Another Hit in the Last Inning
By Carolyn Martin, CHEC Director of Government Relations
Wow! It’s been a busy session for bills impacting homeschooling! Right out of the gate, we were hit with several bills and here in the last inning we were thrown a curveball.
Every year, the legislature must pass the Public School Finance bill (HB22-1390) or the public school system goes unfunded. It’s typical for the legislature to throw in a bunch of pieces of policy into this one bill – last year they threw in at the last-minute a part of an unpopular bill around school discipline – but we’ve never ever seen any language around homeschooling in the Public School Finance bill before.
The Monday after CHEC’s Homeschool Day at the Capitol, I got wind of an amendment to the bill that placed funding language in the homeschool law (CRS 22-33-104.5). CHEC and HSLDA worked with several legislators who went to bat for us. Our concerns were twofold: 1) the original language put new verbiage in the homeschool law, opening it up to further inspection, and 2) policy around funding schools would now be associated with all homeschoolers.
It took several iterations and amendments to get the wording to an agreeable place for all the parties involved. For over a week it was a crazy whirlwind of scrutinizing language, trying to clearly articulate our view, waiting, and praying. Then finally, on the Senate floor, we breathed a sigh of relief. (To read the whole story go here.)
Through it all, as we were trying to call the balls and strikes of amendment language, our sentiments always returned to the faithfulness the Lord has shown us time and again as homeschoolers in Colorado. He has guarded the homeschool law for decades and we trust that He will continue to do so as we remain vigilant to watch over it and wholly rely on Him to sustain it and us through it all.
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22
Read the full story behind this bill here.
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