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JOINT LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERT – April 19,
2007
From: Roy Hanson's Private and Home
Educators of
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***** ***** Bill: AB
1236 (as introduced 2/23/07) - 5 Year-Old Compulsory
Education
Author:
State Assembly Member
Gene Mullin
Position:
Strongly OPPOSE
Status: Scheduled to be heard in California
State Assembly Education Committee Wednesday, April 25,
2007.
Summary of
Concern: AB 1236 would lower the compulsory education age from 6 to 5 years of age, in effect making kindergarten mandatory. AB 1236 also would take another incremental step toward a universal preschool program for 3 and 4 year-olds.
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***** ***** Information Included In This
E-mail: A.
Action Items B.
Background Information
C. Opposition Points to Share with
Legislators
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A.
Action Items:
1)
CALL IMMEDIATELY (Preferably before
3:00 pm Tuesday, April 24th) the member of the Assembly Education Committee
according to the first letter of your Last Name as indicated in the alphabetized
list below.
2)
CALL your Assembly Member.
(You can find
your Assembly Member's Capitol phone and fax numbers, and address by entering
your 9-digit ZIP code in HSLDA's Legislative Tool Box at http://www.capwiz.com/hslda, or by calling the office in your county
that handles voter registration.)
Ask them to –
"Please vote no on AB 1236 (by Mullin). It is not in the best interest of our
children to force every parent to enroll their children in a formal educational
program at 5 years of age."
3. Consider
following up your calls with a brief letter or
fax.
(Please refer to the "Opposition Points to Share with
Legislators" for additional ideas in writing your letter or
fax.)
Notes:
• Call as a parent and citizen. This bill directly affects all families
with young children.
• Do not disclose the source of this
Alert. All bills are available
on the internet.
•
Because e-mails are easily ignored, letters are significantly more
effective.
•
Reprint this for your friends, church, school, and
group.
• Pray
for a proper outcome.
For Action Item #1 above, please call the member of the Assembly Education Committee according
to the first letter of your last name as indicated in the following
list:
A-B Julia Brownley Phone: (916) 319-2041 Fax: (916) 319-2141 C-D Joe Coto Phone: (916) 319-2023 Fax: (916) 319-2123 E-G Mike Eng Phone: (916) 319-2049 Fax: (916) 319-2149 H-J Martin
Garrick Phone: (916) 319-2074 Fax: (916) 319-2174 K-L Loni Hancock Phone: (916) 319-2014 Fax: (916) 319-2114 M-N Bob Huff Phone: (916) 319-2060 Fax: (916) 319-2160 O-R Betty Karnette Phone: (916) 319-2054 Fax: (916) 319-2154 S Gene Mullin (Author)
Phone: (916)
319-2019 Fax: (916)
319-2199
T-V Alan Nakanishi Phone: (916) 319-2010 Fax: (916) 319-2110 W-Z Jose Solorio Phone: (916) 319-2069 Fax: (916) 319-2169
(Please use one or more of the "Opposition Points to
Share with Legislators" stated below when you
call.) B.
Background Information:
• AB
1236 would lower the compulsory attendance age for entry into school from 6 to 5
years of age. This requirement
would apply to all children, whether their parents plan to send them to public
school or private school (including private home
schools).
•
Rushing children into formal education by lowering the age for compulsory
education will exact a heavy toll on the development of many children and will
weaken the role of parents in their lives.
This is diametrically opposed to the message parents are routinely given,
that parents need to be more involved in their children’s lives. However, parents cannot be more involved
when the state either encourages or requires children to be with their parents
for less time. Research supports
later rather than earlier entry of children into institutionalized settings for
educational development.
• AB
1236 encroaches on the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and
education of their children. It
ignores the long-standing presumption that parents act in the best interest of
their children, by requiring parents to enroll their children in kindergarten
rather than allowing them the choice specified in current law. It disregards the parent’s understanding
of what would be the best course of action for his own child’s education and
development.
• AB
1236 also would establish voluntary a kindergarten readiness program for every
child under 5 years of age in participating
counties.
•
Advocates of government control of all children would be able to use AB
1236 as an incremental step toward establishing a seamless, cradle-to-grave
government-run education and human development program. Passage of AB 1236 could be followed by
legislation making institutionalized preschool mandatory for every child. Universal preschool has been proposed by
legislators and openly encouraged by proponents of early childhood
education.
C. Opposition Points to Share with
Legislators: 1. AB 1236 would place an increased
financial burden on parents who desire to enroll their children in private
schools starting with the first grade. 2. AB 1236 is not necessary. According to the Assembly Education
Committee in 2003, 91-95% of all children of kindergarten age already attend
public or private kindergarten.
Parents who desire to enroll their children at age 5 in 3. In 2002, when Governor Davis
vetoed AB 634, which is almost identical to AB 1236, he said, "...the state is
already poised to study the effect of similar policy through AB 25.... [which] requires ... a final report by
January 1, 2008. Therefore, it
would be premature to sign AB 634 prior to receiving the results of the
evaluation." Subsequently the
Legislature revised this final report date to January 1,
2012. 4. AB 1236 decreases beneficial
parental contact with their children.
An extra year 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. 5. AB 1236 is based on faulty
information. 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 6. AB 1236 forces children into
school too soon. There is no valid
evidence proving that mandating attendance at age 5 rather than 6 is better for
the long-term 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 future years. This is especially significant for boys,
because their cognitive and verbal skill development generally lags behind that
of girls at this age. 7. For documentation of research
supporting the above statements, please see our background documents on early
childhood education at www.childandfamilyprotection.org. Permission given to reprint or forward this Action Alert unaltered to your friends, church, school, and group.
***** ***** ***** ***** Roy
Hanson's HELP Tree Private and Home Educators of
Fax: (916) 415-9470 HELP Tree Director
Fax: (530) 622-4717
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The
purpose of this communication is to present information and express our position
on the issue(s) addressed. We encourage you to research this for yourself
and come to your own conclusions. Regardless of your position, we strongly
urge you to exercise your constitutional right to express your position to your
elected representatives. We have included an example of how we have
expressed our position.
***** ***** ***** ***** DISCLAIMER: This is considered a private and confidential message to HELP Tree Members only. We are not responsible for the accuracy of copies printed, forwarded, or sent by any party other than directly from Private and Home Educators of California.
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