| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
< BACK TO ARCHIVE |
| Date: From: Subject: | 2/5/2007 4:10:39 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Oregon--More Calls Needed on Bill That Lowers School Age to 6 |
|
====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== February 5, 2007 Oregon--More Calls Needed on Bill That Lowers School Age to 6 Dear HSLDA members and friends: Thank you for all of your calls on Senate Bill 392 last week. Your voice was heard! Largely due to those calls, the Senate Education and General Government Committee postponed pushing the bill through the Committee. However, several on the Committee still want to pass this bill so a work session is scheduled for the bill tomorrow, Tuesday, February 6 at 8:15 a.m. We need your calls and emails immediately to urge the Committee to either defeat the bill or amend it. Please call and email the Committee members listed below and give them the suggested message in your own words. (Putting this message into your own words makes your call even more effective to lawmakers.) Please call now to oppose lowering the compulsory attendance age from 7 to 6! REQUESTED ACTION: 1. Please call and email the Education and General Government Committee members listed below and give them this message: "Please oppose Senate Bill 392. This bill will prevent parents from deciding when their child is ready for school. There are better ways to address the problem of parents who enroll their children in public school at 5 or 6 and then treat school attendance as voluntary." Do not identify yourself as a homeschooler, instead you can identify yourself as a concerned parent and taxpayer. Education and General Government Committee Senator Vicki L Walker, Chair (also sponsor of bill) Phone: 503-986-1707 Email: sen.vickiwalker@state.or.us Senator Jeff Kruse, Vice-Chair Phone: 503-986-1701 Email: sen.jeffkruse@state.or.us Senator Rick Metsger Phone: 503-986-1726 Email: sen.rickmetsger@state.or.us Senator Frank Morse Phone: 503-986-1708 Email: sen.frankmorse@state.or.us Senator Ben Westlund Phone: 503-986-1727 Email: sen.benwestlund@state.or.us BACKGROUND: As mentioned in earlier e-lerts, Senate Bill 392 would require all children to be in school once they turn 6 years old. This would mean that parents would have to submit their homeschool notice to their local Education Service District (ESD) a year earlier. Additionally, since the Oregon Administrative Rules require homeschool parents to test their children in the 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 10th year a child has been in school, if the compulsory attendance age is lowered, you might have begin testing your children a year earlier then you have to now. The Education and General Government Committee held a public hearing on the bill on January 30th. If you are interested in listening to the discussion you can hear the hearing at: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=3700 (requires RealPlayer, available at http://www.real.com/freeplayer/?rppr=downloadcom1). The discussion on Senate Bill 392 covers the first 50 minutes. According to the Oregon Department of Education the main purpose of the legislation is to enable schools to take action when parents enroll their children in the public school and then treat their child's attendance as voluntary, taking them to school whenever they please. This is disruptive to the school and the affected class and students. However, there are better ways to handle this problem, and several other states have enacted legislation to deal with this problem. Minnesota has a compulsory attendance age of 7 and has dealt with this problem with a provision that states: "Once a pupil under the age of seven is enrolled in kindergarten or a higher grade in a public school, the pupil is subject to the compulsory attendance provisions." This has the effect the public school system needs but protects parents from having to enroll their children in a school setting before they are ready for school. Some of the problems with lowering the compulsory attendance are listed below. > Lowering the compulsory attendance age from 7 to 6 would subject Oregon home educators to the requirements of the homeschool laws one year earlier. Homeschool parents would be required to submit the notice of intent to their local ESD one year earlier than they do now. Additionally, the Oregon Department of Education could possibly change the definition of when the "first year" begins for testing purposes from 7 on September 1 to 6 on September 1, effectively requiring parents to test in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10 a year earlier than they do now. (You do not need to share this reason with your legislators.) > Many education experts have concluded that beginning a child's formal education too early may actually result in burnout and poor scholastic performance later. > Lowering the compulsory attendance age erodes the authority of parents who are in the best position to determine when their child's formal education should begin. > It would restrict parents' freedom to decide if their children are ready for school. > 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. While the Oregon Department of Education stated in the public hearing that the impact will be minimal, many states have found otherwise. For more information on compulsory attendance, please see our memorandum at http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=1421 . If you are not yet a member of HSLDA and would like to help us fight for greater parental rights and homeschool freedom in Oregon please visit http://www.hslda.org/join/apply.asp . If you would like to be put on our e-mail list to receive vital e-lerts you may sign up at https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp?Process=Subscribe . Thank you for your part in fighting for freedom in Oregon! Sincerely, Thomas Schmidt HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> You can only do so much... No one can be everywhere at once. And you can't be at home, teaching your children, while monitoring your state's legislature. Through electronic legislative services, HSLDA is monitoring state legislation for you -- watching and listening carefully for any proposed laws that could erode your right to homeschool. Join HSLDA today-we'll watch out for your future. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1942 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== 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. ====================================================================== | |
