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| Date: From: Subject: | 2/11/2011 4:06:13 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Kentucky--Call Now to Oppose Bill that Raises Compulsory School Age |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Kentucky--Urgent-Please Call Now to Oppose Bill that Raises Compulsory School Age! Dear HSLDA Members and Friends, The Kentucky House passed House Bill 225 yesterday and has sent it to the Senate. Among other things, this bill would raise the compulsory school attendance age in Kentucky from 16 to 17 in 2015, and then raise it again from 17 to 18 in 2016. While some parts of House Bill 225 would not impact homeschooling families, raising the compulsory school attendance age would require parents to report to their local school district two years longer than they are currently required to. This bill will also impact you as a taxpayer, since more funding will be required to keep those students in school who don't want to be there. According to the fiscal note statement that was written up for the House on February 7, raising the compulsory attendance age will cost the state over $26 million a year. While House Bill 225 has been sent to the Senate, it could be attached to a current Senate bill or be pushed through on its own. At this time there is no known hearing for the bill, but it could be heard in the Senate Education Committee as early as Tuesday. Therefore, we would like you to contact your state senator, the Senate leadership, and as many committee members as you can to urge them to oppose House Bill 225. You do not need to identify yourself as a homeschooler but as a concerned parent and taxpayer. REQUESTED ACTION: 1) Please call and email your state senator and give him or her this message in your own words: "Please oppose House Bill 225 which would raise the compulsory attendance age in Kentucky. Raising the compulsory attendance age takes away the right of parents to decide whether their children are ready for vocational programs, college, or the workforce. If House Bill 225 is passed and the compulsory attendance age is raised, this would force students into the school system who don't want to be there and will do little to improve the dropout rate. Raising the compulsory attendance age in Kentucky will cost too much with little or no results, wasting taxpayers' money." To find the name and contact information for your state representative, use HSLDA's Legislative Toolbox at http://capwiz.com/hslda/dbq/officials . You can find email addresses for nearly all of the senators here: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/whoswho/email.htm . You can also call the Toll-Free Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181 to leave a message for your state senator. 2) Please call and email the Senate leadership listed below and give them this message in your own words: "Please oppose House Bill 225 which would raise the compulsory attendance age in Kentucky. Raising the compulsory attendance age takes away the right of parents to decide whether their children are ready for vocational programs, college, or the workforce. If House Bill 225 is passed and the compulsory attendance age is raised, this would force students into the school system who don't want to be there and will do little to improve the dropout rate. Raising the compulsory attendance age in Kentucky will cost too much with little or no results, wasting taxpayers' money." Use the link below each member's name to send an email to their office. Sen. David L. Williams (R) Senate President Capitol Phone: (502) 564-3120 Home Phone: (270) 433-7777 Email: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S016.htm Sen. Katie Kratz Stine (R) President Pro Tempore Capitol Phone: (502) 564-3120 Home Phone: (859) 781-5311 Email: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S024.htm Sen. Robert Stivers (R) Majority Floor Leader Capitol Phone: (502) 564-2450 Home Phone: (606) 598-8575 Email: Robert.Stivers@lrc.ky.gov Sen. R.J. Palmer (D) Minority Floor Leader Capitol Phone: (502) 564-2470 Home Phone: (859) 737-2945 Email: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S028.htm Sen. Dan Seum (R) Majority Caucus Chairman Capitol Phone: (502) 564-2450 Home Phone: (502) 749-2859 Email: Dan.Seum@lrc.ky.gov Sen. Johnny Ray Turner (D) Minority Caucus Chairman Capitol Phone: (502) 564-6136 Home Phone: (606) 889-6568 Email: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S029.htm Sen. Carroll Gibson (R) Majority Whip Capitol Phone: (502) 564-2450 Home Phone: (270) 230-5866 Email: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S005.htm Sen. Jerry Rhoads (D) Minority Whip Capitol Phone: (502) 564-2470 Home Phone: (270) 825-2949 Email: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S006.htm 3) Please call and/or email the Senate Education Committee members listed below and give them this message in your own words: "Please oppose House Bill 225 which would raise the compulsory attendance age in Kentucky. Raising the compulsory attendance age takes away the right of parents to decide whether their children are ready for vocational programs, college, or the workforce. If House Bill 225 is passed and the compulsory attendance age is raised, this would force students into the school system who don't want to be there and will do little to improve the dropout rate. Raising the compulsory attendance age in Kentucky will cost too much with little or no results, wasting taxpayers' money." Use the link below each member's name to send an email to their office. Senate Education Committee Members Sen. Ken Winters (Chair) http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislator/S001.htm Sen. Vernie McGaha (Vice Chair) http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislator/S015.htm Sen. Walter Blevins http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislator/S027.htm Sen. Jared Carpenter http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislator/S034.htm Sen. David Givens http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislator/S009.htm Sen. Denise Harper Angel http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislator/S035.htm Sen. Jimmy Higdon http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislator/S014.htm Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislator/S012.htm Sen. Gerald A. Neal http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislator/S033.htm Sen. Jack Westwood http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislator/S023.htm Sen. Mike Wilson http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislator/S032.htm BACKGROUND: Raising the compulsory school attendance age from 16 to 18 would subject Kentucky home educators to the demands of the homeschool law two years longer than now required. (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. (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 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. According the House fiscal note statement the estimated cost of raising the compulsory attendance age would be more than $26.5 million annually, beginning in 2015. However, this estimate does not include the cost of additional services for these students, additional personnel that will be needed, the matching cost for retirement of these personnel. There are several other indeterminable costs associated with this bill if it were to be passed. For more information on compulsory attendance, please see our memorandum at http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=7918 . If you would like to be put on our email list to receive vital e-lerts you may sign up at http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=7919 . Thank you for your calls on behalf of continued freedom in Kentucky. Sincerely, Thomas J. (Tj) Schmidt 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 Federal Relations Department 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. ====================================================================== | |
