We were attacked by the Montana School Boards Association and School Administrators of Montana who worked together on a very restrictive home school bill. MCHE, at the same time, prepared a pro-homeschool bill for introduction. Their House bill and our Senate bill were introduced within days of each other. Dr. Ray presented and defended the results of our testing study, and Mr. Farris dealt with the legal issues. The impact of homeschool children and parents writing and visiting Helena was overwhelming.
Legislators serving during that session still remember the events.
Home educators used this day as an opportunity to introduce themselves to their legislators in Helena, as well as to become familiar with the legislative process. Any issue, whether it is a policy change in a local school district, legislation in Helena, legislation in D.C., or even the United Nations, that adversely affects our home education freedom becomes our focus. And because of the ability to dispense accurate and timely information across this state to a responsive homeschool community, our freedoms have been preserved. There is no greater of a community of like-minded and focused people as home educators threatened with new potential regulation. In 1991 the future of home education in Montana was in grave danger.