Mandated Behavioral Assessments for Connecticut Students? Homeschoolers Included?

CT Senator Toni Harp introduces legislation for ALL children to undergo behavioral assessments.  Home schoolers included.

Do you think you can keep your children from government mandates if you home school?  It is increasingly doubtful you can shield your children from having to submit to governmental data mining of their personal information, even if you don't have your child enrolled in public education.  Government agencies want educational data as well as wanting to require information on your child's behavioral health.  Watch out for this type of legislation in your state.

From the Family Institute of Connecticut:

**************************************************************

Stop New Mandate Attacking Parental Rights

Stop S.B. 374, Mandated Assessments of Children
In all the years we have been fighting for pro-family values at the state Capitol, we have never seen as invasive a bill as S.B. 374, An Act Requiring Behavioral Health Assessments for Children. This bill would mandate that public school children in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 and home-schooled children at ages 12, 14 and 17 be given behavioral health assessments, whether or not parents approve.
S.B. 374 will have a public hearing on Friday, March 8th at 11:00 A.M. at Wesleyan University. We need parents to be prepared, to attend the hearing and to help defeat this bill.
No one has the right to force children to have psychological evaluations that are against the will of their parents and possibly unnecessary. This bill may violate Connecticut's HIPAA privacy law. What does the government intend to do with these assessments? If a child gets a "bad" assessment, the state is empowered to do...what, exactly? What will the test be? How will it be administered? These and other questions remain unanswered by S.B. 374.
S.B. 374 is a significant attack on homeschooling and public school families, interference by the government in compelling the upbringing of a child, something the State Board of Education does not have the authority to do. 
Here are four ways you can help FIC Action stop the Mandated Assessments Bill and protect our parental rights:

1) Use our Grassroots Action Center to send an e-mail directly to your state senator and state representative by clicking on the link at the bottom of this message (then click "take action" at the bottom of the next screen). We have provided some basic points, but please either put the message in your own words or add a brief introduction and conclusion!  Personalized and polite messages have a much greater impact. Let our legislators know that you oppose any bill that forces children to be "assessed" without their parents' permission.

 

2) Attend the public hearing and testify against S.B. 374. The Public Health Committee will hold a public hearing on Friday, March 8, 2013 at 11:00 A.M. at Beckham Hall, Wesleyan University, 55 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown. The Committee is accepting electronic testimony via email at phc.testimony@cga.ct.gov. Please submit electronic testimony no later than 5:00 P.M. on Thursday, March 7, 2013. If you are unable to submit electronic testimony, please submit 10 copies of written testimony at the time of sign-up. Sign-up for the hearing will begin at 9:00 A.M. on the Second Floor of Beckham Hall. The first hour of the hearing is reserved for Legislators, Constitutional Officers, State Agency Heads and Chief Elected Municipal Officials. Speakers will be limited to three minutes of testimony. 

 

3) Click here to donate to the Family Institute of Connecticut Action. FIC Action, the lobbying arm of Connecticut's pro-family movement, is your eyes and ears at the state Capitol. Your support allows us to continue to be your voice for faith and family.

 

4) Forward this message to every like-minded state resident you know and ask them to do likewise. We need as much support as possible to protect our children from unwanted state-mandated "assessments." 

 

Thank you for making your voice heard in the fight to protect parental rights in Connecticut. 

 

***********************************************

The sponsor of the bill is Sen. Toni Nathaniel Harp, 10th Dist:

 

Senator Harp said she is particularly eager to follow-up on one of President Obama’s recommendations with regard to enhanced delivery of mental health services: renewed focus on adolescents and providing for them access to the specific resources they need.

“So much of the gun violence we have witnessed is committed by troubled young people—we really must redouble our efforts to help adolescents with their unique developmental issues,” Senator Harp said. “Researchers are consistently learning more about brain development and the challenges some young adults face. We have to be sure all that new information becomes widely available so it can be useful.”