9486 in the collection
Compulsory attendance for everyone?
Ohanian Comment: Anybody who cares about kids should pay attention to this bill before the Ohio legislature.
by Mary Nix
Olmsted Falls, OH
Peggy Daly-Masternak
Toledo, OH
Or, for now, everyone who is a parent...
In the past several years, I've pointedly and repeatedly asked people to consider concerns over "compulsory attendance" for minors. On it's face, whatever the purported merits, a civil liberties violation is a civil liberties violation, no matter the age. Even worse, "compulsory attendance" was transformed into "compulsory education" under the so-called education reforms that began taking shape by governors and corporate CEO's in the 1980's and culminating (so far) in No Child Left Behind. Few seem to notice now when compulsory attendance is used interchangeably with compulsory education, even as it is ensconced into law. One example of thousands can be viewed at this page: National Conference of State Legislatures
Whatever the merits (and they are countless) of helping parents engage more with their children's lives (again, millions of parents desperately want to, despite crushing poverty and social structures that have been broken for generations), a forced state requirement for "volunteer" service, at whatever age, for whatever purpose, is a civil liberties violation. Once a service-to-the-state threshold is crossed for one, compulsory "volunteer" attendance (now there's an oxymoron!), following precedents already set, will later morph into compulsory to-do lists, and might be required of whom? For what reasons? With what justifications?
Tell the single mom, sometimes with multiple minimum wage jobs with no benefits, that under this bill, she must perform forced "volunteer" service, or be fined, whether her employer pays for her leave of absence or not.
To amend sections 109.57, 5733.01, 5733.98, and 5751.98 and to enact sections 124.1311, 3313.88, 3321.30, 5733.54, 5747.124, and 5751.54 of the Revised Code to require parents of students enrolled in school districts to perform volunteer service for the district, to grant state employees paid leave to participate in a child's educational activities, to allow a nonrefundable credit against the corporate franchise or commercial activity tax for employer-paid leave enabling employees to participate in school-related activities, and to require school districts to establish mentoring programs for students.
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=127_HB_519
From the HB 519's synopsis, these stipulations:
-- For any parent, compels attendance at a three-hour orientation seminar prior to the start of each school year and to perform 13 hours of "volunteer" service each year.
-- Imposes a $100 fine upon parents who fail to do the above, such fine, if not paid directly, to be withheld from the parent's state income tax refunds.
-- If you're a state employee, up to 16 hours of paid leave will be granted to you for this compulsory volunteerism. If not a state employee, the bill offers a non-compulsory tax incentive for your employer if that employer chooses to pay you for leave taken. But the employer doesn't have to pay you anything. Or be required to keep your job.
-- None of the above is required of parents whose child is enrolled in a charter school, paid for with your same tax dollars but run by corporations in most cases. In fact, they are specifically exempt. One fallout--to join all the other exempted advantages afforded charter schools--will be more parents enrolling in these schools because they can't perform or want to avoid forced volunteerism.
The bill was introduced in the Ohio House on March 31 and has these sponsors and their cities:
Sandra Williams, Cleveland (lead sponsor)
Stephen Dyer, Green
Robert Hagan, Youngstown
Matt Szollosi, Oregon
Barbara Boyd, Cleveland Heights
Dale Mallory, Cincinnati
Clayton Luckie, Dayton
— Mary Nix & Peggy Daly-Masternak
2008-04-17
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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