9/17/14: The hypocrisy of California's mandatory kindergarten authors

SAVECALIFORNIA.COM NEWS RELEASE

September 17, 2014 -- For Immediate Release

The Hypocrisy of California's Mandatory Kindergarten Authors
Writers of anti-parent bill on Gov. Brown's desk claim to support parents' rights

Sacramento, California -- The authors of the mandatory kindergarten bill in California -- which punishes parents for starting their 6-year-old children in first grade -- are ironically claiming to support parents' rights.

Consistent throughout the Assembly's analyses of AB 1444, the authors' contradictory views are stated:

The author believes that all kids should be required to attend kindergarten but also believes that parents should have the ability to start them at an older age if that is what they believe to be developmentally best for their kids. A possible effect of this bill is that the age of kids in the kindergarten through grade 12 system will be older in every grade. If parents start their kids in kindergarten at age 6, then they will be older going into all remaining grades. Source: Assembly Education Committee Analysis of AB 1444

"Democrats Joan Buchanan and Shirley Weber are hypocrites on parents' rights," said Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, which advocates for children and families. "This unnecessary bill was deceptively sold at the State Capitol. AB 1444 is a broad government mandate that punishes good parents who choose not to start their children's schooling in kindergarten, but who conscientiously wait until first grade. To white-wash this fact is either two-faced or deceptive."

Here's more from the Assembly Appropriations Committee Analysis of AB 1444:

The author contends this bill ensures all children begin first grade with the foundation for future success, while providing parents the flexibility to determine when the child is developmentally ready for kindergarten.

And again from the AB 1444 analysis distributed on the Assembly Floor:

"This bill ensures all children begin first grade with the foundation for future success, while providing parents the flexibility to determine when the child is developmentally ready for kindergarten."

"Mandatory kindergarten would eliminate the long-held right of California parents to choose whether or not to enroll their children in kindergarten," Thomasson said. "There's no 'flexibility' here. Did the Democrats pushing AB 1444 have guilty consciences about squashing parents' rights? Or was this simply a ruse to get this home-invasion bill passed? Or did they somehow forget to say their bill would result in police regarding parents as lawbreakers if their 5-year-olds were not in school?"

"You can't have it both ways," Thomasson said. "If you believe children belong to their parents, not the State, then you cannot eliminate the time-honored parental rights of loving, intentional fathers and mothers to decide what's best for their own children. Otherwise, come right out and say children belong to the State and the State is mandating an additional year of compulsory education, whether parents like it or not."

SaveCalifornia.com's AB 1444 veto request letter

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SaveCalifornia.com is a leading West Coast nonprofit, nonpartisan organization standing strong for moral virtues for the common good. We represent children and families in the areas of marriage and family, parental rights, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, financial freedom, and back-to-basics education.