BRUSH FIRE ALERT - CHUCK MUTH 04/10/2013

Oppose SB 182
    Lowers Compulsory Attendance
Age from 7 to 5

 
The following action alert was sent out by the Home School Legal Defense Association and the Nevada Homeschool Network...

Sponsors: Senators Smith, Woodhouse, Denis, Jones, Ford, Atkinson, Kihuen, Manendo, Parks, Segerblom, and Spearman

Status

SB 182 was debated in the Education Committee on February 25. Many of you made phone calls and sent emails prior to that hearing, asking the committee to vote against lowering the compulsory school attendance age to 5. The Senate Education Committee did not vote and has now scheduled a workshop to discuss the bill on Wednesday, April 10. It appears that we have an uphill battle to defeat efforts to lower the compulsory attendance age as there is a strong desire to make kindergarten mandatory at age 5. It is highly likely the committee will vote on the bill at the April 10 meeting, and, if passed, it will go to the full Senate for a vote.

Although we would rather have the age of mandatory school attendance remain at age 7, Nevada Homeschool Network (NHN) and HSLDA have proffered an amendment to the bill sponsor that would give parents an option to opt out of the mandatory attendance requirement. This would accommodate parents who do not desire to have their children begin formal education at age 5.

Background

SB 182 will lower the compulsory attendance age for entry into school from 7 to 5 years of age. This requirement will apply to all children, whether their parents planned to send them to public school, private school or homeschool.

By amending Nevada Revised Statutes § 392.040 to lower mandatory attendance from 7 to 5 years of age, all children, including homeschooled children, would have to start school at age 5. In other words, homeschoolers would have to file their notice of intent at age 5.

Analysis

Requiring children to attend school at age 5 is a very bad idea for the following reasons:

1. SB 182 forces children into school too soon. There are no long-term replicable studies proving that mandating attendance at age 5 rather than 7 is better for the educational development of the child. To the contrary, there is much research indicating that early childhood education does not improve the child’s potential for being a better student in the future, because early gains disappear in a few years. This is especially significant for boys, because their cognitive and verbal skill development generally lags behind that of girls at this age.

2. SB 182 is not necessary. Parents who desire to enroll their children at age 5 in Nevada can choose to do so already. To force parents to start children in school at the age of 5 interferes with their fundamental right to direct the education of their children and to make wise choices regarding the readiness for their children for education. Many children are simply not ready for school at 5 years old.

3. SB 182 decreases beneficial parental contact with their children. Two extra years of development outside of school can be critical for a child at this early age. Carl Zinsmeister, adjunct research associate at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, says, “Declining parental attachment is an extremely serious risk to children today. The verdict of enormous psychological literature is that time spent with the parent is the very clearest correlate of healthy child development.” Parents should continue to have the authority to decide what is best for their children.

4. SB 182 is based on faulty information. This attempt to bring children into formal education programs at a younger age is based on an erroneous assumption. Arthur Jensen, a learning psychologist, wrote in the Harvard Educational Review in 1969 that Benjamin Bloom’s conclusion that people develop 50% of their mature intelligence by the age of 4 is a statistically unwarranted conclusion. In 1970, Nancy Bayley, a University of California child psychologist whose data Bloom used, pointed out that Bloom's theory was wrong because it was based on an inadequate definition of intelligence. In spite of statements to the contrary, there is no solid evidence that early education brings any lasting or permanent educational benefit to a child. The conclusions being drawn based on recent studies of child’s brain development are similar to the above faulty conclusions. The fact that a young child’s brain develops rapidly does not warrant the faulty conclusion that more institutionalized and peer-dominated settings improve the child’s mental, emotional, and social development. There are studies that have demonstrated the opposite.

5. SB 182 would have an adverse financial impact on all Nevadans. This increase in the kindergarten population will increase the financial burden on the state’s ability to fund its public education programs. This will result in the need to increase state education revenues. Increases in education revenues come either as direct increases in taxes from citizens; approving and selling bonds, which moves the tax burden to future generations; or transferring funds from another part of the state budget.

Action Requested

1. Please call or email and ask politely each senator on the committee that they either remove Section 8 of the bill lowering the compulsory attendance age to 5, or provide for an exemption for 5- and 6-year-olds, giving parents the right to decide when their children are ready to attend school.

2. Please forward this email to all Nevada residents who are concerned about educational freedom in Nevada, requesting them to vote online and oppose SB182.
The Senate Education Committee members are:

Joyce Woodhouse - Senate Chair
702-896-1453
Joyce.Woodhouse@sen.state.nv.us
Aaron D. Ford - Vice Chair
702-772-5544
Aaron.Ford@sen.state.nv.us
Ruben J. Kihuen
702-274-1707
Ruben.Kihuen@sen.state.nv.us
Barbara K. Cegavske
702-873-0711
Barbara.Cegavske@sen.state.nv.us
Don Gustavson
775-722-1278
Don.Gustavson@sen.state.nv.us

Register your opinion online with your legislator. To do so, click on the button below…


 
Then select or enter the bill number, SB182, in the “Bill Information and Opinion”box.  Next to “Your View” just click on the “For” option.  And then add any comments you might want to include.

To make sure your support is communicated directly to your elected state assemblyman and senator, enter your name and snail-mail address in the box titled “Constituent Information” - but feel free not to include your phone number and email address if you prefer.


Chuck Muth
President
Citizen Outreach

Citizen Outreach is a 501(c)(4) non-profit grassroots advocacy organization.