| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
< BACK TO ARCHIVE |
| Date: From: Subject: | 3/27/2006 3:02:36 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Florida--Calls Needed Immediately! |
|
====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== March 27, 2006 Florida--Calls Needed Immediately! Dear HSLDA members and friends: House Bill 403, if passed, would allow school districts to raise the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18. The bill was recently referred to the PreK-12 Committee and is scheduled to be heard tomorrow, March 28, at 1 p.m. We need you to call the members of the PreK-12 Committee and ask them to vote against this legislation. This bill requires your children to be under the state's jurisdiction for two more years. This means, if you are under the homeschool law, you would have to test or evaluate your children for two more school years. If your homeschool is operating under the private school law, you will have to be covered by a private school for two more years. Your calls helped defeat similar bills in the past. We need your calls again to defeat these new threats to homeschool freedom. ACTION REQUESTED: Please call as many members of the House PreK-12 Committee as you can and give them this message: "Please vote against funding House Bill 403 which would expand the compulsory attendance age. This bill is unnecessary. It restricts parental choice and wastes taxpayer money." Do not identify yourself as a homeschooler. > Representative Sheri McInvale is the sponsor of this bill. You can call Representative McInvale at (850) 488-0660. You can contact the House PreK-12 Committee at (850) 414-6694. Their names are listed below: Rep. Rafael Arza, chair Rep. Joe H. Pickens, vice chair Rep. Loranne Ausley Rep. Ellyn Setnor Bogdanoff Rep. Marti Coley Rep. Frank Farkas Rep. Kenneth Allan Gottlieb Rep. Stan Mayfield Rep. Dave Murzin Rep. Curtis B. Richardson Rep. Anthony Trey Traviesa BACKGROUND: 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. (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 is the 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. For more information on compulsory attendance, please see our memorandum at: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=2802 . Sincerely, Chris Klicka HSLDA Senior Counsel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Is customer service an art or a science? For us, good customer service is both an art and a science -it should appeal to our members and be effective. Consider what our members say about us: The freedom HSLDA allows me to have as I homeschool is wonderful! They handle the law and I get to dedicate the time to my daughter. - National City, CA HSLDA members since 1993, our membership is just as important to us as our children's curriculum. Thank you HSLDA for all you do on our behalf! - West Valley, NY More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1941 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. Box 3000 Purcellville, Virginia 20134 Phone: (540) 338-5600 Fax: (540) 338-2733 Email: info@hslda.org Web: http://www.hslda.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- How To Subscribe: - Subscribe to the HSLDA E-lert Service at our website: https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp?Process=Subscribe - Or send an email with name and complete mailing address to: subscribe@hslda.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscription Information: - You subscribed to the HSLDA E-lert Service as: ##ToAddress## - To unsubscribe from the HSLDA E-lert Service send an email from the email address you want to unsubscribe to: unsubscribe@hslda.org - To change your email address or make other changes to your subscription, visit the HSLDA E-lert Service account web page at: https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTMASTERS: This message is being sent to the most recent address we have for our subscribers. If this is an invalid email address or you have other problems, please reply to webmaster@hslda.org. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: This is considered a private and confidential message from HSLDA to its bonafide HSLDA E-lert Service subscribers. HSLDA cannot attest to the authenticity of copies posted, forwarded, or sent by any party other than HSLDA. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: Please do not reply or otherwise use this email address; hslda@hslda.org is for broadcast purposes only and is not intended to receive incoming messages. We cannot reply to any email sent to this address. If you have comments or questions, please send email to info@hslda.org or call HSLDA at 540-338-5600. HSLDA members can also email staff directly through the Members website at http://members.hslda.org/contact.asp. Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
