| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 5/28/2010 4:13:03 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Rhode Island--Calls Needed to Block Compulsory Attendance Age Increase! |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Rhode Island--Calls Needed to Block Compulsory Attendance Age Increase! Dear HSLDA Members and Friends: Regrettably, House Bill 8067 cleared its House committee vote and will be sent to the full House for a vote very soon. Your calls are needed now more than ever! This bill would put a new burden on taxpayers--the high cost of educating unwilling older teens. If this bill passes, be ready for your taxes to go up to pay for it. H 8067 would raise the compulsory school attendance age to 18. Right now, compulsory attendance ends at 16. You therefore have an unhindered right to choose a plan for your 16- and 17-year old. It could be a type of formal education, vocational instruction, or something else altogether. H 8067 takes away this right, and then gives it back to you as a privilege. It allows you to ask school officials to approve an "alternative learning plan" for your 16- or 17-year-old. But the bill puts the school officials in the driver's seat. It's their decision--not yours. The House committee deleted provisions that could have allowed compulsory attendance to end when a child, including a homeschooler, finished high school. The bill is now worse for homeschoolers than before the recent committee action. ACTION REQUESTED Please call your representative and ask him or her to vote "no" on H 8067. Use our Legislative Toolbox at http://www.hslda.org/toolbox to find your representative and his contact information. You can use the background information below to develop your own thoughts, or your message can be as simple as: "Please oppose HB 8067. This expensive proposal will force unwilling, unmotivated older teens to remain in classrooms where they will cause disruption. Protect the right of parents to decide what educational or vocational paths their 16- and 17-year-olds should follow." Since this bill affects all Rhode Island families, you don't need to identify yourself as a homeschooler. BACKGROUND This bill exempts students accepted into an accredited college--but this provides no help to parents who believe their 16-year-old should follow a vocationally oriented or non-academic path. Those in favor of raising the compulsory school attendance age believe that it will help graduation rates and reduce the number of dropouts. However, statistics and studies show that raising the compulsory school attendance age does not accomplish this. In fact, several states with the lowest compulsory school attendance ages have the highest graduation rates. This bill unnecessarily imposes government regulation on the authority of parents to make decisions about what is in the best interest of their children. To learn more you can read the following article, "Raise the Bar, Not the Age" (http://hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=7609 ). More than 20 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. This bill restricts parents' ability to decide if their 16-year-old is ready for college or the workforce. Many 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 upper age limit 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 additional information, visit our website at: http://hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=8268 . Thank you for standing with us for freedom! Standing with you, Scott A. Woodruff HSLDA Senior Counsel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Will your friends stand by you in trouble? They will if you're an HSLDA member and your homeschool is threatened. HSLDA is ready to stand by your side along with 80,000 other homeschool families. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1105 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== 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. ====================================================================== | |
