Battles over Compulsory Attendance Ages and State Testing
    Member families in the Constitution State are on their guard this spring following two legislative alerts from Home School Legal Defense Association, urging them to contact their state legislators to express their opposition to a number of threatening initiatives.
    The Connecticut General Assembly has considered no less than nine bills which would make unfavorable changes to the compulsory attendance ages for children. All but two of these bills, House Bills 5849 and 5016, are effectively dead as the result of opposition. H.B. 5849, introduced by Representatives Robert Ward (R-86), Brian Flaherty (R-68), Lawrence Cafero (R-142), and Richard Belden (R-113), has been portrayed as legislation authorizing a parent to have control over the actions of a child until the age of 18, but this is not entirely accurate. This bill would raise the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18 but would permit a child to drop out of school after age 16 if the parent consented. This legislation is clearly a step in the wrong direction and will likely lead to a future change eliminating the right of a parent to consent to a child leaving school before age 18. The second bill, H.B. 5016, introduced by Representative Kenneth Green (D-1), is another effort to increase the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18.
    On another front, Senate Bill 517, introduced by Senator Gary LeBeau (D-3), would have required all home school students to take the state mastery test. This would have been the first law enacted in Connecticut specifically regulating home education. However, the bill is dead, due largely to the opposition of home schooling parents who expressed their views to their state senators.