Increase in Compulsory Attendance Age
    With the enactment of Assembly Bill 2977-B on June 17, 1999, New York has increased its compulsory school age from 16 to “seventeen years of age or such older age as determined by the school district.” The language of the compulsory attendance statute requires the child to remain in attendance until the last day of the session in the school year in which the child becomes 17 years of age or any older age specified by the local school district. Since the compulsory attendance law only applies to minors, local school districts may not increase the age beyond 18.
    Because of the change in the law, students in a home instruction program will continue to be subject to the regulatory requirements of Section 100.10 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education for at least one year longer than is now required. Local school districts may elect to extend the time for compliance even longer. An exception to the compulsory attendance requirements continues to exist for students who have completed a four-year high school course of study, even though they may be less than 17 years old or younger than the compulsory attendance age adopted by their local school district. In other words, if a student has completed high school, that student is no longer subject to the compulsory attendance age no matter what it may be.
    This legislation is the most liberal expansion of a compulsory school attendance law in the nation in recent history. New York now becomes the only state in the nation authorizing local school districts to require school attendance beyond the ages designated by the legislature.
    Home School Legal Defense Association and New York’s largest statewide support group, Loving Education At Home (LEAH), monitored the progress of this legislation since it was introduced this past January. During discussions with those closely associated with the legislation in Albany, we were given the impression that the bill might be amended to provide a complete exemption from compulsory attendance for parents conducting home instruction programs. Several versions of proposed amendments were offered for consideration, but none of them were adopted before the legislature began to move quickly to vote on this bill. It passed the assembly on June 16, 1999, and then passed the senate the next day.
    The silver lining to this legislation is that it does not go into effect until July 1, 2000.