KANSAS
Compulsory Education Restrictions Increased
Kansas House Bill 38 modifies last year's legislation which raised the compulsory age attendance to 18, subject to parental approval. This year's bill forces the child to stay in school until the child and parent attend a "counseling session conducted by the school during which a disclaimer to encourage the child to remain in school or to pursue educational alternatives is presented and signed by the child and the parent." It would seem that last year's legislation was the top of a slippery slope. Home schoolers in other states will learn from Kansas' bitter experience with this kind of legislation. (See Florida article, page 14.)
Brown County has filed truancy prosecutions against two new home schoolers. These charges still have not been resolved as this issue goes to press. The superintendent of the Hiawatha School District has been causing distress for home schoolers all year long, but these are the first Hiawatha families to be prosecuted. Other counties have sent threatening letters to home schoolers, suggesting that every home schooler will be referred to the prosecutor or Social and Rehabilitative Services. This flurry of prosecution seems to have been prompted by an article in the December 1996 Kansas Association of School Boards' journal which urged all districts to refer every home schooler to the prosecutor. We cannot encourage Kansas families strongly enough to make sure that they are prepared for potential legal problems. HSLDA has been quite successful in getting prosecutors to dismiss such charges, but no family should have to endure this kind of harassment.
