To the editor:
Sen. Scott Howell is sponsoring a bill in the Utah Senate that would lower the compulsory school age from 6 to 5. Apparently, the main reason behind this bill is to increase the funding for kindergarten. I am opposed to the government telling me when my child is ready for public school and taking more of my tax dollars to pay for it.Last school year, my eldest child turned 5 and would have normally gone to kindergarten. After careful consideration and discussion, my husband and I felt she was not ready for a school environment. We exercised our parental rights and kept her home.
It was a wise decision for her. She has flourished in a way she could not have otherwise. Now a year later, she is reading above a second-grade level, doing math from a fourth-grade book and is much more adept socially than she was last year. Obviously, not attending kindergarten did not hurt her either academically or socially.
The right to keep a child home from school until he is ready for it is a right that should not be taken from the parents. I oppose the bill and any amendment to the bill implying that the school, not the parent, can make that crucial decision.
Joy Laudie
Pleasant Grove