Principle Over Party

In Illinois, the government continues to mandate more and more expenses on families. This time they are requiring eye exams before a student enters kindergarten.

Illinois kindergartners already faced a lengthy to-do list before they could report to school: mandatory vaccinations, tuberculosis tests, physicals and dental exams. This year, they need to stop at the eye doctor too. A new law requires that kindergartners and students new to Illinois schools receive a complete eye exam—to check for everything from astigmatism to glaucoma—performed by an optometrist or physician licensed to perform those tests. Schools may withhold report cards of students who do not show evidence of the exam by Oct. 15. Illinois already required schools to do basic screening of students’ eyesight in kindergarten, 2nd and 8th grades, leading some medical experts and educators to question the merits of the new law. More extensive eye exams undoubtedly will mean earlier detection of vision problems in some children, they say, but will also increase the expense for some financially strapped families. An eye exam typically costs about $50.

Government just keeps on mandating more and more expenses on top of the never ending taxes. These mandates are on top of all the mandates the schools have to perform already. Of course there are some parents who will never take their kids to the doctor, but that is a small minority. Instead of mandating something for everyone, lets find a way to help those parents who don’t help their kids. We just don’t need all of these government mandates. The government does not need to take care of us all.