HSLDA Dear Connecticut Member/Other Interested Parties:
A number of bills have been introduced in the Connecticut General Assembly which will significantly affect home educators if they are passed and signed by the Governor. These bills need your immediate attention in order to safeguard the freedoms now enjoyed by parents who have selected home education for their children.
TESTING
Senate Bill 517, introduced by Senator LeBeau, would require all home school students to take the state mastery test. This would be the first law enacted in Connecticut specifically regulating home education. There is no indication that this type of government oversight is needed. Only eight states require testing as the only method of evaluating the academic achievement of home school students, so this bill would place Connecticut in a small minority of states. The national trend is to deregulate home schools to treat them the same as conventional private schools. This legislation is contrary to the evidence that home educators in Connecticut are doing well enough to be left alone.
CHANGES IN COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE
Six bills now being considered would increase the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18: House Bill 5016 introduced by Representative Green, House Bill 5284 introduced by Representative Tymniak, House Bill 5521 introduced by Representative Shea, House Bill 5575 introduced by Representative Simmons, Senate Bill 204 introduced by Senator Upson, and Senate Bill 283 introduced by Senator Kissel.
Two bills before the General Assembly would remove the option for the parent of a child six years old to choose not to send the child to school until the child becomes seven: House Bill 5079 introduced by Representative Green and House Bill 5519 introduced by Representative Shea.
The obvious effect of these bills changing the ages for compulsory attendance would be to subject home schoolers in Connecticut to the compulsory attendance requirements one year earlier than is now required and for two years later than is now required. For the vast majority of home educators in Connecticut who are following the guidelines established by the State Board of Education adopted on November 7, 1990, this would mean three additional years of submitting the Notice of Intent form and three additional years of portfolio reviews.
Many education experts have concluded that beginning a child's formal education too early in order to obtain an academic advantage for the child actually results in burnout and poor scholastic performance in later school years. Besides the potentially adverse academic effects, legislation lowering the compulsory attendance age from seven to six years old further erodes the authority of parents who are in the best position to determine when their child's education should begin.
On the other end of the scale, studies have shown that persons 16 years old who lack the self-motivation to continue in school receive little benefit from compulsory attendance, and, in fact, have a negative influence on other students their age who are attending school voluntarily. Given the breakdown of discipline in the public schools, legislators should not impose any requirement of attendance over age 16 on students who do not wish to be there and who will further disrupt efforts of teachers to instruct those students who desire to learn.
Another significant aspect of expanding the compulsory attendance ages would be the need for additional tax revenues from Connecticut citizens to pay for the added cost of educating more children in the public school system. More classroom space will have to be constructed and more teachers hired in order to accommodate all of the additional students who will be compelled to attend school, some against their will, under the proposed law. School systems can also expect to incur the additional expense of security personnel necessary to deal with the inevitable increase in discipline problems.
There is no statistical data or research to support the position that raising the compulsory attendance age will reduce the dropout rate. To the contrary, according to U.S. Department of Education statistics charting 16 to 19 year olds not attending or graduating from high school, the top five states with the lowest dropout rate only require attendance through age 15. Significantly, Connecticut has the 14th lowest dropout rate in the nation at 9.2%, the national average being 11.2%. Statistics indicate that the states with the highest compulsory attendance ages also have the highest dropout rates in the nation. Therefore, there is no true need to raise the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18 years old in Connecticut, nor is there any statistical data to prove that this has any effect of reducing dropout rates in any other state.
ACTION
We are urging all of our Connecticut members to contact their senators and representatives to express opposition to these bills. Given the number of bills being considered by the House and Senate affecting the compulsory attendance age, it appears that there is a great deal of interest on the part of legislators to change existing law. Your legislators need to hear from you before these bills gain too much momentum to stop.
You may contact your senator and representative by telephone through the Connecticut General Assembly as follows: Senate--(860) 240-0500 and House of Representatives--(860) 240-0400. Even more effective would be a letter written to them at the Legislative Office Building; Hartford, CT 06106.
Very truly yours,
Dewitt T. Black, III
Home School Legal Defense Association
P.O. Box 3000
Purcellville, Virginia 20134
540-338-5600
www.hslda.org