This morning at about 10 o'clock, Fox News broadcast a story about a family court judge in New Jersey who said he was "shocked" that homeschool families were not being "monitored," and said they should be. The anchorwoman and her guests gave the impression that the judge's opinion actually changed the law, and that now families would need to be monitored.
In fact, the judge did not change the law. Nothing has changed. In order to protect individual freedoms, the founders of our nation wanted to be sure that governmental power did not become overly concentrated. To prevent this, they wisely split power into three branches--legislative, judicial and executive. As the founders conceived it, the judicial branch has no power to make new laws. That power belongs to the legislature working through representatives elected by the people.
Even though the judge in this case said the homeschool laws of New Jersey should be different, it is not up to him to decide. The state of New Jersey already has laws on the books related to homeschooling, and this will only change if the people, through their elected representatives, enact a change. Furthermore, the judge's comments were "dicta"--legalese that means other judges are perfectly free to ignore the comments. Nothing the judge said in his written opinion is binding on any other judge or any other family.
The Fox News story overlooked one more important point. The judge allowed the mother to keep homeschooling--without being monitored. Even though the father had asked the judge to prohibit the mother from continuing the homeschool program, the judge's final order simply urged the parents to work out the issue among themselves, with recommendations of steps they should take to make sure the homeschool laws already on the books were obeyed. We don't expect a judge from one state to be familiar with the laws of other states. However, the judge might not have been shocked if he had been aware of the fact that New Jersey's homeschool law is similar to that of many other states.
Sincerely Yours, Scott A. Woodruff, HSLDA Staff Attorney
Ping for later
"Honerable", my Aunt Fannie...
home school
no wonder people are leaving the north in droves
Talk about liberal activists judges...
Sounds like this dad really cares about his kids.
That's why he's not there.
There's no way to determine what the children's test scores would have been, had they been taught at a school.
Apparently this lady *ahem* judge doesn't realize what a force homeschoolers are. Maybe she never heard of HR6 and what it did to wake up members of Congress.
not every mother is the best choice or capable of homeschooling. this father may have been helping her and without his help the kids may indeed be getting a substandard education.
Yes, isn't it amazing that New Jersey --of all places-- has been one of the most homeschool friendly states in the US?
I'm afraid that can only be because the Leftists here haven't gotten around to siccing the courts on homeschoolers...yet.
Hope this vindictive father doesn't ruin things for everyone in NJ by giving our hideously leftist courts (Abbott decision, arrgghh) a chance to meddle.
Is Stevie gonna pay for 7 kids to go to parochial school, or is he trying to break her bank?
How was he able to assist in the home schooling at one time which he now finds so objectionable? The judge is an idiot, wasting tax dollars like this.
Wait...7 kids aged 12 to 4 years??? This guy will never stop paying child support. He should have stayed home.
How about rewriting the headline!
Estranged husband sues wife to stop homeschooling. Judge makes her stop.
The headline makes it appear that the state of NJ made her stop.
This is not what happened.
Regardless, left leaning government officials are salivating at the idea
of stopping homeschooling. They look for opportunities to block the rights of parents
to control the education of their children.
Left leaning beaurocrats want to have control over the indoctrination of our children,
so that they can teach them the proper dogmas of leftism.
How dare her... Removing her children from the group brain wash of federally controled public school..
Wait till Hitlery is elected in 2008.. Jail time might be advocated..
The gist of all this (all "public" education) goes to a modern anti-historical fabrication of the founders recognition that our young citizens should be educated.
The fabrication involves the substitution of "the state" for the concept of "the society" and "the public".
It is an attempt, dominant since the 1940s, to place the state and all its operations as "the focus and core" of "the society", contrary to the Constitution's foundation as the governing instrument of our society as one of limited government.
What is the proper role of Government in all this? It is not to be our children's education masters. It is to provide the legal infrastructure for our free personal and economic associations to be able to obtain the means for our children's education, and to support the less fortunate whose life circumstances make that difficult for them.
At every point you accept a direct government-role as your savior, the laws it enacts to make that possible make it your master.