Cartoon #5

Olivia George
EDU 210
2019
Mother: “I just want to
take my kids away from
the terror, the guns, the
violence…”

Principal: “ Out of the

question! The law
requires them to
attend school.”
By 1918 every state had compulsory attendance laws

Compulsory: Required by a law or rule; Obligatory

Compulsory school attendance refers to the minimum and

maximum age required by each state in which a student
must be enrolled in and attending public school or some
equivalent education program defined by the law.
How It Works
State laws govern the conditions of school attendance.

Every state has enacted a compulsory attendance statute.

These are applicable to all children with only a few legally recognized exceptions.

Parents (or legal guardians) are held legally responsible for their children’s school
attendance.

The laws are enforced by local attendance officers, law enforcement officers, and
courts.
Nevada’s Law

“Unless otherwise provided by law, each parent of any child between the ages of 7 and
18 shall send the child to a public school during all the time the public school is in
session. A child who is 6 years of age and enrolled in school must also attend.”

NRS 392.130
Exceptions to the Law
Child’s Circumstances

Usually cases of severe injury or illness to child or immediate family member or death of a parent or
guardian.

Equivalent Education

Private or religious school, or homeschooling; Pierce V Society of Sisters

Religious

Most states require the child to at least complete 8th grade. “A school board shall excuse from attendance
at school: any pupil who, together with his parents, by reason of bona fide religious training or belief is
conscientiously opposed to attendance at school.”

Revised Statute 22.1-254(B)(1)

Pierce V Society of Sisters

In 1925 the supreme court ruled that the Oregon compulsory attendance law that
made it illegal to attend any academic institution besides public school to be
unconstitutional.
Commonwealth V Kerstetter
In 2014 a case was brought to the supreme court by a mother who had enrolled her
twin 5 year old daughters in kindergarten and after accumulating an excessive number
of unexcused absences, was charged with truancy. The mother cited the state’s
compulsory attendance law which states “the period of a child’s life from the time the
child’s parents elect to have the child enter school, which shall be no later than the age
of 8 years, until the age of 17 years.” she also cited a different section that talked about
compulsory school age and stated “any child that should enter the lowest grade of the
primary school or the lowest primary class above kindergarten level.” the case was
dismissed and brought back up several times and the mother was eventually found to
be in the wrong despite the contradictory language used in the laws which the courts
did acknowledge.
My View
The mother in this cartoon has no legitimate cause for removing her children from
school.

She states that she wants to take them away from “the terror, the guns, the violence…”
but first, none of that is inherent in the education system and second, this does not
provide a reason that the children cannot attend.

If the mother wishes to homeschool her children instead she is welcome to do so and
can even have a private tutor hired if she is not able to do so herself.

She may also choose to send them to a private educational institution.

She cannot however completely exemplify her children from an education altogether
simply because she believes there is violence in the world.
Works Cited
Oxford Dictionary

https://www.ncsl.org

PUB-245 - Laws on attendance.indd - Clark County School District

https://education.findlaw.com/education
-options/compulsory-education-laws-background.html

https://hslda.org > docs > nche > issues

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/pa-supreme-court/1670075.html

Cambron-McCabe,N.H., McCarthy, M.M., &Eckes, S. (2014) Legal Rights of Teachers

and Students. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.