State Representatives

If you live in my neck of the woods, here is the info for contacting your state representatives:

Assembly Member Ira Ruskin

Capitol Address
State Capitol
Room 3123
Sacramento, CA 94249-0021
(916) 319-2021

District Address
5050 El Camino Real Suite 117
Los Altos, CA 94022
(650) 691-2121


Senate (Dist. 15 - Rep)

Senator Abel Maldonado

Capitol Address
State Capitol
Room 4082
Sacramento, CA 94248-0001
(916) 651-4015

District Address
1356 Marsh Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
(805) 549-3784

So if you want to give them a call and tell them what a good idea it would be for homeschooling in this state to continue on EXACTLY as it has so far, have at it! You could even mention ACR 115, a resolution (not legislation) currently under consideration, which proposes just that.

HSC has even provided talking points, if you're interested:

1. Homeschooling is chosen by a wide spectrum of the California
public, including liberal and non-religious people.

2. Homeschooling is growing in popularity all over; homeschoolers are
included among that member's constituents. The parents who choose this
option have strong reasons for doing so, and they will continue
regardless.

3. Homeschooling was working well before the current appellate court
decision; it wasn't broken and it doesn't need to be fixed.

4. Every child deserves to receive the best education for his or her
specific needs. For many children, learning at home provides the best
chance at receiving a quality education, and parents are in the best
position to make that determination. For the "what if" cases (abuse,
neglect), we have laws in place to deal with those things.

5. ACR 115 asks the legislature to recognize that homeschooling is an
option for CA children and that the recent court decision was
overbroad, both of which are true. The author is willing to consider
changes to garner more/broader support. He currently understands that
the call for "reversal" is problematic since "reversal" could mean one
of several things, and he may agree to amend to just make it clearer
that the decision needs to be greatly limited or depublished.

6. Supporting ACR 115 and homeschooling will NOT cause new public
school teachers NOT to be hired. It also does not hurt the teachers'
unions.

a. It is a fallacy to think that these children are going to be
forced to return to school. Families in every other state have a
right to teach at home and there would be constitutional issues with
California attempting to claim that children can only learn in
institutional school.

b. Even if families choose to put their formerly homeschooled
children into school, they still have the right to choose private
school (not public, and no teacher credentials required).

c. Every dollar spent on educating a formerly homeschooled child
takes that same dollar away from existing public school students.
Supporting ACR 115 is consistent with supporting quality public
education and the teachers who are in those schools.

BTW, if you don't live in my neighborhood, you can find your state representatives here. Just look on the left-hand side of the page, click on the blue box that says "Find my district" and fill out the form in the little pop-up window. Voila! Now you can easily express yourself to your representative on any and all issues that concern you, with just a phone call. Make your voice heard!