> >From the HSLDA E-lert Service...
> ======================================================================
> New Mexico--Department of Education Demands Online Notification
>
>
> Dear HSLDA members and friends:
>
>
> The New Mexico Department of Education has sent out paperwork asking
> every homeschool family to start providing their annual notices
> online. HSLDA and CAPE-NM have reviewed this new demand, and both
> strongly object to it. While the new technology might save the
> taxpayers some money, the Department has no right to require
> electronic filing as a matter of law. Electronic filing makes it
> altogether too easy for the Department to demand information not
> required by statute, since the computer can be programmed to reject
> any forms that omit "mandatory" fields.
>
> Therefore, electronic filing could become a significant problem since
> the Department has spent the last several years demanding that every
> family list all school age children in their annual notice of intent.
> This conflicts with state law, which only requires the name and
> address of the homeschool family, not the names of each child. In the
> past, the Department has rejected notices that failed to include the
> name of at least one child. An electronic website would give the
> Department even more power to reject notices and single out
> "non-compliant" paper notices for special treatment.
>
> The new electronic filing policy will not have an immediate affect on
> homeschoolers who have already provided the notice required by law,
> but it will pose a significant problem for new homeschoolers between
> now and September. Existing homeschools will encounter the same
> problem next April. HSLDA and CAPE-NM are both committed to resolve
> this issue in the next few weeks.
>
> Please forward this email to other homeschoolers in New Mexico. If
> you received this email from a friend, please sign up for HSLDA's free
> e-lerts (at http://www.hslda.org/elert) so we can maximize our
> effectiveness.
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Scott W. Somerville, Esq.
> HSLDA Staff Attorney
>
> ======================================================================
> The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of:
>
> Home School Legal Defense Association
> P.O. Box 3000
> Purcellville, Virginia 20134
> Phone: (540) 338-5600
> Fax: (540) 338-2733
> Email: info@hslda.org
> Web: http://www.hslda.org