National Home Education Legal Defense, LLC

Executive Director: Attorney Deborah G. Stevenson

Service Description: NHELD, LLC is an acronym for National Home Education Legal Defense, a national organization open to all who wish to join, that seeks to protect and defend the rights of families who wish to educate in freedom.

Mission Statement:

NHELD, LLC's Goals

Empowerment of Individuals: All individuals in this country, a country of the people, by the people, and for the people, should always be empowered. Too often today individuals do not feel empowered but feel overwhelmed by the dictates of "the government". We, the people, form the basis of that government. It is time to remind those whom we have elected that they work for us. It is time to remind them that the United States Constitution is still in existence and that they all have taken an oath to uphold it, not to disregard it. How can individuals become empowered? They can become empowered with knowledge, with information; with accurate facts about what the law actually says and accurate facts about what those in government propose to change the law, anyone can become empowered to act to retain freedom.

Unity of Purpose: One individual acting to retain freedom faces a daunting task. Many individuals acting to retain freedom face an achievable task, a task that can and must be accomplished.

Freedom to Educate: Parents educate their children for a variety of reasons in a variety of ways. However, there is one thing that is crucial for all parents, the need to be free so that they are able to educate in the manner in which they choose in the best interest of their children. Together, we can and must retain this freedom; without freedom, there is only one choice: government schooling. That is not acceptable.

Membership Fee: The full subscription fee is just $50.00 per year per family/individual and entitles you to all of NHELD, LLC's services. Discounts on NHELD booklets, materials, merchandise, and programs.

Area Served: National

Services Offered: From NHELD's website (http://www.nheld.com/index.htm) : What does NHELD, LLC have to offer? NHELD, LLC provides both information and assistance to its members. NHELD, LLC believes, first and foremost, in empowering individuals to act in accordance with their conscience. NHELD, LLC does not believe in blindly following the word of anyone. NHELD, LLC also does not believe in just directing families to act in unison on the basis of an opinion that NHELD, LLC has formed on its own. NHELD, LLC believes in an informed, empowered citizenry, who is able to fight for freedom effectively when necessary. Therefore, NHELD, LLC provides the services of: 1. Notifying its members of any proposed legislation on the federal level, and on the state level (where possible) that will affect their right to educate in freedom; 2. Informing individuals about where the entire proposed legislation may be located, so that they may find and read for themselves the text of the legislation itself; 3. Advising individuals not to take the word of anyone else about what that legislation says, but to read the text for themselves in order to formulate their own opinion about the effect the legislation will have, and 4. Suggesting courses of action that individuals may wish to take. NHELD, LLC also acts with and on behalf of its members to resolve conficts with government officials. In many cases, NHELD, LLC members who encounter a government official who improperly attempts to interfere with the right of parents to instruct their children request a letter from NHELD, LLC to be written to that official. While there is no guarantee that the official will cease and desist, a request to do so from a well known organization with national clout may be helpful. Should this prove ineffective, NHELD, LLC will design a plan of action, personalized to each situation, for a family to undertake in it's conflict with the school system or other government officials. On occasion, parents must take on larger battles with government officials to prevent newly proposed legislation that will regulate parents who instruct their children. In these cases, NHELD, LLC will design a plan of action for support groups or state organizations to take aimed at defeating such regulation. Upon request, NHELD, LLC will also work with other attorneys in your state to best formulate a strategic plan. Lastly, NHELD, LLC members have the knowledge that they are assisting to form a joint venture designed to promote and protect individual freedom for themselves, their children, their grandchildren, and all who come thereafter.

Events: Please visit our website for upcoming events http://nheld.com/news.htm

Conferences/Speakers: Please visit our website for upcoming conferences http://nheld.com/news.htm For a video of Deborah Stevenson speaking about the Parental Rights Amendment go to this web page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmdmEjuZkiQ For audio of the entire speech - http://www.nheld.com/DebStevensonNHLibertyForum2009.mp4

Support Groups: Join NHELD as an individual or ask us how to start a State chapter. We welcome your ideas and comments

History: Executive Director Deborah Stevenson became involved in legal work as a result of homeschooling her children. She became involved in protecting her right to homeschool as a parent before she began attending law school. She homeschooled, as well as drove her children to college, where they took courses during the day, and went to law school at night. She currently practices Education law and Appellate law privately in addition to working as Executive Director of NHELD, LLC. Ms. Stevenson formed Connecticut Citizens to Uphold the Right to Educate (C.U.R.E.) in 1989 in order to assist all parents in the state to retain their right to instruct their children at home without government interference. Because she believed in the tenth amendment's provision that all powers not specifically granted to the federal government belong to the states and to the people, C.U.R.E. remained a state organization protecting the rights of citizens in the state. It was not until 2003, when Deborah realized that there was a continuing effort by another organization to actively promote the adoption of federal regulation of homeschooling, that she decided to form National Home Education Legal Defense. A national organization was necessary in order to inform and assist parents in all states in halting federal regulation and retaining authority in the states to instruct their children in freedom.

Detailed Organization Information:

NHELD is an acronym for National Home Education Legal Defense.

NHELD was formed in 2003 as an outgrowth of Connecticut’s Citizens to Uphold the Right to Educate, or CT’s C.U.R.E.
The purpose of NHELD is to provide a national voice for certain ideals in order to retain the right of parents in each state to be able to instruct their children free from government interference.

NHELD believes in:

1. The United States Constitution and all of its amendments. In particular, NHELD believes in the continued viability of the tenth amendment as it pertains to the ability of parents to retain their right to instruct their children in freedom. The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “[t]he powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The power to regulate the education of children is not a power delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States. Therefore, the power to regulate the education of children is reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

2. The United States Constitution as a document limiting the power of the federal government. Because the Constitution does not delegate to the United States the power to regulate education, Congress should halt its unconstitutional practice of adopting laws that affect the right of parents to instruct their own children, and should repeal all laws already adopted that affect that right. NHELD believes that unconstitutionally ceding power to the federal government to adopt any law regarding the ability of parents to educate their children invites the possibility that a court may rule that the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution effectively allows the federal law to supersede state law, thereby voiding the state law under which parents currently enjoy freedom to instruct their own children. NHELD believes, for this reason, that parents should not accept any federal funding or benefits so that the federal government will have no legal reason to claim any authority to regulate the education of children by their parents.

3. The ability of parents to retain freedom to instruct their children in the manner in which they choose. NHELD believes that, constitutionally, the power to educate children is reserved to the states and to the people. NHELD believes that, ideally, the power to educate children should be a power left solely to the people without government interference. That is, NHELD believes in sovereign parental instruction. Because the constitution provides that the power to educate children also remains with the states, NHELD also believes that if the people in a state, through their legislature, deem regulation of education acceptable, any such regulation remains a power left to the states, not to the federal government.

4. The Constitution of each state. Each state has its own unique Constitution. That Constitution is the ultimate legal authority for all state powers. Because the power to regulate the education of children is a power left to the states,
the states’ Constitutions should be read, understood, and abided by in all decisions in the state regarding the regulation of education.

5. The statutes of each state. Because the power to regulate the education of children is a power left to the states, the states implement that power through statutes duly adopted by the state’s legislature, a body duly elected to its position by the people. The ultimate power to regulate rests with the people, who are free to seek changes in the law from their
elected legislators, or, who are free to work for the defeat of legislators opposed to those changes and for the election of legislators favoring those changes. NHELD believes that only the people in each state are empowered to determine for
themselves how parental instruction is to take place in each state.

6. The power of the people. NHELD believes in the ideals as expressed by our founding fathers. NHELD believes that ours is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. . NHELD believes in the power of the people to legally defend the rights that they have to instruct their children in freedom. NHELD was formed as one means for the people to work together for a common goal: freedom for parents to instruct their children in the manner that they choose. NHELD will work in whatever way possible to assist in achieving this goal.

7. Fostering the empowerment of the people. NHELD believes in fostering the empowerment of parents in the knowledge that they can and should repeal any laws that intrude on their ability to instruct their children freely. NHELD believes in providing training, instructional materials, and information to parents as to how to retain their right to educate their children in freedom without the interference of local, state and federal government. NHELD believes in assisting parents to legally defend themselves from unwanted interference by the state and federal government. NHELD believes in developing and maintaining a long standing network that will enable future generations to maintain their individual right to instruct children in freedom. NHELD believes in the unity of purpose and in the promotion of one clearly articulated goal:
freedom for parental instruction.

Slogan: Knowledge through Freedom - Freedom through Knowledge