Home Schoolers Meet with Rep. Hugley

Atlanta 12/16/97 - This morning, a group of homeschoolers met with Rep. Carolyn Hugley, Rep. Maretta Taylor (vice-chair of the House Education Committee) and Harvey Beasley (past president of SSWAG). The homeschoolers were, Leon McGinnis, Marcia McGinnis, and Cindy Sewell (all representing HEIR) and Ken Patterson (director, GHEA).

The agenda was to discuss substitue HB586, and see if there was anything we could agree upon.

It was a lively discussion, and Rep. Hugley made clear that she was willing to remove everything from the bill except some provision that would reduce the 30 day grace period for parents to declare their intent to begin a home study program. The homeschoolers' position was:

1. We don't see how changing the grace period solves any problem;
2. We don't see a compelling reason to change the current law; and
3. The grace period serves a legitimate and useful purpose

We repeatedly stated that the "confusion" on the part of SSWers regarding the status of a child could be easily cleared up if they would modify their procedures and policies--that it did not require a change to the law. Rep. Hugley kept asking what was wrong with making a change, and we kept insisting that we would not agree to change unless we heard a compelling argument that change was needed.

At the end of the meeting, we made clear that we (homeschoolers) were willing to continue the discussion. Harvey Beasley asked for business cards, and indicated an interest in a homeschooling forum at the SSWAG annual convention. And we told Rep. Hugley that we were interested in better understanding the truancy problem and related policies.

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