To get the exemption form,
The "exemption form", just so people know, is the form you turn in to claim the exemption.
parents must first submit a written form to State Health Department in Austin
By "first", they mean "only", because this is the only step needed to get the exemption form. "first" implies that there are more steps, but there are not. Unless you count "addressing the envelope", "put on a stamp", "put in the mailbox" as separate steps. Except that you don't actually HAVE to submit a written form, you can do this step online, at the easy-to-find web link. Takes 30 seconds to fill out the form for a family of 2 and send it off. Wow -- 30 seconds, that's really hard.
And who cares where the state agency is? it's not like you have to go their in person -- you are just sending a letter, or filling out an online form.
which forces the disclosure of the childs full name, birthdate, and mailing address.
In other words, they ask for the most basic information needed to identify the children for which you want an exemption. Oh, and your mailing address so they can MAIL YOU BACK THE FORM YOU ARE REQUESTING. They make it sound like most parents have no idea what their child's middle name is, or that it is some great violation of privacy to give the birth date.
Note that all this information is given to your local school system as part of registration.
The Health Department takes those written requests and creates yet another form on which they print the childs same personal information that the parent had to send to health department,
In other words, the state then fills out the entire form for you with all the correct information, so you don't have to worry about that part. Since the form goes into records at the school, this is helpful, so the parents don't have to type information onto a form. I have no idea why they list this as part of what makes it complicated.
and the Health Department sometimes takes weeks to mail out these forms inevitably disrupting the childs school attendance.
Only if the health department is failing to meet the statutory deadlines, AND the parents waited until the last minute to start the process. Interestingly, a little later they are going to complain about how "quick" the process is.
The Health Department only sends the forms by U.S. mail
As opposed to pony express? How else would you get a form? It's the actual form you turn in, they can't really e-mail it to you (and if they did, I'm sure the authors would scream about how hard it is to get their printer to work).
and once the parent receives the forms, they must be notarized within 90 days of submitting them
See, here's where they complained that the process was too quick. BTW, that's 3 months. So, the parent asks for the form, gets the form, waits until 3 months before school starts, then gets the form notarized. That is so complicated that the doctors couldn't figure it out?
and then repeatedly resubmitted
In other words, "resubmitted". You don't "repeatedly resubmit", you "resubmit". And you can ask for up to 5 forms in your request, so you can have a stack of them ready to go. Just don't sign them until you need them.
every 2 years
Yes, you have to do this once for each 2 years of your life. Which is half as often as you have to do ALL the other paperwork the school require, all of which are harder to fill out than this form.
even though there is no expiration set in statute.
This has nothing to do with "how hard" it is, But here is the Texas Administrative Code for exemptions: Texas Administrative Code RULE §97.62 Exclusions from Compliance:
To claim an exclusion for reasons of conscience, including a religious belief, a signed affidavit must be presented by the child's parent or legal guardian, stating that the child's parent or legal guardian declines vaccinations for reasons of conscience, including because of the person's religious beliefs. The affidavit will be valid for a two-year period.
Because the Health Department further eroded parental rights by publishing more rules getting rid of provisional enrolment for exemptions, (families used to have 30 days at the beginning of school to get their paperwork in), now schools participate in aggressive misleading education campaigns touting no shots no school while not informing families of the exemption or the instructions how to obtain it.
In other words, Texas removed the 30-day exemption period, and they remind parents that there is no longer a grace period, so the kids don't get sent home from school for multiple days at the beginning of the school year. Note that this ALSO has nothing to do with "how hard" it is to get the exemption.
Sorry. The simple fact is that getting the exemption is EASIER than actually getting vaccinated.
GETTING VACCINATED FOR SCHOOL
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So you support PerryCARE.
You used to support RomneyCARE.
Do you still?