Posted on 03/07/2008 6:36:30 PM PST by GVnana
(03-07) 13:37 PST SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised today to ensure that parents have the right to homeschool their children, after a state appeals court ruling severely restricted the practice in California.
"Every California child deserves a quality education and parents should have the right to decide what's best for their children," the governor said in a statement. "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.
The Southern California case stemmed from a child welfare dispute involving the children of Phillip and Mary Long of Lynwood (Los Angeles County). The couple's eight children have been home-schooled by Mary Long, who holds no teaching credential. The children were also enrolled in a private school through an independent study program, which included quarterly home visits. Although the case did not involve the question of the children's truancy, the court decision broadly addressed the legality of homeschooling in California while specifically ruling that the Long family's situation violated state law.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
My best friend and my s-i-l said the same thing to me.
nana... have you read the opinion?
I’m getting a whole different opinion of this whole case, and the judge.
http://www.bayareanewsgroup.com/multimedia/mn/news/homeschool_opinion_030708.pdf
PDF file of the court ruling..
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B192878.PDF
Approximately 300,000 thousand possible votes from home school parents alone....who WILL go out and vote against anyone who messes around with their freedom to educate their kids in the way they want them to go.
That's whatz wid dat.
Leni
Arnold is a social liberal, but a fiscal conservative.
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fiscal conservative, my patooty..
have you seen what has happened out here the last 5 years with the state budget, one which he proposes and signs?
Ouch!
Ahnold, a conservative???? Not! But he’s right on this issue. Still, it ain’t enough for me to ever vote for the guy...Refusing to rid L.A. and L.A. County and the rest of the state of the 20 million illegals here...He could do it, too! With the Feds (DHS/ICE) raiding one business every other day in CA, or whatever the percentage is, illegals are going NOWHERE! They’re staying put. Ahnold could SAVE THE STATE by calling out the National Guard and going into the gan-infested L.A. communities and arrest those without proper ID, vet them on the computer and have ICE with buses and buses all gassed up and ready to haul them off to detention camps. We’re talking MILLIONS of illegals here!! And Ahnold could be a hero!! Imagine, an Austrian saving CA!!
I know, it was a nice dream while it lasted...
If two people are in an elevator and one of them farts both know who did it.
He had to wait until his wife went back east to visit the fam. He’ll change his tune when she returns.
That Judge has it you know where.
This state could care less about the children and public welfare. It lets a bunch of thugs run an educational system that is seeking to “normalize” every student without any concern of the cost to society as a whole nor whether those being indoctrinated have any rights at all as to what and how they are taught.
Here’a bit from an SFGate piece as well
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Homeschoolers’ setback sends shock waves through state
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/MNJDVF0F1.DTL
excerpt
Union pleased with ruling
The ruling was applauded by a director for the state’s largest teachers union.
“We’re happy,” said Lloyd Porter, who is on the California Teachers Association board of directors. “We always think students should be taught by credentialed teachers, no matter what the setting.”
A spokesman for the state Department of Education said the agency is reviewing the decision to determine its impact on current policies and procedures. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell issued a statement saying he supports “parental choice when it comes to homeschooling.”
Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which agreed earlier this week to represent Sunland Christian School and legally advise the Long family on a likely appeal to the state Supreme Court, said the appellate court ruling has set a precedent that can now be used to go after homeschoolers. “With this case law, anyone in California who is homeschooling without a teaching credential is subject to prosecution for truancy violation, which could require community service, heavy fines and possibly removal of their children under allegations of educational neglect,” Dacus said.
Parents say they choose homeschooling for a variety of reasons, from religious beliefs to disillusionment with the local public schools.
Homeschooling parent Debbie Schwarzer of Los Altos said she’s ready for a fight.
Schwarzer runs Oak Hill Academy out of her Santa Clara County home. It is a state-registered private school with two students, she said, noting they are her own children, ages 10 and 12. She does not have a teaching credential, but she does have a law degree.
“I’m kind of hoping some truancy officer shows up on my doorstep,” she said. “I’m ready. I have damn good arguments.”
She opted to teach her children at home to better meet their needs.
The ruling, Schwarzer said, “stinks.”
If he’s a fiscal conservative why is the state in such debt?
The “state” is just a group of people who decided that they have power over other’s children. At what point do those people protect their children by any means necessary?
I’m just wondering aloud.
As I understand the teachers college curriculum, it is METHODS of teaching math, or biology, or whatever. Actual knowledge of the subject matter is optional.
Parents want what is in the best interest of their children. There are some exceptions to that, and the elitist control freaks in government have used those exceptions to justify burdening all parents with rules about what is best "for the children".
So, if the parents can find expertise to teach the material within themselves, or with prepared literature, or on the internet, should we care whether they are "credentialed"?
Teachers at a private school do not require a State of California Teaching Credential. From the FAQs:
Operators of private schools are required by law to file a Private School Affidavit. In addition, the law provides an exemption from compulsory public school attendance for children who are being instructed in a private, full-time day school (EC 48200, 48220, 48222), so long as certain conditions are met: instruction must be provided by persons capable of teaching; and instruction must be in English and offered in the several branches of study required to be taught in California's public schools. In addition, attendance must be kept in a register that indicates every absence of the pupil from a half day or more of attendance. For the exemption from the compulsory attendance law to be valid, the attendance supervisor of the public school district must verify that the private school has filed the annual Private School Affidavit required by EC Section 33190. If the school has nonprofit tax status, the eligibility of that school's students, teachers and other educational personnel to participate in various federally funded programs is contingent upon the annual filing of the Affidavit.
Good for Arnold. He takes the conservative side once in a while!
SCOTUS will kill this silliness
There are wonderful curriculum's out there for homeschoolers that any parent can teach. And the important thing is the children are now learning how to learn.
That's the kill stroke. We're going to need new statutes.
And look who brought the case: A case brought by the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles, Cameryn Schmidt and Christine Caldwell, for Petitioners
Doesn't this just make you think of Hillary Clinton's village?
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