Just in from the HSLDA E-lert Service:

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends:

Representative Sara Lampe is working to lower the age of compulsory school attendance from age 7 to 5, and we need your help to stop her.

House Bill 1543 will come to the floor of the House of Representatives in the very near future, and Lampe says she will try to amend it to lower the compulsory attendance age. Her strategy is to tack her amendment on and let it piggyback into law with the rest of the bill.

The bill itself is likely to pass because of its significance on several educational issues, so it is vital that we work to prevent it from being amended to expand compulsory attendance.

ACTION REQUESTED

Today send a letter or email to your representative asking him or her to oppose any amendment lowering the age of compulsory attendance. Express your views in your own words, but feel free to make use of the points below. To find contact information for your representative, go to our Legislative Toolbox.

When HB 1543 comes to the floor of the House, other amendments could be offered that are harmful to freedom. Having a big crowd of homeschoolers at the Capitol could help keep lawmakers “honest.” The date has not yet been scheduled, but please plan to come to the capitol when we know the date. We may have 24 hours notice or less, so please stay flexible!

Also please plan to attend a major homeschool rally at the Capitol in Jefferson City on March 2. A large turnout by homeschool families will convince lawmakers that we remain highly interested in what they do. Families for Home Education will distribute more information about the rally as the day grows closer.

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. The 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.

For more information on compulsory attendance, please see our memorandum.

Thank you for standing with us for freedom!

Scott A. Woodruff, Esq.,
HSLDA Senior Counsel

Kerry Messer, Missouri homeschool lobbyist, writes:

Home School Families Once Again Caught In A Crossfire

Last year (2009) the Missouri General Assembly advanced legislation focused on education policy which inadvertently threatened home education. Those unintended consequences were averted in the end and the final results actually came out to the advantage of home schooling families. However, the impending threat was no less a danger nor was it to be ignored just because it was unintended.

While acknowledging the smiles of God to protect home educators, it is also notable that literally thousands of families responded to last year’s threat. Because of those who responded with calls and letters, emails and visits, legislation was altered to appease the home school community. It is shuttering to think what today may look like
had the home school community ignored the seriousness of the situation.

To review the political battle and its favorable outcome, visit www.MissouriFamilyNetwork.net.

We are now greeted with the 2010 Missouri General Assembly quickly beginning to focus on further education policy. Early in the annual session of the Legislature the House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education has already voted to advance an omnibus education bill. This means the basic focus of the bill is open ended education policy. It is deliberately designed to be broad based with no finite focus, allowing almost anything related to the field of education to be attached to the bill.

Last year’s bill grew from one page to hundreds, from changing one section of law to 142 areas of law! This year’s bill, House Bill 1543, started out by rewriting sixteen provisions of law and has already been greatly expanded in its first committee. Additionally, while most bills have barely been introduced and most not even assigned to a committee for initial review, HB 1543 has already been voted “do pass” by this 14 member committee.

Thankfully, two of the amendments offered in committee were turned back because of their negative impact on homeschoolers. But this was only the first salvo engaged by Representative Sara Lampe (democrat from Springfield). Rep. Lampe made it very clear that she plans to pursue her agenda with amendments to be offered when the bill comes before the full House of Representatives in the very near future.

Rep Lampe seems to hold to the worldview that parents who do not have their children educated according to her preconceived idea are guilty of abuse. Furthermore she laments that not all young children are enrolled in a full time kindergarten prior to first grade. Citing that over 220 children in St. Louis skip going to kindergarten (out of around 35,000 students, or 1 out of every 2,500) she wants to lower compulsory education which starts at 7 years of age down to 5. Then she believes that all schools should be required to maintain full day kindergarten with a minimal compulsory age of 6 statewide.

Pushing her worldview upon all of Missouri, Rep Lampe tried to get the House Education Committee to accept her ideology in the form of amendments to HB 1543. Both amendments were turned back after the chairman of the committee (Maynard Wallace, republican from Ozark County) invited home school lobbyist (me) Kerry Messer of Missouri Family Network to address the committee during its executive session.

As Rep. Lampe attempted to engage in an impromptu negotiation over limited hours of instruction for home schooling 5-6 year olds, I explained that her ideas would spark a major political firestorm akin to last year’s emergency rally which drew 2,500-3,000 people to the capitol. Among other things I challenged the committee to think about how the proposed amendments transform policy related to the State’s constitutional requirement to provide a free education to criminalizing parents who chose not to use those free services.

As she prepares to offer amendments to HB 1543, or other bills, on the floor of the House, Rep. Lampe has invited me to work with her to find a compromise. I committed to her and the rest of the Education Committee that I would try to come up with ideas that could satisfy her concerns, but that I could not jeopardize the families which make up Missouri’s home schooling community by restricting their God given right to educate their children according to personal convictions.

After all was said and done and the committee adjourned I found myself confronted with a frustrated lobbyist for the AFL-CIO labor union. This lobbyist explained that
the amendments I had opposed were ‘her’ amendments and that Rep. Lampe was only working to help “the teachers”. This brief conversation clearly answered my internal question as to the motivation behind the amendments. Were they proposed out of a deep residing concern for the quality of education or was the concern more related to paychecks?

ACTION NEEDED:
If only the government and its bureaucrats could leave parents alone to raise their families and educate their children in a truly free civic society, we would not have to face the gauntlet of these crossfires. But until that day dawns, let us defend ourselves and one another with vigor and resolve.

1. Prepare to join us for the home school rally at the Missouri State Capitol on March 2, 2010.

2. Plan now to come to the capitol when HB 1543 is to be debated on the floor of the House.

3. Sit down right now and write your letter/email to your Representative asking them to oppose any amendments lowering compulsory attendance ages.

We do not know at this time when HB 1593 will hit the floor (it will be sooner rather than later, expected this week or next), but we MUST have a show of force akin to the Emergency Rally late last session (2-3000 on the ground in Jeff with less than 24 hours notice).

Please DO NOT suffer fatigue at this time. They are betting that last year was a one time event. We need to prove that we are serious about our Freedom. Check your emails several times a day for the next two-three weeks, and have your car packed and ready. We will be lucky to get 24 hours notice that HB 1543 is going to the floor.

Mark your calendars for the homeschool rally at the Missouri State Capitol on March 2, 2010.

For current information regarding homeschool related legislation in Missouri, visit HSLDA.