FYI - Pending HS legislation in Congress........

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Here is a summary of the bills pending in Congress:

1.) HR130: Sponsor: Rep Kennedy, Mark R. (introduced 1/4/2005) Cosponsors (1)
Committees: House Education and the Workforce
Latest Major Action: 2/9/2005 Referred to House subcommittee.
Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Education Reform.

Amends the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) to extend to
families of home-schooled children certain educational and privacy
rights currently available to families of public school students.

Revises the definition of student for purposes of coverage regarding
such family educational and privacy rights (under GEPA provisions
which are also known as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Act of 1974).

Includes under such coverage any person educated at a home school
(whether or not State law treats a home school as a home school or a
private school), if an educational agency or institution maintains
education records or personally identifiable information on such
person (whether or not the home-schooled person is in attendance at
the agency or institution). (Current law excludes all those who are
not in attendance at the agency or institution.)

2.) HR403: Sponsor: Rep Paul, Ron (introduced 1/26/2005)
Cosponsors (6)
Committees: House Ways and Means
Latest Major Action: 1/26/2005 Referred to House committee. Status:
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Hope Plus Scholarship Act of 2005 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code
to expand the Hope Education Scholarship credit to cover K-12
expenses and to offset the cost of home schooling. Under this bill,
the term “’school’ shall include a home school”.


3.) HR406: Sponsor: Rep Paul, Ron (introduced 1/26/2005)
Cosponsors (13)
Committees: House Ways and Means
Latest Major Action: 1/26/2005 Referred to House committee. Status:
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Family Education Freedom Act of 2005 - Amends the Internal Revenue
Code to allow a tax credit of up to $3,000 per student per year for
the cost of attendance at any educational institution (including any
private, parochial, religious, or home school) organized to provide
elementary or secondary education, or both. The bill amends the IRS
code to define “qualified educational expenses” that will be
considered tax deductible. In other words, the IRS will be able to
adopt regulations to determine whether your “home school” expenses
qualify for the tax credit. In order to do this, the IRS will have
oversight authority over your homeschool. The exact language in the
bill is as follows:

Definitions- For purposes of this section--

`(1) QUALIFIED EDUCATIONAL EXPENSES- The term `qualified educational
expenses' means cost of attendance in connection with the elementary
or secondary education of the student at a qualified educational
institution. Under regulations prescribed by the Secretary, rules
similar to the rules relating to cost of attendance (within the
meaning of section 472 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1087ll) (as in effect on the date of the enactment of this
paragraph) shall apply for purposes of the preceding sentence.

`(2) QUALIFIED EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION- The term `qualified
educational institution' means any educational institution
(including any private, parochial, religious, or home school)
organized for the purpose of providing elementary or secondary
education, or both.

Regulations- The Secretary shall prescribe regulations to carry out
this section, including regulations providing for claiming the
credit under this section on Form 1040EZ.'.


4.) HR 508: Sponsor: Rep McKeon, Howard P. (Buck) (introduced 2/2/2005) Cosponsors (1)
Committees: House Education and the Workforce
Latest Major Action: 3/24/2005 Referred to House subcommittee.
Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on 21st Century
Competitiveness.

Fed Up Higher Education Technical Amendments of 2005 - Amends the
Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to make various technical
revisions regarding access to student aid programs.

Revises the HEA general definition of institution of higher
education (IHE) to include one that admits as regular students those
who have been home-schooled (as well as high school graduates or
those with equivalency certificates), thus conforming it with
provisions that make such home-schooled students eligible for
student aid under HEA title IV.


5.) HR371: Sponsor: Sen Kennedy, Edward M. (introduced 2/14/2005) Cosponsors (7)
Committees: Senate Finance
Latest Major Action: 2/14/2005 Referred to Senate committee. Status:
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

College Quality, Affordability, and Diversity Improvement Act of
2005 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) and Internal
Revenue Code (IRC) to set forth provisions relating to: (1) access
to college for all; (2) teacher quality enhancement; (3) diversity,
retention, and enriched academics for matriculating students; (4)
opportunities at Hispanic-serving institutions; (5) historically
Black colleges and universities; and (6) recruitment of teachers to
teach at tribal colleges or universities.

Makes appropriations in a specified amount to carry out the HEA Pell
Grant program. Increases the maximum amount of an individual Pell
Grant.

Revises the IRC Hope Scholarship program.


6.) HR1021: Sponsor: Sen Enzi, Michael B. (introduced 5/12/2005) Cosponsors (1)
Committees: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Latest Major Action: 5/18/2005 Senate committee/subcommittee
actions. Status: Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions. Ordered to be reported with an amendment, in the nature of
a “substitute favorably”.

Workforce Investment Act Amendments of 2005 - Amends title I of the
Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) to revise requirements and
reauthorize appropriations for workforce investment systems for job
training and employment services, including the Job Corps.

Adult Education and Family Literacy Act Amendments of 2005 - Amends
title II of WIA, also known as the Adult Education and Family
Literacy Act, to revise requirements and reauthorize appropriations
for adult basic skills education, including adult education and
family literacy programs.

When a specific group is exempt from one law, a reviewing court may
determine that because Congress specifically exempted that group
from one law and not from other laws, that Congress must have meant
to include that group in the applicability of the other laws. Thus,
other laws that until now did not apply to homeschoolers, may be
deemed to apply to homeschoolers in the future.
SEC. 203. HOME SCHOOLS.

Section 204 of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (20
U.S.C. 9203) is amended to read as follows:
`SEC. 204. HOME SCHOOLS.

`Nothing in this title shall be construed to affect home schools,
whether a home school is treated as a home school or a private
school under State law, or to compel a parent engaged in home
schooling to participate in an English language acquisition program,
family literacy services, or adult education.'.

7.) S9: Sponsor: Sen Enzi, Michael B. (introduced 1/24/2005) Cosponsors (2)
Related Bills: S.1021
Latest Major Action: 1/24/2005 Referred to Senate committee. Status:
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. This is an
omnibus bill that incorporates many of the components of bills that
first were proposed in the house.

Lifetime of Education Opportunities Act of 2005 - Expresses the
sense of the Senate regarding: Head Start; elementary and secondary
education; career and technical education; mathematics and science
education; loan forgiveness for teachers; teacher preparation;
teacher incentives; teacher tax credits; higher education and
lifelong learning opportunities; minority serving institutions;
making education more affordable; and a refundable tax credit for
public or private school tuition and transportation costs.

Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to revise requirements and
reauthorize appropriations for teacher quality enhancement grants
for States and partnerships.

Makes permanent specified affordable education requirements under
the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.

Workforce Investment Act Amendments of 2005 - Amends title I of the
Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) to revise requirements and
reauthorize appropriations for workforce investment systems for job
training and employment services, including the Job Corps.

Adult Education and Family Literacy Act Amendments of 2005 - Amends
title II of WIA, also known as the Adult Education and Family
Literacy Act, to revise requirements and reauthorize appropriations
for adult basic skills education, including adult education and
family literacy programs.

Amends the Wagner-Peyser Act to: (1) require employment services
offices in each State to be co-located with comprehensive one-stop
centers under WIA-I; and (2) revise requirements and reauthorize
appropriations for the workforce and labor market information system
to be carried out through grants or cooperative agreements with the
States.

Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 2005 - Amends the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973 to revise requirements and reauthorize appropriations
for vocational rehabilitation services.

Amends the Helen Keller National Center Act to reauthorize
appropriations for such Act in general and for the Helen Keller
National Center Federal Endowment Fund.

Give Back to Parents Act of 2005 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code
to provide a refundable tax credit for education, tuition, and
transportation expenses of students assigned to schools identified
for school improvement.
SEC. 441C. HOME SCHOOLS.

Section 204 of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (20
U.S.C. 9203) is amended to read as follows:
`SEC. 204. HOME SCHOOLS.

`Nothing in this title shall be construed to affect home schools,
whether a home school is treated as a home school or a private
school under State law, or to compel a parent engaged in home
schooling to participate in an English literacy program, family
literacy services, or adult education.'.

Full details of all of these bills can be found at:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/search.html