Every year, in Missouri, homeschoolers face legislation that threatens their parental rights and educational freedoms. Each year, lawmakers present bills, in some form, that mandates compulsory school age. The heavy hand of big government attempts to mandate compulsory school attendance because they know the more time they can mandate children spend in government schools, the more influence they can have on your children. Homeschoolers must always be vigilant in monitoring these attempts encroach on compulsory education requirements because these regulations will, without fail, reach over into homeschooling regulations, and parental rights to direct the education of our children will be forever lost.

On Tuesday evening, in his State of the Union Address, the president stated it was his intention to propose that every state mandate a raise in compulsory school age to 18. As homeschoolers, this flies in the face of all parental authority in deciding what is best for our children in the educational realm we choose appropriate.

Michel P. Farris, of Home School Legal Defense, issued a statement yesterday, urging all members of the homeschooling community to make their voices heard regarding the potential intrusion on educational freedom and parental rights proposed by the Obama administration.