Tennessee
Change in Compulsory Attendance Law
Various Legislative Measures Considered
Senate Bill 2219 and House Bill 2028 would permit parents who are certified teachers to begin home schooling at any time during the school year by giving notice to the local superintendent. Under current law, parents whose home school is not associated with a church-related school must provide notice to the local superintendent by September 1. These bills are a step in the right direction, but there is no reason to distinguish between parents who are certified teachers and those who are not certified as it relates to the time for beginning a home school. Home School Legal Defense Association believes that all parents should have the right to begin home schooling at any time during the school year. S.B. 2219 is sponsored by Senator Jeff Miller (R-9), and H.B. 2028 is sponsored by Representative Dewayne Bunch (R-24). Home schooling families are encouraged to ask these sponsors to expand to all parents the right to begin home schooling at any time during the school year.
Two other bills—H.B. 3149 and S.B. 2425—are truancy bills which would authorize attendance officers, sheriffs, and police to take into custody school-age children found in public during “school hours” without valid excuse and unaccompanied by a parent or other relative over 18. This legislation fails to take into account that private, church-related, and home schools may have school hours different from public schools. Because passage of these bills would likely result in harassment of home school students, HSLDA opposes this legislation. H.B. 3149 is sponsored by Representative Ulysses Jones (D-98). S.B. 2425 is sponsored by Senator Roscoe Dixon (D-33). Home schooling families should contact their state legislators and express their opposition to these proposals.
House Bill 1065, introduced by Representative Tommie Brown (D-28), and Senate Bill 536, introduced by Senator Ward Crutchfield (D-10), would enact the Truancy Prevention Act. These bills would authorize the local superintendent or his designee to issue a truancy citation and to require a meeting with the superintendent. They would also authorize the superintendent or his designee to file a truancy petition in court. Additionally, these bills authorize the superintendent or his designee to go to a child’s home to ascertain why the child has been absent from public school.
Given the potential for the abuse of power by school officials if this legislation is enacted, HSLDA believes it should be opposed. Parents who decide to home school after enrolling their children in public school often have difficulty in making the transition, because the public school considers the student truant from public school for various reasons. HSLDA sees this bill as another saber for the school officials to rattle in discouraging or intimidating parents who have decided to home school. — Dewitt T. Black
