TENNESSEE
New Compulsory Attendance Age
On June 5, 1997, Governor Don Sundquist signed into law Senate Bill 901 which lowers the compulsory attendance age in Tennessee from 7 to 6. This law goes into effect immediately and will apply to all children who are 6 years old at the beginning of the 1997-98 school year. Generally speaking, the school year commences on the Tuesday following Labor Day.
The new law provides an exception for children age 6 or younger and whose parent or guardian has filed a notice of intent to conduct a home school with the local public school superintendent or with the superintendent of a church-related school. From a practical standpoint, this simply means that children who are 6 years old must comply with the home school law a year earlier than under the old law.
Another provision of the new law permits a parent who believes his child is not ready to attend school as a 6-year-old to make application to the principal of the public school which the child would attend, seeking a one semester or one year deferral in required attendance. A homeschooling parent obtaining such a deferral would not have to comply with the home school law during the time of the deferral.
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