The AP is reporting that the United Kingdom Supreme Court ruled last week that a father broke the law by taking his daughter to Walt Disney World during the school year. Jon Platt was fined 120 pounds, about $150, for taking his 6-year-old daughter to the vacation destination for a week in 2015.
Lower UK courts had ruled that the action was not unlawful because she had a good attendance record, which then “led to a surge in British parents taking children on vacation during school terms.” But the higher court overruled those decisions when it was appealed by local officials and the British government. The court ruled unanimously that schools had the right to determine what constitutes regular attendance.
Obviously the appeal of going during the school year is lower hotel and airfare prices as well as smaller crowds at the park. One of the five justices, Judge Brenda Hale said unauthorized absences were “a slap in the face to those obedient parents who do keep the rules.” While Platt said the ruling means millions of parents in Britain no longer have the power to make decisions about their own children and that he has no plans to pay the fine.