Dear Families,

As expected, the House Education Committee approved House Bill 446 today with several new provisions added to her amendment. While we would have certainly preferred for Rep. Karen Beyer's anti-cyber school legislation to die quietly in the education committee, there are still several more house committees it must go through before it even can be debated on the floor.

If anything, today's events clearly define our mission as a coalition.  We need to continue to show our legislators just how important our schools are to our children and why we believe cyber schools give them the best opportunity at a public education.  We can do this through phone calls, letters, e-mails and even inviting our legislators into our homes to see our cyber schools in action.

Today's meeting demonstrated once again that there are powerful interests who want to limit school choice by eroding the ability of our public cyber schools to operate and educate our children.

Make no mistake, if the Beyer bill ever passes, it will ultimately force our schools to close.  Not only does it slash funding significantly, but it also places a cap on enrollment.   Moreover, it denies cyber school teachers accreditation, which during the meeting, one representative called "discriminatory" because it would in essence create "second-class" teachers.

We will get the official copy of the roll call vote and send it out in an additional alert.  We will also post it on our web site.   We need to contact those legislators on the committee who need a better understanding of our public cyber schools.

Now more than ever, we need to continue to educate legislators, the media and the general public.  We need to tell them our stories. You can share your story with us and we will post it on our web site.  Send your stories to info@pacyberfamilies.org.  Every story is important, including yours.  We also need to invite our representatives into our homes. They need to see for themselves the enriching education our children are receiving.  It really does make a difference for them to see our schools in action.

Your legislators need to hear from you!  If we stay united and vigilant, we can stop this destructive piece of legislation from ever reaching the House floor.

Stay energized!

Jenny Bradmon, president