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| Date: From: Subject: | 1/21/2003 5:08:04 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Montana--Calls Needed to Defeat Bill Expanding Government's Control Over Children |
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- January 21, 2003 Dear HSLDA Members and Friends, Tomorrow, January 22, 2003, the House Education Committee of the Montana Legislature will conduct a hearing on House Bill 274 which would raise the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18. This legislative proposal exempts students who have completed the 12th grade or have passed the GED examination. The hearing will take place in Room 137 of the Capitol in Helena at 3:00 p.m. We oppose all attempts to expand the compulsory attendance age, since it would increase the amount of time the state has jurisdiction over our children. This bill would potentially give public school officials two more years to harass or investigate Montana homeschools. House Bill 274 is sponsored by Representative Carol C. Juneau (D) HD 85. REQUESTED ACTION (1) Please attend the hearing of the House Education Committee on Wednesday afternoon to demonstrate your opposition to House Bill 274. (2) Please immediately call and email the members of the House Education Committee (listed below) and your own state representative with this message: "Please vote against House Bill 274 which would raise the age of compulsory school attendance. Expanding compulsory attendance would only waste taxpayers' money, force unwilling, disruptive students into the classroom, and take away the right of parents to decide whether their 16 year old is ready for valuable work experience or college." House Education Committee: - Rep. Joan Andersen (R) HD 23, Chairman RR 1 BOX 1012 FROMBERG, MT 59029-9701 Home: (406) 668-7405 JOANV@WTP.NET - Rep. Larry R. Lehman (R) HD 87, Majority Vice Chairman PO BOX 184 POWER, MT 59468-0184 Home: (406) 463-2381 LRLPOWER@3RIVERS.NET - Rep. Kathleen Galvin-Halcro (D) HD 48, Minority Vice Chairman 101 RIVERVIEW DR E GREAT FALLS, MT 59404-1547 Home: (406) 452-3356 KGALVINHALCRO2@AOL.COM - Rep. Norman Ballantyne (D) HD 86 PO BOX 293 VALIER, MT 59486-0293 Home: (406) 279-3320 Bus: (406) 279-3613 MRB@3RIVERS.NET - Rep. Norma Bixby (D) HD 5 PO BOX 1165 LAME DEER, MT 59043-1165 Home: (406) 477-6602 Bus: (406) 477-6602 NORMA@RANGEWEB.NET - Rep. Gary Branae (D) HD 17 415 YELLOWSTONE AVE BILLINGS, MT 59101-1730 Home: (406) 245-2127 Bus: (406) 252-4171 BRANAE@EARTHLINK.NET - Rep. Nancy Rice Fritz (D) HD 69 1817 DANIEL DR MISSOULA, MT 59802-4926 Home: (406) 549-6712 RICEFRITZ@MONTANA.COM - Rep. Carol Gibson (D) HD 20 2518 BROADWATER AVENUE BILLINGS, MT 59102-4608 Home: (406) 656-0384 JCGIBSON@IMT.NET - Rep. Verdell Jackson (R) HD 79 555 WAGNER LN KALISPELL, MT 59901-8079 Home: (406) 756-8344 VJACK@CENTURYTEL.NET - Rep. Bob Lake (R) HD 60 PO BOX 2096 HAMILTON, MT 59840-2096 Home: (406) 363-4091 LAKEMILL@MONTANA.COM - Rep. Joe McKenney (R) HD 49 1140 18TH AVE SW GREAT FALLS, MT 59404-3426 Home: (406) 452-0326 Bus: (406)452-2051 JOEM@MONTANA.COM - Rep. Clarice Schrumpf (R) HD 12 1317 YELLOWSTONE AVE BILLINGS, MT 59102-5337 Home: (406)259-9752 CLARICE@WTP.NET - Rep. Pat Wagman (R) HD 26 202 SOUTH 9TH ST LIVINGSTON, MT 59047-2906 Home: (406)222-6265 Bus: (406)222-2061 - To get the name of your state representative, you can use HSLDA's Legislative Toolbox at http://www.hslda.org/toolbox. If you do not have Internet access, call the Montana legislature at (406) 444- 3064). REASONS WE OPPOSE HOUSE BILL 274 This legislation is a bad idea because: - Raising the compulsory attendance age will not reduce the dropout rate. In fact, the two states with the highest high school completion rates (Maryland, 94.5% and North Dakota, 94.7%) compel attendance only to age 16, but the state with the lowest completion rate (Oregon, 75.4%) compels attendance to age 18. (Figures are three-year averages, 1996 through 1998.) - Most states (28) only require attendance to age 16. Older children unwilling to learn can cause classroom disruptions and even violence, making learning harder for their classmates who truly want to learn. - When California raised the age of compulsory attendance, unwilling students were so disruptive that new schools had to be built just to handle them and their behavior problems, all at the expense of the taxpayer. - In 1999, a similar bill (which did not pass) in Montana to increase the compulsory attendance age had a fiscal impact of $4,000,000, a conservative estimate of the cost to Montana taxpayers for the current legislative proposal. - This bill would require homeschool families to submit to two more year of governmental red tape and threat of legal action in the event of an alleged violation. - It would restrict parents' freedom to decide if their 16-year-old is ready for college or the workforce. Some 16-year-olds who are not academically inclined benefit more from valuable work experience than from being forced to sit in a classroom. - While a student who had successfully completed the GED exam would not be subject to the compulsory attendance law, the age at which a student may take this exam may be raised by the Office of Public Instruction from 16 to 18 as well. - If the age for taking the GED is changed to 17 or 18, this could prevent 16 year olds from taking the exam for college admission or votech school as is presently permitted in Montana. Thank you for standing with us against this encroachment on parental freedom. To review a copy of the bill text, go to: http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2003/billhtml/HB0274.htm Sincerely, Dewitt T. Black, III HSLDA Senior Counsel {{JoinAd}} ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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