Senator Wellman has posted a new bill, SB 6236: which would require you to submit a Declaration of Intent at 6 in the year that your child turns 7, but would not require the rest of the HBI law until age 8. 

You can read it in full here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=6236&Year=2023&Initiative=false&fbclid=IwAR2V5jtrKe-3GCzFOWiS95_2zDFvEqM-BJUrdkR5eXJYsF0lKWkj_x2fSCE#billhistorytitle

You're probably wondering, "Why?"

My best guess has 2 parts:  First, that they were unable to pass lowering compulsory attendance, and Second that the largest group of public school students that "disappeared" during the pandemic were under age 8.

This is a bald attempt at a "foot in the door."  Pass this, and it opens up our law to make a quick tweak and lower compulsory attendance.  Our law has served us well since 1985: it maximizes freedom while tempering it with the responsibility to provide your child with a "sufficient basic educational opportunity" (as the law puts it).

Action Plan:

1) Comment on SB 6236 here (form format that goes to your elected officials):

2) Send an Email to your elected officials:

3) Send an email to the members of the Education Committee:

T'[email protected]

Your email can be as simple as "Dear Senator __, I oppose SB 6236" or you could continue with your explanation as to why you oppose it.

4) Send this to your homeschool groups and co-ops, and 10 (or more) of your friends, and ask them to do the same this week. 

5) Send this to your public school and private school friend with small children: this law will eventually impact them, and we can support each other.

With sufficient support, we can kill this bill while it's still in committee, as every homeschool group before us has done when our law has been challenged. There are 29,000 of us here. That's a formidable opposition to this change in the homeschool law.

Please stand with WHO against this change to our law by taking at least one of the above actions, plus enlisting those you know to do so as well. Working together, we can preserve the freedoms we've long enjoyed under the HBI law. 

Do not nod at this email and do nothing: we need work together to kill this.  Act now.

There are two main reasons this bill is bad legislation:

1. It creates two classes of citizens: people who are considering homeschooling their 6 or 7yo and have to report their thoughts to the state.  And people who are planning to send their children to public school, but are waiting until 8 to do so (and therefore aren't required to report their thoughts to the state).

2.  If there is no compulsion to attend, there is nothing to declare.  When we sign our Declarations of Intent now, we are attesting that we are following the HBI law (qualifying, declaring, covering the 11 subjects, testing or assessing, keeping required records).  If there is no compulsion to attend at 6 or 7, there is no requirement to intend to homeschool, as you have no obligation under the law to do so.

This is just shoddy legislation that should never make it out of committee.

Warmly,

~Jen