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February 19, 2007
Senate Bill 18-FN: Raising the Compulsory Attendance Age from 16 to 18 Sponsors: Summary: Status:
HSLDA's Position: This is another attempt to impose increasing government control over children and to further restrict parents’ rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children. These are rights that have been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court as fundamental constitutional rights. This bill subjects homeschooling (and all) students to compulsory attendance laws for two more years. Many homeschool families graduate their children from homeschool programs to enroll them in college or apprenticeship programs. Today, parents have the authority to determine whether their children continue in formal secondary education after the age of 16—this right must be preserved. In fact, current law already requires parental approval prior to a student discontinuing high school. The proposed law takes away a parent’s right to approve their children’s alternative educational plans and requires that a parent obtain approval from the local school district superintendent. Action Requested: Background: 1. Statistics show that raising the compulsory attendance age will not reduce the dropout rate. In fact, the two states with the highest high school completion rates, Maryland at 94.5% and North Dakota at 94.7%, compel attendance only to age 16. The state with the lowest completion rate (Oregon: 75.4%) compels attendance to age 18. (Figures are three year averages, 1996 through 1998.) 2. Twenty-nine states require attendance only to age 16. Older children unwilling to learn can cause classroom disruptions and even violence, making learning harder for their classmates who truly want to learn. 3. Even with the exemption language, passing this bill would restrict parents’ freedom to decide if their 16-year-old is ready for college or the workforce. (Some 16-year-olds who are not academically inclined benefit more from valuable work experience than from being forced to sit in a classroom.) 4. Another significant impact of expanding the compulsory attendance age is an inevitable tax burden to pay for more classroom space and teachers to accommodate the additional students compelled to attend public schools. When California raised the age of compulsory attendance, unwilling students were so disruptive that new schools had to be built just to handle them and their behavior problems, all at the expense of the taxpayer. 5. A study by Cornell University on raising the age of compulsory attendance found that there was no correlation between passing a law to raise the age of compulsory attendance and high school completion rates. The study shows that specific programs targeted at at risk youth can help improve completion rates, but a law raising the age of attendance does not. To read the report click here.
February-2-2007—Calls Needed To Stop Compulsory Attendance Age Increase to 18 February-12-2007—New Hampshire—Calls Needed to Stop Expanding State Control Over Homeschools March-20-2007—New Hampshire—Calls Needed to Stop Expansion of State Control Over Homeschools! April-4-2007—New Hampshire—Calls Needed to Stop Expansion of State Control Over Homeschools! April-17-2007—New Hampshire—More Calls Needed to Resist State Control Over Homeschools! May-14-2007—New Hampshire—More Calls Needed to Resist State Control Over Homeschools! May-23-2007—New Hampshire—More Calls Needed to Defend Parents from Governmental Intrusion June-5-2007—New Hampshire—Final Vote is Tomorrow on S.B. 18 June-8-2007—New Hampshire—Clarifying S.B. 18 June-11-2007—New Hampshire—S.B.18 Update--Not Effective Until July 1, 2009 |
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