Legislation targets kindergarten dropouts (Illinois)

[deadparrot]

Source: Daily Herald

SPRINGFIELD — Parents aren’t required to enroll their children in kindergarten, but if mom and dad sign the kids up for classes next year, they may have to make sure they show up.

Letting children skip kindergarten may seem unusual to many parents, but technically, children don’t have to go. Under current law, children younger than 7 can either go to school or stay home — a decision their parents make.

A statewide proposal headed to the governor’s office would make attendance a priority, if parents start sending little Johnny or Julie to kindergarten. The plan, however, falls short of an early-education mandate.

Although the state keeps track of how many students are enrolled in kindergarten this year, there’s no data available on how many of the 147,440 children showed up regularly.

Read more: http://www.dailyherald.com/news/illinoisstory.asp?id=321172

[Nikki Stone1]

1. Slippery slope to complete state control of our kids?

:tinfoilhat:

[hippiechick]

2. makes sense ...

.... if there are limited seats in the state's K-program, and someone's in but not making sure their kid goes ... they should be removed so that some other child who could perhaps benefit a whole bunch can go.

:shrug:

[jmondine]

3. Next thing you know

they'll be requiring the children of rich people to show up for their national guard service.