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Compulsory attendance bill introduced

The Louisiana legislature got off to a fast start this year by introducing a bill that would lower the age a child must be in school from 7 to 5. If passed, this bill would require homeschool parents to file as a home-based private school or in a home study approval program two years earlier than they are presently required to.

Home School Legal Defense Association opposes expanding the compulsory attendance age as an infringement of parents' constitutional right to direct their children's education and upbringing. Some children are simply not ready for school at 5 or 6. (Studies have shown that once children reach about the 3rd grade, there is no discernible difference between those who have started formal schooling at 5 and those who have started later.) We believe that parents are in the best position to determine when a child should begin school.

Additionally, lowering the compulsory attendance age would place a greater burden on taxpayers to pay for the teachers and larger schools needed to accommodate the influx of children into the public school system.

For more information on compulsory attendance, please see our memorandum at http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=2286.