| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 1/24/2006 4:16:39 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Mass.--Calls Needed to Stop Compulsory Attendance Age Expansion |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Dear HSLDA members and friends: House Bill 1202 would raise the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 17 or 10th grade. This bill is currently before the Joint Committee on Education, where your calls are needed to defeat it. Action Requested: Please call each member of the Joint Committee on Education and give them this message, "Forcing teenagers to be in school longer is a waste of taxpayer money and a distraction to the children that want to learn. Please vote 'No' on HB 1202!" (There is no need to identify yourself as a homeschooler.) Legislators: Senator Robert Antonioni 617-722-1230 Senator Edward Augustus 617-722-1485 Senator Dianne Wilkerson 617-722-1673 Senator Pamela Resor 617-722-1120 Senator Karen Spilka 617-722-1640 Senator Scott Brown 617-722-1555 Representative Patricia Haddad 617-722-2070 Representative Geraldine Creedon 617-722-2070 Representative Petersen 617-722-2637 Representative Paul Kujawski 617-722-2017 Representative Stephen LeDuc 617-722-2011 Representative Alice Wolf 617-722-2400 Representative Robert Nyman 617-722-2020 Representative Matthew Patrick 617-722-2090 Representative Martha Walz 617-722-2460 Representative Jeffrey Perry 617-722-2396 Representative Richard Ross 617-722-2305 Background: Raising the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 17 would subject Massachusetts home educators to the requirements of the approval law for an additional year. (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 best 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Who are the nation's best lobbyists? We don't know that this has ever been determined; but we do know that HSLDA's National Center for Home Education is the only national organization lobbying on behalf of homeschoolers on Capitol Hill. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1102 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
