| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 3/2/2011 9:32:10 AM Home School Legal Defense Association Alaska: Calls Needed to Oppose Compulsory Attendance Age Bill |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Alaska: Calls Needed to Oppose Compulsory Attendance Age Bill Dear HSLDA Members and Friends: Your calls are needed to stop a bill that would significantly expand state control over education in Alaska. Current law requires school attendance between the ages of 7 and 16 or completion of the 12th grade. Senate Bill 9 would change the ages to between 6 and 18, completion of the 12th grade, or graduation from high school. This would potentially add another three years of homeschooling for every child, regardless of the child's level of maturity or readiness to begin formal instruction at age 6 and regardless of the child's aptitude or interests at age 16. If this bill passes, parents will be required to comply with the homeschool law one year earlier and for an additional two years unless the child first completes the 12th grade or graduates from high school. This means that parents of a high school student will be locked into another two years of homeschooling at a time when the child may wish to pursue other educational options or begin a vocation. As freedom-loving homeschoolers, we oppose any effort to expand the state's control over education in any form. Senate Bill 9 passed the State Education Committee on February 21, 2011. This bill needs to be stopped before it gains any more momentum. Your state senator needs to hear from you today! ACTION REQUESTED: 1. Please call and/or email your state senator with this message or something similar in your own words: "Please vote against Senate Bill 9 which would expand Alaska's compulsory school attendance age. Parents, not state officials, are best able to determine when their child is ready for formal education. This bill also restricts the right of parents to choose when a child may pursue other educational or work options. Requiring the attendance of students who are unwilling to remain in school beyond age 16 will have a disruptive effect on other students' learning." When contacting your senator, do not identify yourself as a homeschooler. This is broader than just a homeschooling issue. To obtain the contact information for your senator, please go to http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=10479 . 2. Please forward this email to every family you know who is not a member of HSLDA and urge them to contact their state senators. BACKGROUND: 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. This bill 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 school. 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 work force. Some 16-year-olds who are not academically inclined will benefit more from valuable work experience than from being forced to sit in a classroom. To view the text of this bill, please go to http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=10480 For more information on compulsory attendance, please see our memorandum at http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=10481 . Please call or email today! Sincerely, Dewitt T. Black, III HSLDA Senior Counsel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> 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. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
