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Federal Law Now Says Kids Can Walk To School Alone (fastcoexist.com)
An anonymous reader writes: There's some good news for "free-range" parents and fans of children being allowed to walk places on their own. A recently approved federal education law will allow students to take alternative forms of transportation to and from school with parental permission. Fastcoexist reports: "Relax, parents. Now you can allow your kids to walk, ride a bike, or take a bus to school, without you or your children getting arrested. The recently-signed Every Student Succeeds Act contains a section (858) that protects the rights of kids to walk or go out alone. The act was sponsored by Utah senator Mike Lee, who is a supporter of the Free Range Kids movement, and provides some hope for parents who feel that their kids should be allowed some autonomy to get by own their own." One can only hope that children will be allowed to go to the park on their own soon as well.
This does not effect state or local law enforcement, unless you believe that kids walking to school are engaging in interstate commerce.
Well, given that "interstate commerce" has been extended to include growing food on your own property for the consumption of your family and your own animals, I think it's pretty easy for a kid walking to school to engage in it, assuming he eats a homegrown snack along the way.
I can just see it now: a kid stops and rests on a bench to eat a sandwich on the way home from school. Suddenly, the Feds screech up in black SUVs, a helicopter swoops in overheard. "Freeze! Put down the sandwich -- slowly! We have reason to believe that that sandwich contains a contraband tomato slice, grown on your property in violation of the Godawful Ugly Grocery Produce for All Americans Act of 2016. (Otherwise known as the GUGPAA! Act, which is the sound most Americans make when they spit out flavorless store-bought tomatoes.) We will have to confiscate the sandwich, fine you for violating the Act, and escort you to a holding facility until your parents can be re-educated into proper patriotic procedures, like buying your tomatoes at the supermarket!"
And heaven help the kid if he trades sandwiches with the Native American kid at school, since the Constitution explicitly allows not only regulation of interstate commerce, but also commerce "with the Indian tribes."
Well, letting them walk to work might be a bit tough to defend for an 8 year old.