Oh, I agree, I agree... I just wonder, from a conservative point of view, why are there truancy laws anyway? Why do we set certain areas the government can intrude on parents and tell them what to do, and other areas we tell it to stay out of? Almost everyone is against the government telling you what religious beliefs you can pass along. But nobody has a problem with the government telling parents that their kids have to learn math.
Don't get me wrong, it's just a thought exercise - why and how have we justified what we have, as far as laws go?
I'm not answering for SoftballMominVA, but your comment on truancy law with the combination of government intrusion on religious beliefs reminded me of something that happened to me a loooooooooong time ago. Back when I was in the 1st grade, in Catholic school, in 1966.
I hated school, I absolutely HATED it and I was only in 1st grade. One morning after having lined up in the schoolyard and starting up the stairs in the building I had the "brilliant" idea that I wasn't going. Somehow or other I avoided detection and made it back down the stairsbetween all the other kids coming up and out the door I went.
I really wasn't hard to miss, I lived on the same street as the school, but I actually avoided detection for about an hour by hiding on the front "porch" of a neighbor's house.
40 years later and I still remember the "visit" to the principal's office with my parents after that stunt. Sister Mary Gemma sat behind her desk and explained to me that my father would be arrested if I didn't attend school. I actually said to her "My daddy is a policeman, he can't be arrested."
Long story short, I never tried that stunt again, but the point is that truancy laws existed that long ago and did apply to private schools, at least in NYC.