I had a very interesting conversation with Representative Kurk today. We spoke at length about HB518, about both the philosophy behind the bill and some technical issues.

First of all, Represetative Kurk has no desire to further regulate homeschoolers. As far as he's concerned, a letter from a parent that their child is receiving home education is proof enough for him. He understands completely why homeschoolers would want that defined in the law instead of hoping that the DOT will allow this type of proof.

Secondly, he only intended to have these provisions apply to those under 18. It was a surprise to him that the bill could be interpreted to include young adults. He thinks that applying these provisions to those over 18 "opens a whole can of worms", and he "doesn't even want to go there". I have since re-read the bill, and concluded that the most likely interpretation of the current language would include 18- to 20-year-olds.

Finally, I pointed out to him that the bill's language causes the proposed provisions to apply only to those who choose to terminate their education, and not necessarily to students who are expelled. He definitely wants to clarify the bill so that it applies to expelled students.

Representative Kurk's proposal was to have me craft specific language that addresses these three policy points and send him the changes in an e-mail. The bill has been referred to a subcommittee of the House Transportation Committee and he does not know what the likely disposition of the bill will be.

I am working on proposing new language, and I would welcome input from any and all sources. I realize this is something of a "deal with the devil", since I don't support the bill in principle, but at least it helps ensure that the language that applies to homeschoolers will be appropriate, if it passes.

Regarding disruptive students, Representative Kurk does not feel that the magnitude of this problem justifies dropping this approach to encouraging students to stay in school. He proposes this bill because "we do not live in a perfect world", and he feels that using this method of keeping students in school until they graduate is better than doing nothing. However, he very much supports making available educational options that meet the needs of and acknowledge the existence of a wider range of interests and abilities than are recognized by current educational practices. He is on a commission that is about to publish a report that "blasts the No Child Left Behind Act", and he is very critical of the act's impact on public education, because of its tendency to standardize education.

Chris Hamilton