From the HSLDA E-lert Service - May 22, 2002

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends,

A bill that would take away a parent's right to decide whether or not to continue a child's formal education after reaching age sixteen years of age died in the Senate Education Committee due to the 2002 legislative session close.

H.B. 1460 passed the House Education Committee in the House itself with large margins. Only the Senate Education Committee and the Senate itself could prevent this bill from going to the governor's desk.

The bill was referred to the Senate Education Committee and passed the committee vote. However, it was never placed on the calendar for approval by the full senate and subsequently died in committee as the session closed May 17, 2002.

The bill would have allowed metropolitan school districts to raise the age of compulsory attendance from sixteen to seventeen years of age. In an apparent effort to influence home schoolers against opposing this bill, the sponsors included a provision that removes some of the applicable requirements when home schooling a sixteen- year-old. By removing all standards for how a sixteen year old should be instructed, the bill inserts such an ambiguity into the home school statute that it could be struck down as unconstitutional. With no standards whatsoever, a judge would also be free to interpret the law himself and create his own standard. This could result in a child being found "in need of services" even though the parents believed they were complying with the law.

Please visit our website for background information on H.B. 1460.
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=397