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| Date: From: Subject: | 2/11/2005 12:35:12 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Vermont--Calls Needed to Stop Compulsory Attendance Age Expansion! |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== February 11, 2005 Vermont--Calls Needed to Stop Compulsory Attendance Age Expansion! Dear HSLDA members and friends: House Bill 180 would raise the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18. This bill is currently before the House Education Committee, where your calls are needed to defeat it! ACTION REQUESTED Please call the Sergeant at Arms and leave a message for the House Education Committee. Please give the committee this message, "House Bill 180 would increase Vermont's budget dramatically while failing to provide results. Please vote 'No' on this bill!" To reach the Sergeant at Arms, call 802-828-2228 or fax 802-828-2424. House Education Committee: Representative Cross, Chair Representative LaVoie, Vice-Chair Representative Barnard Representative Clark Representative Endres Representative Jerman Representative Kilmartin Representative Livingston Representative McLaughlin Representative Mook Representative Potter BACKGROUND - Raising compulsory attendance from 16 to 18 would subject Vermont home educators to the requirements of the homeschool statute for two additional years. (You do not need to share this reason with your legislators). - Raising the compulsory attendance age will not reduce the dropout rate. In fact, the two states with the highest high school completion rates, Maryland at 94.5% and North Dakota at 94.7%, compel attendance only to age 16. The state with the lowest completion rate (Oregon: 75.4%) compels attendance to age 18. These figures are three year averages, 1996 through 1998. - Twenty-nine states 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. - 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. - Another significant impact of expanding the compulsory attendance age would be an inevitable tax increase to pay for more classroom space and teachers to accommodate the additional students compelled to attend public schools. 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. Sincerely, Scott Somerville HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> "I saved my entire membership fee with one discount" "We've been a Liberty Mutual customer for over 12 years. We called and asked about our HSLDA member discount and they lowered our premium by approx $95 per year...coincidentally the same amount as our HSLDA annual membership fee. Thought you'd want to know!!'" More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1107 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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