California Home-Schooling Ruling Called 'Assault on Family'

CNSNews.com ^ | March 10, 2008 | Randy Hall

[Man50D]

A ruling by a California appeals court that parents "do not have a constitutional right to home-school their children" drew harsh criticism from religious conservatives on Friday, one of whom said the decision makes tens of thousands of parents into criminals - "the equivalent to drug dealers or pick-pockets."

"The court is guilty of an imperious assault on the rights of parents," James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family, said in a press release responding to a three-judge panel from the 2nd District Court of Appeals, which ruled on Feb. 28 that parents without teaching credentials cannot home-school their children.

"How dare these judges have the audacity to label tens of thousands of parents as criminals - the equivalent to drug dealers or pick-pockets - because they want to raise and educate their children according to their deeply held values?" Dobson asked.

At the center of the case is a Southern California couple, Phillip and Mary Long of Lynwood, who home-schooled their children through a program at the Sunland Christian School in Sylmar. The family came to the attention of Los Angeles County social workers when one of the children claimed the father was physically abusive.

The workers then learned that all eight children in the family were home-schooled, and an attorney representing the two youngest children asked the Juvenile Dependency Court to order that they be enrolled in public or private school to protect their well-being.

[Wallace T.]

While the ruling is narrowly based, it is worthy to note that the justices applied rulings dating back to the 1950s requiring that children be educated by a public school, an accredited tutor, or an accredited private school. Mandatory universal education is an old concept, dating to the 19th Century. It is fundamentally statist and violative of personal liberty. However, it was tolerable because until the 1960s, local school boards were essentially autonomous. Even then religious minorities, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, atheists, and Catholics, were sometimes forced to attend public schools where a sort of generic Protestantism was the prevailing worldview.

The development of state education authorities and the Federal Department of Education eviscerated local control, along with Supreme Court rulings from the Warren and Burger eras that remain in place. The liberals and the NEA have been frustrated at the rise of home schooling. As soon as they have even a possibility of ending home schooling, they will pursue it.

Advice to conservative families with children in California: leave the state and don't look back.

[wintertime]

I would like someone like Bill O’Reilly to carry the water on this one since he has a larger audience than FR.
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Rush and Sean will ignore this story too.

The Three Stooges: Rush, Sean, and OReilly!

Or...

The Three Monkeys: See no evil! Hear no evil! REPORT no evil!

I don't listen to Sean or OReilly often but I do check in on Rush. While the upcoming election and taxes are important there **really are*** issues more important than these that are a **more serious** threat to our continued freedom!

Honestly! I am exasperated with them!

The liberal/Marxists have thoroughly infected every institution in our country ( legislatures, media, all the arts, our courts, all of our government bureaucracies, and ESPECIALLY SCHOOLS!) And Rush, Sean, and OReilly are ASLEEP!

How often do you even hear the Three Stooges call the enemy by its real name? MARXISM! Rarely!

[Man50D]

I am not defending Socialists, and any California Supreme Court.

I'm not saying you favor socialism. I am merely pointing out this court case is an attempt by socialists to cover up their agenda of converting our form of government to socialism. They are using this court case as an excuse to advance their cause.

[wintertime]

Advice to conservative families with children in California: leave the state and don’t look back.

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They should stay and fight unless their children are immediately threatened.

Why?

Reason: California has tremendous influence over textbooks that are made available for sale to the rest of the nation. Also, the influence of the California NEA has great influence on the NEA throughout the nation and laws and policies made on a federal level.

Everyone across the nation, and conservatives with and without children, must take a stand in California.

[Aquinasfan]

Before we go off in the direction of defending these parents, shouldn't we first find out in some detail how it happened that this family came to the attention of LA County social workers in the first place? I am all for a parents right to choose but I would like to know the truth.

The facts in this individual case are largely irrelevant, since the court has apparently decided to deny all parents their God-given right to homeschool. An individual criminal case has turned into a constitutional/human rights case.

[wintertime]

The marxists won this one. You can be sure Massachusetts and New Jersey will be next.

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YOU GET IT! You understand the problem!

MARXISM is freedom's MOST serious enemy! They one this one!

We will not win this cultural war unless we call the enemy what it is: MARXISM! If we don't win, it may not be a cultural war that we will be fighting.

[Aquinasfan]

Parents may not have a Constitutional right to homeschool.

Do you mean an explicit right? Certainly, parents enjoy a God-given right to homeschool their children, and since the purpose of the Constitution is to "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," parents must also necessarily enjoy a constitutional right to homeschool.

[wintertime]

There is a much larger issue. This is one among many methods socialistsMARXISTS are using to replace our democratic republic with socialismMARXISM.

There fixed that! It is time to call the enemy what is is, and who they are! MARXISM and MARXISTS!

[Wallace T.]

You cannot count on Schwarzenegger being Governor indefinitely. While no conservative, he is unlikely to vigorously enforce the court's ruling. Homeschooling families may be picked on at the individual level at present. However, the political situation in California is deteriorating due to middle class flight and the increasing numbers of immigrants, legal or not. The next governor is likely to be a leftist Democrat, who will receive the full support of the leftist legislature. Then there will be a crackdown on homeschooling, and those who don't get their affairs in order to leave California without losing money will be forced to flee, perhaps even at a day's notice.

Yes, I know most counties in California are still moderate to conservative, but Los Angeles and the Bay Area are left wing strongholds whose grip on the rest of the state will not be broken barring a catastrophe. The same can be said for many Northeastern states, and maybe Illinois as well. Conservatives are losing this country demographically as well as socially on both the political and cultural fronts. The best that can be hoped for is a fall back to the "red" states, although deterioration is evident even there.

[ShadowAce]

Do you mean an explicit right?

Yes. Sorry for the confusion. I was trying to say our right to homeschool is God-given and very much part of the "pursuit of happiness" we supposedly hold so dear in this country.

[llmc1]

I don’t know if this is what you’re looking for -

http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000000/00000017.asp

It’s about halfway down the page. (How Are Homeschoolers Scoring on College Entrance Exams?)

[L,TOWM]

The fight for CA was over 10, if not 20 years ago. The decent, productive, clear minded people in that socialist nanny state lost.

And AFAIK, CA has no influence at all on the Bob Jones, Abeka, and other homeschool textbooks our family uses.

I and my family left CA in 2005 for Texas, and it is one of the best decisions I have ever made.

[SoftballMominVA]

I've seen that link before. Unfortunately, it does not prove that homeschoolers are doing better in every area than public schoolers. In fact, according to this article, they do worse in math

....In math, homeschoolers scored 19.2 compared to the national average of 20.2....

How do you reconcile that fact to what you think is true?

[MEGoody]

Before we go off in the direction of defending these parents, shouldn't we first find out in some detail how it happened that this family came to the attention of LA County social workers in the first place?

The plain fact is, home-schooling had nothing to do with this. If a parent is going to abuse a kid, they'll do it whether the kid goes to public school or is home-schooled.

Address the physical abuse, if applicable. The judge went off half-cocked and blamed home-schooling. His ruling, unless it is overturned, affects ALL parents who would like to home-school, not just this family.

Frankly, this judge doesn't belong on the bench.

[wmileo]

“Frankly, this judge doesn’t belong on the bench.”

I am curious to know who appointed this judge.

[llmc1]

“How do you reconcile that fact to what you think is true?”

First of all, I’m not the poster who stated that homeschoolers score better. I was only trying to help by giving you this info.

Secondly, my homeschooling son placed in the 92nd percentile in math. It was a marked improvement over his public school scores. Almost all homeschoolers I know do better than when they were in public school. And they’re much happier, too!

Maybe there are more updated stats that reflect this. Maybe not.

[wintertime]

Parents may not have a Constitutional right to homeschool. However, the Constitution does not lay out permissible rights for individuals—it lays out limitations for the government.

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Exactly! We have a Constitution to restrain government.

If parents needed to have an explicit right to homeschool then we would need explicit rights to everything in our lives. The Constitution would need to be explicit enough to allow us each chicken and rice for dinner, or wear blue jeans, make a cup of coffee, enjoy a day at the beach, etc.

[wintertime]

Thank you for the link. I have added it to my list of favorites.

[SoftballMominVA]

I'm just asking if you know why what you see as your situation differs with what the HSDLA reports. I've heard the phrase that homeschoolers do better in all academic areas, I've just never seen proof. Granted, with what you posted, the verbal scores were higher in homeschoolers to public schoolers, but is there anything more recent that shows how the math stacks up?

Thanks for posting, and I appreciate your personal anecdote. I'd be interested in seeing how homeschoolers stack up nationwide - private schoolers also.

Good wishes to you and yours!