Hi, everyone!
We just wanted to share the exciting news that as of today, the bill Jason and Brenda have been working hard to get sponsored and filed is officially filed for this session!
Jason and Brenda had drafted language which addresses several issues with PEP, getting the definition for Home Education Instructional Programs into statute to prevent abuse, addresses issues with securing IEPs for students with disabilities, and more.
This language made it into draft in the House and Senate by the drafting deadline, but the bill still needed official sponsors.
In order for a bill to be filed, there must be parallel bills filed in both the House and Senate. Jason and Brenda had a sponsor lined up in the Senate, but without someone to sponsor the companion bill in the House, the bill(s) could not move forward. For weeks, they've been trying to secure a House sponsor...
We are thrilled to announce that on Tuesday, we received a call from a House Representative offering to sponsor the bill!
As of 4:26 PM today (2/28/25), both bills are officially filed:
HB 1565 - Educational Choice
SB 1440 - Educational Choice
We are thankful to Senator McClain and Representative Duggan for taking on these issues and sponsoring these bills!
Jason and Brenda plan to be in the Capitol early Monday morning, and will be livestreaming from there for Monday's HEF live!
We'll keep you all updated week by week as things progress!
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IMPORTANT NOTE: There is one other issue Jason and Brenda are working to address this Legislative Session -- fixing a loophole in the Craig Dickinson Act which school districts have been using to turn away home education and PEP students from participating in extracurriculars at their school of choice. That issue, however, is considered a separate topic from "Educational Choice," and because of that, could not be added to the above bills. We may need parents' help on this!! We've made a separate post with a special announcement about that. Please see that post for more info.