Homeschool New York Legislative Day 2023

The Homeschool Family - Salt & Light to Your Community and Beyond!


OUR PURPOSE is to have an impactful and winsome voice in the legislative and regulatory processes here in New York by sharing with our elected and appointed officials the goals, heart, and passion of New York's home educators in support of home-based education and parental rights.  

One of the ways that we fulfill this purpose is through our Legislative Day, giving home educators from across New York State an opportunity to share their own experiences and convictions with their elected officials in Albany.  This will be an in-person event on Tuesday, May 9th from 8:30 am to 4 pm, with a key training event the evening before for all those who can come early.  There is also a Teen program, a joint effort of HSLDA's Generation Joshua and our own veteran young adults, see below for more info!

This year there are already two bills we are working hard to advance!  One is the Sports Bill (A1072 and S1010), which will allow home school students to participate on high school sports teams.  The other is the Letter of Substantial Equivalence Bill, which will require District Superintendents to write the Letter when students have followed the Home Instruction Regulations.  By May there might be other bills we are supporting, and they may also be bills we are opposing!  So your presence is needed both for offense and defense!

We are so excited that our special guest this year will be Zan Tyler! (ZanTyler.com) Zan’s homeschool journey began in 1984 when homeschooling was illegal. The State Superintendent of Education threatened Zan with jail for not sending her children to the local public school. For the next eight years, she and other homeschool families battled for homeschool freedom and the establishment of landmark homeschool legislation in South Carolina. "My story is about the greatness and faithfulness of the Lord and how He uses ordinary people to accomplish His extraordinary plans." Zan will be speaking both Monday evening and on Tuesday.

We are also very pleased to have Generation Joshua (GenerationJoshua.org) with us again to co-host our Teen event with us! The Vision of Generation Joshua is to assist parents to raise up the next generation of Christian leaders and citizens, equipped to positively influence the political processes of today and tomorrow.  Their team will engage our teens, showing them how they can be influencers in our legislative process, and provide support as the teens visit the legislative offices.

On Tuesday morning we will meet together at 8:30 in the Well of the Legislative Office Building in the Capitol.  After a time of worship, prayer, training and encouragement, families will spend the rest of the day attending meetings scheduled for you with your senator and your assembly representative, as well as additional meetings with key Senate and Assembly Committee members.  These meetings will be facilitated by a Board member of Homeschool New York (so you won't be alone!), and will provide an opportunity for you to advocate for homeschooling in general as well as specific legislation. 

Teen Program - Each year at Legislative Day, our teens take up the challenge of visiting every Senator and Assembly Representative's office to introduce themselves as home school students, deliver our position papers, and review them with as many elected officials and their staff as possible!  Of course, before going out on this mission, there will be a time of training and preparation both Monday evening and Tuesday morning! Using the combined talents of Generation Joshua and Homeschool New York's own veteran young adults, the teens will review the position papers, practice speaking about them, and divide up in teams (pairing teens who are new to the program with teens that are more experienced).  Later in the day they will regroup and debrief, sharing what they have learned and discussing strategies for follow up.

Monday Evening - if you can come the night before, we have rooms reserved at the Albany Holiday (see details below).  After sharing a light dinner together, the teens and their families will split up.  The teens will have a workshop, training and fellowship time with Generation Joshua and the Homeschool New York L&R Team. The families will have a series of training and encouragement sessions with  Zan, TJ Schmidt (HSLDA staff attorney for NY - TJ Schmidt Bio), and the Homeschool New York L&R Team.  For both groups, we want to take advantage of this time to help you better understand the legislative process here in NY and the bills we support (and oppose) and why.  More importantly, we want to help understand the history of our movement, where we stand today, and what the future may hold!  And foundationally, we want you to understand and embrace a Biblical model of engaging our government and culture to both enhance homeschool freedom and advance the Gospel!  

We are homeschoolers, so of course this is a family - friendly event!  We encourage you to have your children present during the meetings, and your teens will benefit from participating in the training and orientation sessions.  Every Individual Home Instruction Programs (IHIP) has a section for Citizenship, participating in this event together with your children is a great way to accomplish that!

Homeschool New York / NYS LEAH is a Christian organization.  Our Christian faith directs our Legislative and Public Policy efforts to protect and expand the freedom of all parents to home educate their children, regardless of whether they are our members or not.  We seek to stand together with all of New York's homeschoolers in the public square to advocate together for our rights.  Are you ready? The sooner you register, the sooner we can start scheduling meetings with your Senator and Assembly Representative.  If you register after April 14th, we will still love to have you, but we won't have enough time to setup meetings with your Senator and Assembly Representative. 


Schedule (subject to change)

Monday Evening, May 8th at the Holiday Inn (Downtown Albany)

5:30 pm Registration Opens

6:00 pm Pizza Dinner

6:30 pm Keynote Address from Zan Tyler

7:15 pm - 10:00 pm Teen Track

7:15 pm - 9:00 pm Parents and Younger Children Track


Tuesday, May 9th at The Well in the Legislative Office Building

8:30 am Registration Opens, Continental Breakfast available

8:45 am Welcome and Greetings

8:50 am Worship

9:00 am Keynote Address #2 from Zan Tyler

9:30 am Teen Track begins in Conference Room

9:30 am TJ Schmidt, HSLDA

9:35 am Review of Bills, Position Papers, and preparation for meetings

9:50 am Head to meetings!

10:00 am - 2:00 pm Meetings with Legislators

1:00 pm Tour of the Capital

3:30 pm Closing (subject to change)

  • This is per family, to help cover a portion of the overall costs of this event. If you are interested in helping more, please use the donation section below

If you would like to make an additional donation to support this year's Legislative Day, please do so below!

$
$10.00
$10.00

On Monday evening we will be meeting at the Holiday Inn Express - Downtown (300 Broadway, Albany, NY)

Here is the link to Reserve a room (please note, the room options are 1 King bed or 2 Queens, not 1 Queen as listed)

Do you have a homeschool senior or recent graduate who might be willing to speak for a few minutes during one of the meetings with a legislator? This would be an opportunity to share with the legislator what they have accomplished so far and what their future plans are.

Family Information

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In order to maximize your impact during this Legislative Day, we need to know who your Assembly and Senate representatives are.  Please use these links if you need them, and enter the information below.  Please don't enter all in caps!

Find My Senator

Find My Assembly Rep


Your current total for 1 registrant is $11.48 (Show Summary)

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