Previous Posts
Changes in the wind? [06/03/08]
Why Get Involved? [05/13/08]
From the Chairman [05/13/08]
( We've prepared a number of white paper... ) [05/13/08]
Issues
"The people who know their God will stand firm and take action."
--Daniel 11:32
Background
Welcome to the CHESCA Political Action Committee's Homepage!
When home educators join CHESCA, they get value for their membership fee. One part of that value is the CHESCA Political Action Committee. This is what the CHESCA PAC does in regard to home education in Ohio:
- Track and respond to events concerning any legal or legislative activity in Ohio
- Track and respond to media opportunities and engagements
- Report to CHESCA members legal or legislative events that merit their consideration
- Research and analyze any political candidates that would support home education
- Report to CHESCA members the needs of good solid candidates in their campaigns
- Informational Meetings
- Workshops, complete with written materials including How To articles
- Free information on the website, as the website is developed
Political Action News Alert!
Ohio Homeschooler Alert! Outcomes Based Education resurfacing in Ohio. New statewide educational lobby organization being launched!
Ohioans for Educational Freedom launches March 2009!
The CHESCA PAC wants to encourage you to find out about the new Ohioans For Educational Freedom organization by e-mailing them @ OEF Director. This new organization is launching this week, state-wide, and will work to provide Ohio homeschoolers with information concerning any changes in legislative and policy matters that will affect them. It will also facilitate a "minuteman" approach to responding quickly to any issues. Here is a map of Ohio's State Board of Education and the elected districts. This is the kind of work OEF will be working on in the coming months. Their new address is:
Ohioans for Educational Freedom
PO Box 8777
Canton, Ohio 44711-8777
The Director is Mark Stevenson, longtime homeschooling advocate with over a 20 year record. Mark has a wide range of experience in legislative and policy matters and is tied to several conservative causes, including RIght To Life. The CHESCA Political Action Committee supports this new effort in Ohio. We are asking you to pass this information to two or more other homeschooling families that you know, personally. OEF is readying for the 2010 elections and needs the resources, now, to make a difference. Several things may come down the pipe, including all-day kindergarten. OEF will have a web site some time soon and we will let you know about it! If you e-mail OEF now, you will get information about their projections. Soon, they will be e-mailing to over 4,000 homeschoolers, statewide. If you're not signed up for their launch e-mail, click the link below.
Thanks for protecting your home education rights in Ohio by supporting a new initiative.
E-mail them at: OEF Director
Why shut Ohioans out, governor Strickland?
The CHESCA PAC approves this editorial from the Canton Repository:
What is going on with Gov. Ted Strickland's plan to reform schools? What started on such a sweet note at the governor's State of the State address in January has soured considerably in an atmosphere of secrecy.
Both before and after Strickland became governor in 2007, he said he would consider himself a failure if he didn't reform school funding. After two years of anticipation, Ohioans finally heard the rough outlines of a far broader plan in his Jan. 28 speech.
It was, for the most part, big, bold and exciting. Though it was sketchy at that point, and with an unimaginative funding component, everyone gave the governor the benefit of the doubt and waited for details. And waited. And waited. And waited.
Two weeks after they glimpsed the plan in bullet-point form, members of the House Finance committee met with State Superintendent of Instruction Deborah Delisle and expressed frustration that they still didn't know much about proposals ranging from a longer school year to four-year residencies for new teachers.
In mid-March, Rep. Seth Morgan filed public-records requests for the evidence in what Strickland calls his "evidence-based" school reforms. All Morgan received was a bibliography of studies and reports. The Associated Press said Morgan was told "there is only one copy of the documentation ... and that it is in the home of a state employee."
Odd as that development was, now we learn that a more insidious form of secrecy is at work.
AP reported this week that Strickland has outsourced the shaping of his education reform plan to a private consulting firm that can legally evade the state's public-records laws. In the process, Delisle's Department of Education has been dumped from what everyone assumed would be a primary ? and public ? role in fashioning and implementing the changes.
Ohio has a recent history of chief executives who have called themselves "the education governor" while they strayed only slightly from the status quo. Strickland clearly is trying to make good on his promises of radical change.
He has a reservoir of good will from Ohioans who have waited too long for education reform but believe they're on the brink of real change.
Why is he shutting them out?
Support Group Leaders in Ohio
Attention Support Group Leaders: Please consider joining OhioHSLeaders, an e-mail list for home education support group leaders in Ohio. This list has discussed the Ohio Department of Education's Stakeholder process and topics related to support groups. If you lead a support group, send an introduction to the group moderator and you will find many leaders from around the state waiting to get to know you.
Volunteering opportunities
We provide all this and more as our base of dedicated volunteers grows. We want to give CHESCA members the best possible advantage when they have to engage their politicians. We also want to give them the best possible return for their membership dollars.
You will notice to the right some current events and issues we are tracking. Bringing information like this to our members gives them the distinct advantage of being "in the know" on issues relevant to them. Ohioans are quick to respond to situations and Stark County home educators are no different. Please consider becoming a member of CHESCA and staying informed!
The Political Action Committee has put together a brochure to briefly explain areas where we would like to be productive.
[© 2009 CHESCA, P. O. Box 8801, Canton, OH 44711, 330-491-9857 www.chesca.org]