Posted on 03/05/2008 4:16:01 PM PST by wagglebee
LOS ANGELES, March 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Thousands of homeschoolers in California are left in legal limbo by an appeals court ruling that homeschooling is not a legal option in the state and that a family who has homeschooled all their children for years must enrol their two youngest in state or private schools. Justice H. Walter Croskey in a written opinion said, "California courts have held that under provisions in the Education Code, parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children."
The sweeping February 29th ruling says that California law requires "persons between the ages of six and eighteen" to be in "public full-time day school," or a "private full-time day school" or "instructed by a tutor who holds a valid state teaching credential for the grade being taught".
The two youngest of Phillip and Mary Long's eight children must be enrolled in a state approved school. Phillip Long told WorldNetDaily, "We just don't want them teaching our children. They teach things that are totally contrary to what we believe. They put questions in our children's minds we don't feel they're ready for."
Mr. Long cited the state curriculum's inclusion of sex education, including its promotion of homosexuality as a normal lifestyle. "When they are much more mature, they can deal with these issues, alternative lifestyles, and such, or whether they came from primordial slop. At the present time it's my job to teach them the correct way of thinking," he said.
The Los Angeles-area family was targeted by Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services after one of the children reported "physical and emotional mistreatment by the children's father," according to documents submitted to the court.
The 2nd Appellate Court in Los Angeles agreed with the trial court decision that had found, "keeping the children at home deprived them of situations where they could interact with people outside the family".
"There are people who could provide help if something is amiss in the children's lives, and they could develop emotionally in a broader world than the parents' 'cloistered' setting," the ruling said.
Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), said in a March 3 statement that the organization "strongly disputes this interpretation of California law" and is studying the decision.
The group called the ruling "a very bad decision" saying, "the opinion holds that homeschooling is not a legal option in California."
"If the opinion is followed, then California will have the most regressive law in the nation and homeschooling will be effectively banned, because the only legal way to homeschool will be for the parent to hold a teaching certificate. Parents should not have to attend a four-year college education program just to teach their own children."
Smith added, "California is now on the path to being the only state to deny the vast majority of homeschooling parents their fundamental right to teach their own children at home."
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Back to School: Organization Gives Reasons to Consider Homeschooling
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06082407.html
Home Schoolers Concerned Over New Ontario Compulsory Attendance Law
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06020301.html
Three More Families Appeal for Help as Germany Continues Crackdown on Homeschooling Families
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/apr/07041609.html
VERY few public schools are now willing to allow their phone numbers to be released by the College Board so that home educators can arrange for proctoring of the AP tests.
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Yeah! Right! Big surprise! ( Wink Wink Nod nod)
These people make me sick!
By the way, congratulations on your kids! Good job!
I happened to glance at your profile page, and saw that you like Chesterton's "Orthodoxy"; so did my daughter. She read it for an online homeschool high school course on Church history, I believe, but she also took it to Hillsdale College with her and is using it there as well.
How relieved I am to find today that it was the laslimes misinterpretation (deliberate, to stir up those conservatives, I wonder?)
I love “Orthodoxy.” It is one of a handful of books that I would recommend to everyone in the world. You said your daughter read it . . . if you haven’t . . . you should!
It wasn’t illegal in ‘87-’90...that much I know.
“What’s worse is that we homeschool and I was considering taking a job in San Diego. Now I may have to rethink this.”
You’d be well advised to find a job in a different state.
the cover art is priceless.
Read “The Issue”, “The Threat” and “The Solution”, then sign up, then sign the petition.
check out jobs at hp.com - we’re hiring :-)
They will never have my kids, even after they pry them out of my cold, dead hands.
Oh thank you!
I’m going to have him go through it this weekend!
Thanks for posting.
SACRAMENTO, March 7 (UPI) -- California's governor wants to see a court ruling tightening the rules for home schooling overturned.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement Friday calling this week's ruling requiring home-school instructors to hold valid teaching credentials "outrageous" and called for it to either be overturned in the court system or changed through the legislative process.
"Every California child deserves a quality education and parents should have the right to decide what's best for their children," Schwarzenegger said. "Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children's education. This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts and if the courts don't protect parents' rights then, as elected officials, we will."
An estimated 166,000 children are homeschooled across the state. The ruling by the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles said all children ages 6 to 18 must attend public or private school full-time until graduation from high school or be tutored at home by a credentialed teacher. There is no specific allowance in state law for homeschooling, the court said. Many homeschooling parents register as a private school with the state, a status that does not require credentialed teachers. Then they enroll their own children in their school.
The court ruling, issued Feb. 28, appears to restrict such practices, setting a precedent that could lead to parents being prosecution for truancy.
Cali seems bound and determined to rid the state of all good upstanding taxpayers.
Why can't a home school fit into that definition for these nutballs? (meaning the libs)
A home school is definitely full time. 24/7 as long as you're awake, pretty much!
"the education of the young was more important than anything that could be done for those who were already grown up." -- Napoleon (Animal Farm)
Napoleon took no interest in Snowball's committees. He said that the education of the young was more important than anything that could be done for those who were already grown up. It happened that Jessie and Bluebell had both whelped soon after the hay harvest, giving birth between them to nine sturdy puppies. As soon as they were weaned, Napoleon took them away from their mothers, saying that he would make himself responsible for their education.
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