Compulsory School Age -- I don't know if this has already been discussed, it could just be a component of the homeschooling laws, but I was just curious...
AK
"between 7 and 16" (A child who is six years old and enrolled in the first grade in public school is subject to the compulsory attendance law. A parent may withdraw such a child from public school within 60 days of enrollment, and the child will not be subject to the compulsory attendance law until age seven.)
DE
"between 5 years of age and 16 years of age"; can delay start (if "in best interests of the child") with school authorization
ID
"attained the age of 7 years, but not the age of 16 years"
ME
"7 years of age or older and under 17 years"
MT
"7 years of age or older prior to the first day of school" and "the later of the following dates: the child’s 16th birthday; the day of completion of the work of the 8th grade"
ND
"a child between the ages of seven and sixteen years."
NH
"at least 6 years of age [on September 30] and under 16 years of age"
SD
"six years old by the first day of September and who has not exceeded the age of sixteen years"; children under age 7 can be excused
VT
"between the ages of six and 16 years"; children attending a post-secondary school (approved or accredited by Vermont or another state) are exempt
WY
"whose seventh birthday falls before September 15 of any year and who has not yet attained his sixteenth birthday or completed the tenth grade…"
My rough analysis of these laws without going into fine points:
MT=WY=ND=ID=NH=AK > SD=VT=ME> DE
Out of these, Montana and Wyoming possibly seem to be the lesser evil, but all compulsory school attendance laws have a way of interfering with parent's rights, so couple that with how they give an out, and we can see that from the spreadsheet values for Homeschooling, AK and ID offer the most freedom, followed by DE,MT,WY, NH,SD take the lower end and DE, VT and ME are bad news.
source:
hslda.org3488