(from Home School Legal Defense Fund)Dear Florida members and friends,
The Florida legislative session began March 6, 2007. Two bills have been introduced that would affect homeschoolers by requiring them to maintain a portfolio and have their children evaluated or tested two more years.
If either Senate Bill 360 or House Bill 277 pass, the government would have control over children for an additional two years. These bills would raise the age of compulsory attendance from 16 years to 18 years. In addition, H.B. 277 would tie the ability of a minor to renew a driver's license to proving attendance in school.
We hope that your calls will cause the sponsors to withdraw the bill even before there is a hearing.
REQUESTED ACTION
Please call the sponsors of these bills, Representative Geraldine "Geri" Thompson (sponsor of H.B. 277) at (407) 245-1511 and Senator Frederica Wilson (sponsor of S.B. 360) at (305) 654-7150 to give them this message:
"Please abandon your efforts to raise the age of compulsory school attendance. It only serves as a waste of taxpayers' money; it would force unwilling, disruptive students into the classroom, and take away the right of parents to decide whether their 16-year-old is ready for valuable work experience or college."
You do not need to mention that you homeschool.
REASONS FOR OPPOSING HIGHER COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE AGE:
> Raising the compulsory attendance age will not reduce the dropout rate. In fact, the two states with the highest high school completion rates (Maryland, 94.5%, and North Dakota, 94.7%) compel attendance only to age 16, but the state with the lowest completion rate (Oregon, 75.4%) compels attendance to age 18. (These figures are three-year averages, 1996 through 1998.)
> Most states (28) only require attendance to age 16. Older children who do not want to learn cause classroom discipline problems, disruptions, and violence, making learning harder for those who truly want to learn.> Unwilling students who are forced back into the classroom are unlikely to benefit from one year of additional schooling.
> It would require homeschool families to submit to two more years of governmental red tape, and be exposed to two more years of the threat of legal action or subpoena in the event of an accusation of a violation.
> It would take away the parental freedom to decide if a 16- or 17-year-old is ready for college or the workforce. Some 16-year-olds and 17-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 increased the age 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 more information on compulsory attendance, please see our memorandum at http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/Issues/E/Early_Education.asp
Yours for freedom,
Chris Klicka
HSLDA Senior Counsel
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