Compulsory Attendance Bill Introduced

The Louisiana legislature began this year with a challenge when a bill was introduced that would lower the compulsory attendance age from 7 to 5. If passed, this bill would cause homeschool parents to file as a home-based private school or in a home study approval program two years earlier than now required.

Home School Legal Defense Association opposes expanding the compulsory attendance age because it is an infringement of a parent's constitutional right to direct their children's education and upbringing. Some children are simply not ready for school at age 5 or 6. We believe that parents are in the best position to determine when a child should begin school.

Additionally, lowering the compulsory attendance age would place a greater burden on taxpayers to pay for the teachers and larger schools needed to accommodate the influx of children into the public school system.