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By julia, March 5, 2010 10:31 pm

From a full article at The Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun, dated March 4, 2010.  Written in first person by  Nate Willems, a Democrat from Lisbon, representing House District 29, which includes Mount Vernon and Lisbon. Excerpt about homeschooling:

“On a brighter note, it appears we have reached a compromise between the Department of Education and local school districts in regard to how funds for Home School Assistance Programs (HSAP) may be spent. The current plan would allow school districts to spend HSAP dollars on teachers, support staff, and equipment but not on administrators or for facilities. These changes would actually go into the Iowa Code and, therefore, should not be subject to change by the Department of Education. Though I might have liked to go a little further in giving school districts with an HSAP greater flexibility in operating their program, it is a reasonable compromise, and all parties can feel comfortable in moving forward with it.”

Hat tip to Ulrike.

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By julia, February 25, 2010 10:48 pm

Iowa legislative update from a QC newspaper. Hat tip to Ulrike.

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By julia, February 15, 2010 2:11 pm

Update on a prior blog post on Iowa’s upcoming HSAP Day follows. Source is the West Des Moines HSAP Coordinator. — JULIA

I need to give an update on the HSAP Day at the Capitol on March 9th.  I received additional information from the HSAP lobbyist, and this meeting is for home school coordinators to meet with the legislators.  I apologize for the earlier emails I sent that may have made it seem it was for families, too.  They are seeking goodies, individually wrapped, with a note or artwork attached by home schooling children.  If you would like to participate in this way, please let me know. [prescottt@wdmcs.org]

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By julia, February 8, 2010 12:35 pm

First off, I want to remind you all that you’re invited to our 3rd Annual HSAP Day at the Capitol on Tuesday, March 9th from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m.

This year we’re doing things a bit differently. Instead of setting up displays, we’ll be hosting an ice cream and cookie social for legislators in the basement. (These are very popular!) The Iowa HSAP Professionals will buy the ice cream, bowls, cups, spoons, napkins, and coffee, but we need YOU to do two things for that day:

1. Show up! Legislators need to meet you and see what fantastic professionals we have in our organization.
2. We need to have HSAP students from all over the state bake cookies and/or brownies, package them individually in baggies, and attach an original piece of artwork or a letter telling about how great HSAPs are. (This can be 4 year olds thru high school seniors – or even parents!)

I’ll try to provide more information as we get closer (for example, if there is a specific bill that is still pending then, we might ask families to include that in the letter they write). However, the important part for now is to have you mark your calendars, and start getting families involved in making the goodies and the artwork!

Please RSVP and let me know how many teachers will be coming, and how many goodies you will be bringing.

On Monday, KCRG TV 9 News did a story about HSAPs. You can see the story here. There were quite a few online comments about it. Unfortunately, their moderator did NOT allow all of the comments to get posted, so the discussion was limited and a bit slanted.

On Wednesday I received a draft of the bill that Rep Jodi Tymeson submitted on our behalf, which would put into Iowa Code how HSAP dollars must be spent, and leave it out of the hands of the Iowa Department of Education and their administrative rules.

Andrea K. Farrier
Home Schooling Wife and Mom
Supervising Teacher, MPHSAP
Lobbyist, Ia. HSAP Professionals
(319) 461-4346 (cell)