An Open Letter to Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont homeschoolers

Dear Texas Homeschool Leaders,

As a former state homeschool leader (Treasurer, Home Educators Association of Virginia, 1997-2006), I am writing to encourage your participation, and that of your group, in the upcoming primary on Tuesday, March 4th. I have thoroughly investigated the current presidential candidates, and I am asking you to consider voting for Mike Huckabee, and to consider sending non-partisan voters' guides to your members.

HUCKABEE AND HOMESCHOOLING
Gov. Huckabee's positions on homeschooling and educational choice are well documented in his record. A video detailing Gov. Huckabee's support for homeschooling during his tenure in Arkansas can be viewed here in Quicktime format: http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php?vide ... eschooling
or here, on YouTube (same video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-q0h1cb6xE

As you can see in the video, Mike Huckabee was the first governor in the nation to appoint a homeschooling parent to his State Board of Education. Prior to his time in office, Arkansans were saddled with some of the most onerous homeschooling laws in the nation. During the 1997 legislative session, Gov. Huckabee lobbied for and signed into law a bill that dramatically reduced homeschooling restrictions.

Here are two other important links detailing Gov. Huckabee's positions on education, homeschooling, and school choice:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp ... 1228a.html (This one is an interview specifically about school choice.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XamEl9Vj8xQ (This is an interview with David Brody about education.)

As is apparent in these interviews, Gov. Huckabee believes homeschoolers need less regulation, not more. ("They're amazing. Leave them alone," he says to David Brody.) He favors state tax credits for home- and private schools, and although he did not support a state-wide voucher system which was debated in Arkansas, it was because that system was also not supported by the private schools in the state which would have been most impacted by the changes. Private school administrators feared governmental intervention should they accept public funding (a concern we often face as homeschoolers). Full explanations can be found in the above interviews. Governor Huckabee clearly believes that parents, and not any governmental body, have the right and duty to decide the course of their own children's education.

As a governor, he was also responsible for the Arkansas public schools; in fact, he inherited a lawsuit and a state supreme court decision mandating costly improvements to that system. Due to his leadership, those schools, previously ranked 48th in the nation, have most recently received a ranking of 8th.

There has been a great deal of misinformation regarding Gov. Huckabee and his role in promoting homeschooling legislation in Arkansas during his 10+ years as governor. Most of this information has come from competing campaigns. I'd like to try to point you to some truth to help clear up the record.

In 1999, two very restrictive bills began to gain momentum in the Arkansas Legislature. These bills would have done significant damage to homeschooling freedoms, returning homeschoolers to the level of governmental oversight they had under Bill Clinton. In order to counteract the bills, one legislator who was also a homeschooling father promoted an alternate bill that was not as restrictive. It is this bill that has been used as "political ammunition" against Huckabee. HSLDA wrote about that bill, and their endorsement of Gov. Huckabee (quoted in part, link to full text below):


Quote:
January 2008

...As discussed in this article, the Arkansas legislature passed a homeschool law in 1999, which was signed by Governor Huckabee. The law represented a step backward for homeschool freedoms.

Arkansas' homeschool law was enacted in 1985 when Bill Clinton was governor. It was one of the most restrictive laws in the nation...

Prior to the 1997 legislative session, the Arkansas Christian Home Education Association and HSLDA approached Governor Huckabee about supporting changes in the homeschool law. Governor Huckabee actively supported and lobbied legislators to get a bill passed which transformed Arkansas into a much more favorable state for homeschoolers. HSLDA attorney Dewitt Black wrote Governor Huckabee a thank-you letter. He replied, "Dee, it was my pleasure and privilege to get behind this effort on behalf of home school students in Arkansas, and I sincerely appreciated the backing of the Home School Legal Defense Association and the Arkansas Christian Home Education Association."...

Only two years later, however, during the 1999 legislative session, two bad bills were introduced to impose restrictions on the homeschoolers. There was a great deal of momentum to get these bills through.

To avoid a major step backward for homeschool freedom, local homeschool leaders worked with a homeschooling father in the House of Representatives to sponsor a bill which would place some additional regulations on homeschoolers but would avoid the much worse provisions of the other two bills. HSLDA could not support this compromise bill because we always stand on the side of homeschool freedom and against government regulation. We opposed the bill and urged our members to lobby against the bill without success.

The political reality, however, was that the homeschoolers were going to have to give the opposition something or they were going to get something much worse. As far as Governor Huckabee was concerned, it was a bill the homeschoolers wanted. It was sponsored by a homeschooling father in the legislature and had the support of the Arkansas Family Council. The bill was enacted and became Act 1117.

HSLDA-PAC has spoken directly with Governor Huckabee and we believe that by his words and actions he is a firm supporter of homeschooling.

Link: http://www.hsldapac.org/dnn/Home/Govern ... fault.aspx

In Arkansas, a simple 51% majority is all that is needed to overturn the governor's veto, which means if a bill passes, it is veto-proof. When a bad bill threatens, the legislature has to keep it from passing or put another, more palatable, bill in its place. Gov Huckabee couldn't just veto the bill that would restrict homeschooling. He had to work with the legislature to find another solution. As homeschool leaders, many of us have been in similar situations, having to accept compromise bills with the hope of passing better law during the next session.

THE RACE IS NOT OVER, AND TEXAS, OHIO, VERMONT AND RHODE ISLAND MATTERS!
We believe that Governor Huckabee is the best choice for homeschoolers, and Texans can make all the difference in this race.

Gov. Huckabee has stated that he will not leave the race until a candidate receives 1191 PLEDGED delegates, effectively ensuring that voters in states like Texas, Mississippi, Vermont, and Ohio still matter. A win in Texas would boost his momentum going into the many remaining Red states, where John McCain's following is not as strong. (Note that, of the 17 states McCain has won to date, 11 usually vote Democrat, and 10 have not voted for a Republican since 1988 or earlier. Huckabee's wins, however, are 100% in Republican states, which bodes far better for the general election in November.)

It is not necessary for Gov. Huckabee to receive 1191 delegates himself; he only needs to keep John McCain from doing so to take this to a brokered convention. At the convention, all candidates still in the race would have the opportunity to address the delegates before the voting takes place. With his superior communication skills, and his strong moral stance on life, marriage, family, and freedom, we believe Governor Huckabee would be able to sway the votes. (For those who haven't seen him in action, take a look at some of the videos available at http://www.hucksarmy.com/video.php, like the FRC Straw Poll from last September.) If he does not win the nomination there, however, he is committed to supporting the Republican nominee.

Some would say it hurts the party to force a brokered convention. Ronald Reagan did not think so. In 1976, because he felt very strongly that the Republican Party was going against its principles, he bravely challenged the incumbent Republican president, Gerald Ford. He took his race all the way to a brokered convention, where he lost on the first vote. Immediately, for party unity, he proceeded to put all of his support and influence behind Ford, but Jimmy Carter won the general election. After four years of Carter's administration, the country was ready for Reagan's leadership, and he won in 1980 and again in 1984. It is interesting to note that Abraham Lincoln won a brokered convention in 1860 after trailing on the first ballot.

VOTERS' GUIDES
For the benefit of your members, I am attaching links to two voters' guides. These non-partisan guides have been approved by Matt Staver of Liberty Council for distribution by churches and non-profit organizations. If you are a 501(c)(3) organization, your group cannot endorse or lobby for any particular candidate without threatening your non-profit status. You can, however, distribute guides which outline all the candidates' positions on various issues. Some organizations who distribute guides also include links to their state Democratic and Republican party websites. I hope you will consider sending these guides to your members immediately, to help them make informed voting decisions.

Wall Builders' Guide: http://www.wallbuilders.com/downloads/n ... sGuide.pdf
Faith 2 Action Guide: http://www.f2a.org/NewsStory.cfm?Story_ID=2604

Thank you for reading such a long letter. I hope this information clears up some of the confusion that has dominated many of the homeschool discussion boards, and I hope you will vote for Mike Huckabee on March 4th!

Blessings,