Leave CRS and Report to LEA where the child will next be educated.
A reverse timeline of events
It may be helpful to start at the bottom if you're trying to catch up on what has happened thus far.

As the members entered the chamber they had to pass by a line of HEART members and other homeschoolers, many wearing stickers indicating they were homeschoolers. 

Unlike Monday when Mr. Maddox rose at his desk to roll the bill, he stood, picked up a blue file folder and headed to the podium and read the abstract of the bill.

Rep. Donna Rowland (who has been such a help and encouragement) rose and asked Rep. Maddox if he was aware that current law already requires names to be submitted. (Referring to 49-6-3007(e)(1) I'm sure.)

Maddox replied that was about public/private/parochial school not church related schools (which was exactly the point Greg Stablein made to me the night before in our long conversation. I was glad to hear Maddox make that distinction).

Rowland asked wasn't this a local issue?

Maddox replied-- no this situation was statewide. (No proof provided.)

Rep. John Hood rose to say he and Maddox had several conversation could Maddox explain this a bit more.

Maddox replied they simply need to tell the school they were homeschooling. (I'm not recalling the details of this very clearly.)

Rep. McDonald (Sumner County) rose to say this IS a problem That his attendance people were saying it was a HUGE problem in our counties. (He used the plural and the emphasis was his.)

There being no more questions the voting took place.

On the far wall, directly across from the galleries and high above the legislators are these huge boards where they flash the current bill being discussed and another with the names of all the representatives on it. The bill was called and we all stared intently at that board. At first all I

could see was green lights, then a few red (we wanted red ones), then more red and green--I couldn't count that fast so I stopped looking at that board to the other which would eventually give us the totals. And then--finally--there it was in red lights:

Ayes 35, Nays 52, Present not voting 8

Speaker Naifeh had stepped away from his job of running the session and had handed the gavel over to Rep. Lois DeBerry who actually oversaw the process during this bill--but when that 52 popped out Speaker Naifeh was up there in a heartbeat. "Any members wishing to change their vote do so now." A pause and then "Clerk, record the vote". Thrilled homeschoolers stood and applauded (a violation of House rules). I don't blame them a bit. I was stunned. My mouth was hanging open--and because they were re-referring it to the Calendar committee I wasn't sure just what had happened and Mark Lee and Shawn Thompson sitting next to me didn't know just what that meant either.

Thursday morning I called the House Clerk's office. Without naming the bill I told him I was in the gallery last night when a bill failed and asked him what did that mean it was "re-referred to the Calendar and Rules Committee?" He knew immediately what bill I was talking about. He said he wasn't sure because it had never happened before. Usually, when they re-refer a bill to the Calendar committee it's a way of killing a bill but he wasn't sure. He said he "never, ever saw a bill fail. Usually they know how many votes they have before hand." He quoted the Speaker Pro Tem Lois DeBerry as saying: "I thought all those red lights were a joke." She had to ask what to do in that situation--which probably explains why Speaker Naifeh was there so quickly.

The Assistant Clerk is supposed to call me back and let me know exactly what the status of this bill is.

Here's what Maddox wrote me about the status Thursday morning:

 "The bill is not dead in the Senate although I have advised my Senate sponsor of yesterday's vote and do not believe he will want to pursue it.

I can bring it up again if I wish. The only way that I would do that is if a goodly number of those voting no yesterday asked me to do so."

I've got a call in to the Senate sponsor of their version of the bill, Senator Herron. His assistant is supposed to call me back.

I'm expecting a copy of the actual votes by this weekend and I'll post them to the web for future reference on this website.

4/23/0 1 HB0467 was rolled just until THIS Wednesday, 4/25/01 at 2:00 p.m. Not much time. Rep. Maddox asked for it to be rolled because (and I'm sorry I can't quote him) there is reason to think the parties can work this out. Keep those calls and faxes flowing. If you haven't written/called yet--do so tomorrow. We've got to let these legislators know how we feel and that we're not going anywhere or going to cave because the road is long and frustrating. Let me mention here that the sessioni moved along very quickly, once they got past the personal bills. The whole session didn't last much longer than a couple of hours.

There was a small crowd of us in the gallery of the House of Representatives this evening--maybe 40, dads, moms and children. We anticipated the bill coming to a vote on the floor but Rep. Maddox surprised most of us by his standing and asking the bill to be postponed until this Wednesday afternoon.

Rep. Donna Rowland (one of the good guys) came up to us in the gallery to tell us she'd gotten 30 calls and 15 e-mails against this bill. She was delighted. Though she's on our side and probably doesn't need to hear from her constituants she'll gladly get more mail--just as long, she said, as folks don't forget to write the other representatives. Afterward Rep. Rowland suggested that if Mr. Flatt doesn't start talking/cooperating, that we start calling his school board. Let the school board know that their employee has instigated this statewide legislation to solve a local problem and isn't cooperating.

I spoke to Rep. Maddox's secretary before going to the gallery and she said she'd gotten calls aaaaaall day. I apologized for the trouble--and she laughed and said it was alright. She said the callers said they didn't like the bill but especially wouldn't like it with any amendments.

Rep. John Hood, who also came up to the gallery to speak to Mark Lee, had a stack of correspondence also. Speaking of Rep. Hood (another good guy) the Ed. Committee report indicated *in error* that he had voted yes on HB0467 which certainly wasn't the case. It was reported to me that someone (I don't know who) started in on him for voting for this bill, which he didn't do and Rep. Hood, understandably, didn't like that much. A word to the wise--next time ask something like... "Is it correct that you voted for this bill?" We don't have enough friends that we can afford to offend them over a simple clerical error.

Rep. Hood suggested that Dr. Crofford meet with Mr. Maddox tomorrow to get this cleared up. Dennis Tirjan called Lana Thornton while we were all still in the House lobby to ask Claiborne, who was out of town, to ask Dr. Crofford to call Maddox and make an appointment. {This morning 4/24/01 comes a correcting e-mail saying Rep. Hood was mistaken and Maddox suggested Gateway and Flatt (or the assistant superintendent) get together.} While the consensus seemed to be that Dr. Crofford should work this out I'm strongly of the opinion that Mr. Flatt needs to speak up here and let us know just what his problem is. I'm convinced that we're not going to make much progress until we know Mr. Flatt's terms--and if his terms include anything extra-legal--I don't think Dr. Crofford should cave in and give any homeschooling ground just to appease this Mr. Flatt.

To quote Denise: "Go Team!"

4/20/01: Gateway Christian Schools faxes Juvenile Court officer Keith Jones (who Mr. Flatt alleged couldn't contact Gateway four times about students) apologizing for any inconvenience and providing phone numbers, including a cell phone number, for their director covering Weakley County.

4/19/01: SB1135, the Senate version of HB0467 requiring homeschoolers leaving a CRS to notify their LEA has been scheduled for hearing in the Senate Education Committe on Wednesday, May 2, 2001, 8:00 a.m. Room 1214 Legislative Plaza.

4/18/01: Gateway writes Rep. Maddox to let him know that they have asked several attendance officers in other counties to call him to let him know what a good working relationship they have with Gateway. Dr. Crofford also writes: "With or without the bill Gateway will continue to report to local attendnace supervisors those which we dismiss." that Gateway will notify superintendents "as they withdraw". "We have not practiced doing the latter because we get requests for records from the school to which they transfer." But stating that HB0467 will still have no effect on Gateway procedure.

4/17/01: HB0467 is recommended for passage by the House Education Committee-Now scheduled for hearing in the Calendar & Rules Committee for this Thursday, 4/19/01 8:00 a.m. Room 16LP.

I'm just back from a loooong morning. The disheartening news is that Rep. Maddox prevailed and this bill will go on to a committee which I'm told usually rubber stamps these and send them on to the full House.

I sat with Dennis Tirjan of MTHEA, Mark Lee of H.E.A.R.T. and Bobbie Patray of Eagle Forum. Rep. Donna Rowland had already handed out to the Committee Members Claiborne Thornton's official THEA position on this bill. 

On THEA Letterhead
Dated 4/17/01
Reasons to Oppose HB0467

State law TCA 49-6-3007(e)1 states the following:
"It is the duty of the principal or teacher of every public, private, or parochial school to report promptly to the superintendent, or the superintendent's designated representative, the names of all children who have withdrawn from school...."

Therefore, this bill would provide redundant information.

This bill was introduced to address a truancy problem in Weakley County. When Gateway Christian School heard that they had been accused of this violation, they called each of their member families in this county. They found four families that had withdrawn from Gateway and in each incidence the children were enrolled another school. They then forwarded this information to the attendance officer in Weakley County Mr. Flatt along with the names of attendance officers in Lauderdale county and two other west Tennessee counties. Gateway invited Mr. Flatt would contact his contemporaries to learn their experiences in dealing with Gateway. (Some of you may remember the situation in Lauderdale County from a matter about 2 years ago with Ms. Hambey, who now works with Gateway.) In earlier conversations Rep. Maddox indicated that if the problems of Mr. Flatt could be addressed, then the problem addressed by this bill would be settled. We respectfully request your prayers that this issue would be soon resolved in a peaceable manner and that especially we would give appropriate honor to those in positions of authority.

When they become aware, Gateway Christian School notifies the appropriate local superintendents when students are dismissed or leave their program. As in this case there may be a lag time between the decision on the part of the family to withdraw from Gateway and the time Gateway discovers notification is required.

This bill is to eliminate some of the frustrations of attendance supervisors related to home schoolers. Because of the non traditional nature of home schooling, start and stop dates, vacations, and holidays can vary from home school to home school allowing the 180 days of attendance to be achieved in unusual patterns, so some of the frustration may continue.

We were not heard first as Rep. Maddox was presiding over another committee at 10:00 and it was over an hour and a half later that the proceedings began because some organization called NCSL had a long presentation. Since Rep. Maddox wasn't in the room when the Committee began hearings they skipped over his bills and as soon as he came in Chairman Winningham called HB467. Rep. Maddox spoke--and to tell you the truth I was quite upset and didn't take very good notes--my hands were shaking so much.

The jist of his explanation was that homeschoolers were using Gateway school to avoid the compulsory attendance laws via the Jeter Memorandum. That this bill was not a homeschooling bill. That people had a hard time getting ahold of Gateway schools because the phone number on their letterhead was linked to a machine that doesn't take messages (he failed to mention--and I didn't either--the the machine does give you another number to call where there is a machine to take messages.) But frankly that answering machine stuff put us in a very bad light. That the problem was this CRS. I believe it was Chairman Winningham that asked if anyone from Gateway was there to answer the charges. No one was. That just hung in the air for a moment. Rep. John Hood asked Maddox to explain how this bill didn't impact homeschoolers. Bless his heart I think Hood would have pursued it further but seemed at a loss for words, understanding of just how to approach the issue--something. Maddox reiterated this wasn't a homeschooling problem but a CRS problem. Rep. Montgomery stated he thought this was a fair bill and something else positive about the bill--but I couldn't make it out.

I had gone to Chairman Winningham's office when I first got to the legislature and asked for two minutes to speak against the bill. He hemmed and hawed they were pretty busy--may not have time. But after Maddox spoke Winningham asked if there was a Tennessee Home Education representative here. Dennis, Mark and I all raised our hands. Winningham called my name. I

I told him I was a THEA member but couldn't speak for the organization that I ran TnHomeEd and information clearinghouse for Tennessee homeschoolers. (And this part I'll apologize for--I have been in front of many, many microphones in my life, and spoken before larger crowds than this committee but I had no spit in my mouth, my voice quavered and I was shaking like a leaft--I'm concerned that all that prevented them from hearing what I said.) This is what I said--

"My name is Kay Brooks. I run TnHomeEd, an information clearinghouse for Tennessee homeschoolers.

I am here to ask you to vote against this bill.

It’s my understanding after conversations and e-mails with Rep. Maddox and others, that this bill arises out of alleged truancy problems in Weakley County. Truants there are declaring themselves to be homeschoolers-specifically registered with Gateway Christian Schools. However, Dr. Leo Crofford, director of that school, stated in his letter to Rep. Maddox of 3/20/01

Quote: “No legislation should be based on skewed or false information. We often hear rumors about Gateway home school students running loose. But with all the talk, no attendance officer has ever produced a single name of one who was actually a Gateway student.” Unquote.

I have asked the Attendance Supervisor for Weakley County, Mr. Marvin Flatt, to provide specifics which can be verified in an effort to understand if the homeschooling truancy problem in his county is so egregious that state legislation is necessary. To date he has not provided any specifics. He did refer me to a Juvenile Court Officer who may have information about 4 students. To date this Juvenile Court Officer hasn’t responded to my request for additional information.

Without substantiating evidence this committee should not ask homeschoolers to submit to further regulation especially based on the complaints of a man who will not cite where he gets the authority to ignore the directives of the law and his superiors.

Mr. Flatt “requests” ALL homeschoolers notify his office “if a student is enrolled in ANY home school program.” However homeschoolers are not bound by law to obey Mr. Flatt’s request. This may be why he considers so many homeschoolers “truant”. They are not. His “request” is in direct contradiction to the original Code this bill amends.

This Code says only 9th-12th grade homeschooled students must be reported to the Local Education Agency. However, attorney Kaye Jeter, with the Department of Education, at the request of former Education Commissioner Jane Walters, has already opined that I don’t need to register even my 9th-12th grade students if our Church Related School considers our home a satellite campus of their school. If Dr. Jeter’s opinion covers the entire newly amended paragraph, that segment of the homeschooling population will still remain unreported to the LEA .

Additionally, if I register with, and then never leave my church-related school, this law appears to read that the names of my children will never be reported to the LEA.

So what we have here are unproven accusations that truant homeschooled students are such a problem that this legislature must require homeschooling families to give up their privacy and obey a very imperfect attempt at documenting exactly where their child is being educated-essentially for the convenience of an attendance supervisor. If a homeschooled child is detained, truancy officers, as instructed by Dr. Jeter, should contact parents and thus confirm the child’s status. This avoids unnecessarily burdening already law abiding families or requiring school districts to deal with the additional piecemeal “notifying” paperwork.

Again, I ask you to vote against this bill.

Thank you."

No one asked any questions of me. No one asked anymore questions.

They voted. Only 3 voted against: Hood, Harwell, and Hagood (You might send them thank yous). The rest voted for it.

Afterward in the hallway Dennis, Mark, Bobbie and I debriefed. Bobbie pointed out we had heard Maddox argument that it wasn't a homeschool matter and so she suggested that we had to work on demonstrating that it is a homeschool thing, that we are concerned that once it gets to the floor of the House the whole homeschool code could be altered--which doesn't seeeeem to be Rep. Maddox intent. She also agreed that not having Gateway there to answer the charges was damaging.

So this is where we stand. At some point this bill will be scheduled to come before the full House. You need to send letters. Bobbie related that there are a lot of older members in the legislature and they are not even using those laptops we all paid Bobbie explained that when we don't write these folks assume this legislation is just OK with us. Additionally, now that it's headed for the House the Senate version of this bill will begin to move through the process. So their companion bill (SB1135) will be scheduled for hearing in their education committee. Again, send letters--she advised.

4/16/01: Hearing Time Changed to 10:00 a.m. (half an hour earlier). HB0467 is FIRST on the agenda.

4/14/01: Bobbie Patray, of Tennessee Eagle Forum, in her Legislative Report of this morning wrote:

"Folks, there is still some confusion among legislators about the position of home schooling
parents on this bill. The committee members need to hear from you loud and clear:"
(Contact info can be found here: http://www.TnHomeEd.com/HB0467.html)

"This is not dual registration, we request that we be notified if a student is enrolled in any home school program. We also require that a withdrawl form be completed, even if the student is moving from one school to another within our

county, simply to keep our records straight."

Mr. Flatt said the Juvenile Court truancy officer who wasn't able to get informaiton was Keith Jones. I've written Mr. Jones for his side of this story.

In response to my question "What do you hope to accomplish with this legislation?" he wrote:

"If we are made aware of students who have left an educational program, and they reside in this county, and still fall under the compulsory attendance law, then we can follow up on them, before they fall further behind in their education."

4/9/01: Mr. Marvin Flatt responds to my e-mail. My question to Mr. Flatt was: "By what authority do you ignore the ruling of your superiors in this matter and insist on dual enrollment?" His superiors being former Education Comissioner Jane Walters and Dr. Kaye Jeter, author of the Jeter Memorandum. He didn't answer the question. The closest he got was this paragraph:

"The dual enrollment is the latest misinformation that I have been made aware of. The day a student leaves the Weakley County School System is the day enrollment and funding for that student stops. I have been told by a Gateway representative in Jackson, that this is "dual enrollment" and the system is draining money because that student/parent signed a simple form stating where they would be attending - this is a total falsehood."

Frankly, I had no idea what this meant and asked him to clarify.

Additionally, he wrote:

"It is interesting that I receive this on the same day I receive something I have never seen before, a form from Gateway Christian Schools with four names of students who have withdrawn or been dropped from their roles.
With regard to the "one" other fax I received, I called these numbers only to receive recordings (as did my superintendent). [I'll give him credit here--Gateway does have a reputation for being hard to get ahold of on the phone. KB]

In reference to your accusation that no name of a student has been provided to Gateway, the truancy officer with the Juvenile Court has made a minimum of four requests this year for information from Gateway regarding the status of students from Weakley County, and to this day has never received a response."

Mr. Flatt goes on to say:

"And finally, I am not the only one in Tennessee that has had these issues with Gateway. All you have to do to get an earful, is find a group of superintendents, directors, or supervisors and bring up home schooling - but you better have plenty

of time."

4/5/01: Mr. Marvin Flatt has yet to respond to Dr. Crofford's correspondence and phone messages. As a result Dr. Crofford writes a second letter to Rep. Maddox. In this letter he points out that Gateway "does not have a dog in this fight." This law will not require any administrative changes in the way Gateway does business. And further that this law "will not have any legal affect upon families who register to educate their children as an extention of Gateway..."

Dr. Crofford goes on to say that Mr. Marvin Flatt doesn't accept and comply with the legal opinion of the State Department of Education and "has insisted that Weakley County families ...sign a dual registration form..."

Dr. Crofford's complete letter to Rep. Maddox can be found at: http://TnHomeEd.com/Gway040401.html

Additionally you can find the legislative alert Gateway sent out to it's Weakley and Carrol County families on 3/23/01 at: http://TnHomeEd.com/Gway032301.html

Here is some contact you may find helpful.

Mr. Richard Barber Superintendent of Schools Weakley County 8319 Highway 22, Suite A Dresden, TN 38225 731-364-2247 Fax--731-364-2662 e-mail: barberr@k12tn.net	Govenor Don Sundquist Office of the Governor, State Capitol, Nashville, TN 37243-0001 (615) 741- 2001 e-mail: dsundquist@mail.state.tn.us
Mr. Marvin Flatt Attendance Supervisor Weakley County Schools 8319 Highway 22, Suite A Dresden, TN 38225 731-364-6992 e-mail: flattm2@k12tn.net	Dr. Vernon Coffey Commissioner Tennessee Department of Education 6th Floor, Andrew Johnson Tower 710 James Robertson Parkway Nashville TN 37243-0375 (615)741-2731

The Weakley County Press
PO Box 410
Martin, TN 38237
Phone: (901) 587-3144
E-mail: wcpnews@aeneas.net

Letters Policy:
The Press welcomes your input. Please limit letters and comments to 250 words or less and include your full name, address, and phone number (day and evening) for the purposes of verification. We cannot accept an e-mail address alone.

The Press reserves the right to edit all letters for length and/or libelous content.

4/3/01: 10:16 a.m. I've just come back from Rep. Maddox's office where he told me he will roll (postpone) this bill to give Dr. Leo Crofford of Gateway Christian Schools and Mr. Marvin Flatt, Attendance Supervisor of Weakley County Schools time to talk and hopefully work out a solution to Mr. Flatt's truancy troubles.

Additionally, I've received e-mail via Claiborne Thornton from someone named "Todd" that said Rep. Donna Rowland (R-Rutherford County) denounced this bill to the Republican caucus and encouraged legislators to vote against it.

That means this bill is now scheduled to be heard by the House Education Committee on Tuesday, 4/17/01 at 10:30 a.m. in room 16LP.

4/2/01: This bill is, at this moment, still scheduled to be heard at 10:30 a.m. in room 16LP "under" the War Memorial building in downtown Nashville. This meeting is open to the public if you'd like to attend.

Weakley County is apparently ground zero.

I spoke to Dr. Leo Crofford of Gateway Schools this morning. He tells me that Rep. Maddox said he didn't have a strong motivation to pass this bill but that Dr. Crofford should call Weakley County Attendance Supervisor Marvin Flatt, "make peace" with him and Maddox will drop the bill.

Dr. Crofford's office faxed me a copy of the letter Gateway sent to Mr. Flatt last Thursday. Mr. Flatt has not yet responded to the letter or to the phone calls they've made attempting to reach him. Dr. Crofford has asked his registered families in Weakley County to contact Mr. Flatt.

Here's Mr. Flatt's contact information:
Marvin Flatt
Attendance Supervisor
Weakley County Schools
8319 Highway 22, Suite A
Dresden, TN 38225 (Rep. Maddox is from Dresden by the way.)
731-364-2247
e-mail: flattm2@k12tn.net

It's not too surprising to me that Mr. Flatt, in addition to attendance supervisor is the Vocational & Technical Education Director and also the grant administrator for Weakley County's Education Edge program. EE is what used to be called School to Work. http://www.weakley-lea.weakley.k12.tn.us/ee/ee.htm
Here's a Kingsport Tennessean's editorial regarding EE: http://www.oregoneducation.org/STW/tennesse.htm

In and attempt to not be a "lone ranger" I spoke to Claiborne Thornton, President of THEA. I told him the above and that since Dr. Crofford and Mr. Flatt haven't yet had a chance to "make peace" that I was going to attempt to get Rep. Maddox to roll the bill at least one week. When I asked if he was going to attend the committee hearing Claiborne said he wasn't but some folks from Rutherford County were expected to attend the committee meeting tomorrow morning. He was compliamentary and thought attempting to roll it was a good idea.

Rep. Maddox is away from the office until the session this evening at 5:00. I spoke to his aid and he said he'd ask Rep. Maddox to call Dr. Crofford in an attempt to get Rep. Maddox to understand that Mr. Flatt and Dr. Crofford haven't communicated yet.

3/20/01 In a letter to Rep. Maddox of this date, which Dr. Crofford faxed to TnHomeEd, Dr. Leo Crofford of Gateway Christian Schools asserts "We often hear rumors about Gateway home school students running loose. But with all the talk, no attendance officer has ever produced a single name of one who was actually a Gateway student." and further "Many minors have falsely said they were, [Gateway students], and some officers were happy to believe their lie without verification because it put home education in a bad light."

Also included in the letter were copies of withdrawal reports to Obion, Dyer, Weakley, Gibson, Lake, Tipton, Lauderdale, Haywood, and Humboldt counties and a Gateway Newletter article of March 2001 with this paragraph:

"On February 7 the police picked up 4 students in a park near our Macon center. Three of them who were Kingsbury students lied and said they were Gateway extension students. The fourth one, who was also a Kingsbury student, falsely used the name of a Gateway student. This impersonation was not discovered

until we started proceeding to dismiss the real student. Two of the Kingsbury students were taken away in handcuffs. Unsupervised students who are out in public during school hours may give the appearance of evil."

3/19/01 Rep. Maddox has e-mailed me saying he'll roll this bill two weeks to allow time for discussion. That means it's scheduled for hearing on April 3.

3/16/01 HB467 has been placed on the House Education Committee Calendar for 3/20/01. They usually meet at 10:30 a.m. in room 16LP. You may want to check with Rep. Maddox office to verify it's on the calendar before you leave to attend the meeting. Rep. Maddox's Nashville phone is: 615-741-7847 (Toll Free 1-800-449-8366 ext. 17847). Contact info for the committee members can be found on the HB0467 page.

3/14/01 HB467 was recommended for passage by the K-12 Sub-committee of the Education Committee of the House. According the Rep. Maddox's office Claiborne Thornton, Debbie Tirjan and another man dropped in on Rep. Maddox yesterday afternoon and discussed the bill. As a result Rep. Maddox did not roll this bill as he told me he would.

Dr. Leo Crofford, of Gateway Schools in Memphis, Claiborne Thornton of THEA and Rep. Maddox are supposed to meet sometime before the bill is heard in the Education Committee. The bill is expected to be amended to reflect the outcome of this meeting. (Correction 3/19/01 Rep. Maddox tells me there is no meeting scheduled. Just a phone call between he and Dr. Crofford)

3/13/01
I met with Rep. Maddox this morning. He assured me that he would not allow amendments to this bill. He said the bill was the result of homeschoolers in his area (Weakley, Carrol and Lauderdale Counties) "running loose" and declaring that they are registered as homeschoolers with Gateway Christian Schools. Additionally, Gateway is not reporting withdrawals to the superintendents of these counties unlike Daystar and Liberty Christian were. When I pointed out that 49-6-3007 required such notification he stated that Department of Education lawyer, Kaye Jeter, insisted that the state couldn't require Gateway to report these names so this legislation was drafted to force the parents to report where their children are enrolled. Rep. Maddox said he would roll this bill one week, to give THEA time to speak with him but that he wasn't going to wait much longer than that. He also insisted that "we are going to solve this problem this year."

3/12/01
HB0467 --According to David in Rep. Maddox's office this bill will not be heard this Wednesday as previously scheduled and will be rolled at least one week to 3/20/01 to give THEA time to meet with Rep. Maddox.

3/9/01

HB0467 is scheduled to be heard in the K-12 Subcommittee Wednesday 3/14/01 . Check the HB0467 page for contact information.

2/22/01

Here's the summary provided by the State Legislature:

"SB1135 by Herron. (HB0467 by Maddox, Fitzhugh.)

Schools, Home - Requires Parents whose children are being educated through satellite church-related home schools to advise local LEA when their children are withdrawn from such program. -Amends TCA Section 49-6-3050

The Abstract summarizes SB1135/HB0467 as introduced.

Fiscal Note for SB1135/HB0467
No Fiscal Note for this Bill!"

Your fax/phone call is imperative.