Quoted Text

From the NM PED Website ---> http://www.ped.state.nm.us/HomeSchools/

""Will my child earn credits toward a public high school diploma while home schooling?

    No, unless you purchase a high school diploma program (or specific courses) from an accredited correspondence high school.  Under this type of setting the child is still considered to be home schooling until completion.

Can I home school my child until he/she is ready for the GED?

    Yes.  For more information on GED please visit the department's web site at
http://www.ped.state.nm.us/AssessmentAccountability/GED/   ""

Quoted Text

copied from AMH


HB 359 Homeschool Graduates and the GED Lottery Scholarship Requirem
Dear Friends,

I know many of you receive HSLD email but I want to call your attention to a very important House Bill. As a homeschooling family with a son on the brink of graduation, this is timely. In order to obtain the Lottery Scholarship, homeschool graduates must take the GED.

HB 359 will remove that requirement. Please consider contacting your representatives, listed below.

Taking the GED is a superfluous requirement as the scholarship is not granted until the second semester of college. By this time, our students have already shown by their admittance to and work in college that they have been successfully homeschooled.

If you plan to homeschool through high school this requirement will be something your children will need to fulfill if you are going to send them to a New Mexico college and want the scholarship (who doesn't?). I know the prospect for my son, James, is causing him undue anxiety. I would much rather have him put his energies toward applying for scholarships. The very existence of the requirement shows lack of confidence in the homeschool community.

Here is the body of the email from HSLDA. It doesn't take long to send some emails, so please support HB 359. Thanks!

HSLDA - Your Calls Needed Now to Support Homeschoolers
Receiving Lottery Scholarships without Taking the GED

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends:

As you may have already heard in CAPE-NM's call for action, we need
your calls and emails to the House Education Committee to convince
them to support House Bill 359. This bill would allow homeschool
graduates to qualify for legislative lottery scholarships without
having to take the GED. The Education Committee will discuss HB 359 on
Wednesday, March 16, 2011, at 8:00 a.m. and CAPE-NM will be testifying
at the hearing in support of the bill.

Current law does not require graduates of public and accredited
private schools to take the GED to qualify for the scholarship; thus,
if passed, HB 359 would put homeschool graduates on equal footing with
these other students.

ACTION REQUESTED

1) Please call and/or email each member of the House Education
Committee and in your own words, give them the following message:

"Please vote 'Yes' on HB 359, the Lottery Scholarship Recipient
Additions bill. We urge you to support HB 359 because the lottery
scholarship is specifically for those students who are in their second
semester (or later) of college. These students have already proven
their ability to benefit, both by their admission and by their grades.
The GED is specifically 'for persons who have not graduated.'
Homeschooled graduates HAVE graduated. The U.S. Department of
Education allows homeschool parents to self-certify their child's
completion of school and Congress has issued many statements urging
fair treatment of homeschool graduates."

Additionally, please contact Rep. Dennis Roch, sponsor of HB 359, and
thank him for showing his support of homeschoolers by introducing this
bill.

HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays - 8:00 a.m. - Room 317

Chair Rep, Rick Miera
Phone: 505-986-4842
Email: rick.miera@nmlegis.gov

Vice Chair Rep. Rhonda S. King
Phone: 505-986-4438
Email: ramona.garcia@nmlegis.gov

Rep. Alonzo Baldonado
Phone: 505-986-4227
Email: zobaldonado@gmail.com

Rep. George Dodge
Phone: 505-986-4255
Email: georgedodge63@yahoo.com

Rep. Nora Espinoza
Phone: 505-986-4221
Email: noralee@cableone.net

Rep. Mary Helen Garcia
Phone: 505-986-4341
Email: maryhelen.garcia@nmlegis.gov

Rep. Jimmie C. Hall
Phone: 505-986-4215
Email: jimmie.hall@nmlegis.gov

Rep. Dianne Miller Hamilton
Phone: 505-986-4221
Email: tavish38@gmail.com

Rep. Andy Nunez
Phone: 505-986-4436
Email: annunez@zianet.com

Rep. Dennis J. Roch
Phone: 505-986-4254
Email: denroch@hotmail.com

Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton
Phone: 505-986-4774
Email: sheryl.stapleton@nmlegis.gov

2) Please pray for the hearing tomorrow. If you are interested and
live locally to Santa Fe, you could attend the hearing tomorrow.
Several other bills are also scheduled to be heard, but HB 359 is on
the agenda for Wednesday, March 16, 2011, at 8:00 a.m. in Room 317.
Hearing rooms are on the third floor of the Capitol building. CAPE-NM
will be testifying on behalf of homeschoolers in support of the bill.

BACKGROUND

House Bill 359 was introduced on February 4 by Representative Dennis
J. Roch. The Consumer and Public Affairs Committee voted 5-0 in favor
of the bill on March 10. The bill is currently in the House Education
Committee.

HSLDA has been working with CAPE-NM concerning this bill. As written
HB 359 would simply allow those who have completed a home-based
educational program to be eligible for the legislative lottery
scholarships already authorized under New Mexico law. Currently
homeschool students can be eligible for the lottery scholarships if
they take the GED. HB 359 would remove this requirement.

Please act now in support of House Bill 359. Thanks for your advocacy
on behalf of homeschool graduates!