homeschool all of our children. I am having issues with the Dixon R1 School District. They have gotten DFS, and a Juvenile Officer involved, and they are trying to get charges filed against me for Educational Neglect. I will give you as many details as possible, however I just want it to be made aware of what the school is doing to my family.My daughter Zaylee Neese is 8 years old. Her father is Lee Neese. He and I have a parenting plan for her. The only thing the parenting plan says about Zaylee’s education is that we must agree. Nothing about Dixon or any public school. Nothing about homeschool for education either. I would be happy to send you a copy of that if it would be helpful.December 20th was my daughter’s last day before Christmas break. I went to the class party and on our way out the office was handed her letter of intent to homeschool. The school immediately contacted her father and he said he didn’t agree, and she would not be homeschooled, and the school did not unenroll her from the district. After Christmas break, her father took her to school. I showed up to pick her up to bring her home and homeschool her. The school did not want me to get her. They wouldn’t let me see her or speak to her. They asked me to leave, and I told them I wasn’t leaving without my daughter. They asked me to wait in the principal’s office, but I declined due to me having 4 other children with me, small spaces, and toddlers where there’s things in their reach is not a good mix. I chose to wait in the airlock. While I was waiting for the principal to return to her office, they called the Dixon Police Department on me. They called the superintendent down and then they called their attorney and after about 2 hours, they came out and said we will let Zaylee go with you, but we are not unenrolling her. So, the following days come along, and I do not send Zaylee because I am homeschooling her. She loves it, and she loves the homeschool group we joined and being able to be with kids her age and do fun learning activities together. Her dad continues to take her on his days, so I pick her up before attendance is taken and bring her home to start our homeschool days. We get to a point where Zaylee has now missed so many days and the school contacts a Juvenile Officer named John Martin. He contacted me and asked me why my child isn’t in school. I told him, I turned in my letter of intent and I am homeschooling her. He said her father and I need to come to an agreement. I said alright. So, I start pleading and explaining to her father that this is what’s best for her, and that her grade card may show that she’s doing well in class but if you’re to ask her or have her do anything from that grade card she can’t do it or struggles very hard. She can’t write a mathematic equation correctly; she struggles very badly to add or subtract up to the number of 20. She struggles with reading comprehension. They don’t do spelling tests, Zaylee has no A.R. Test points for this year which means she’s not reading books. I don’t receive paperwork for things she has done in class for the week. All I want is for Zaylee to have a great foundation in her education and she isn’t receiving that at Dixon R1. I have asked for a math and reading tutor but since Zaylee’s grades are reflecting that she’s doing well, they don’t believe she needs one. Instead of listening to a parent’s concern, they’re ignoring it. She is being given a grade instead of earning a grade. We had a meeting with DFS and John after DFS came to my home, checked everything out and even took pictures of Zaylee’s homeschool curriculum, lesson plans, and work she’s completed. During the meeting the DFS Supervisor and John were very demeaning to me because of my age (27) and said that I was not able to homeschool because I have no degree or certification to do so. I told them in Missouri, that isn’t needed. They said I was not giving her any education and kept talking down on me for homeschooling and not allowing Zaylee to be with her friends. I thought school was for education. Zaylee is involved in basketball, wrestling, golf, softball, and horse-riding lessons. She is always around children her age and never lacks social skills. They said my option was to send Zaylee to public school on Monday, January the 29th, or they would authorize John to come into my home and take Zaylee, file charge of Educational Neglect against me and that would result in them taking the rest of my children. I sent her to school because what mother wants her children taken from her? It was also said in the meeting that Zaylee be switched to a different class, and I have reached out 2 times to the principal for this to happen and for a statement stating why they chose not to unenroll her when they received the letter of intent, and I have not heard anything back from the principal.I just want what is best for my child’s educational needs. I have a meeting with an attorney on February 8th to help with hopefully being able to do something about her getting to be homeschooled. I just wanted to homeschool her for 1 semester and get her caught up and ready for 3rd grade to take off without a hitch.Since that has happened, Zaylee has not been moved to another class. Zaylees grades have went from all 3's to 2's & 1's. She is finally enrolled in the Title 1 Math program. Her grades should be improving, not going backwards. Make is make sense!! The schools should have it where at the end of the year, the child is marked as not enrolled for the following year until the child is present and forms have been signed to enroll. We shouldn't have to get a court order to be allowed to homeschool our own child if the school doesn't want to do what they're supposed to when they receive a letter of intent. I wish to be there in person to testify. The school should have unenrolled her t