california crisis?

You’ve probably been hearing stuff about California “outlawing” homeschooling.  At least, you probably have if you are involved with the homeschool community.  With all the jabber that’s been going on, I thought I’d offer the truth on here those who read this blog.  (A special thanks must be extended to my sis TK and my Aunty for what they dug up for me!)

Bare bone facts:

1. Cali has not outlawed homeschooling.

2. There is danger in these current events, both for the freedoms of all of Cali’s citiziens and all US citizens.

3. There is something that we can do about it.

Now, here’s the true story in-depth:

On February 28, 2008, the California Court of Appeals handed down a ruling effectively turning back the clock on home education for thousands of parents in California. The case was part of a complex series of appeals to the Court of Appeals from the juvenile court in Los Angeles County. In the underlying case, a complaint had been brought against a family of eight, where it was alleged that the father was physically and emotionally mistreating the eldest child. In the course of investigating this complaint, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services discovered that all eight of the family’s children were being educated at home by the mother and were not being sent to a brick and mortar school.During proceedings in the juvenile court, attorneys representing the children asked the court to order that the children not be educated at home and instead be enrolled in a public or private school. The lower court, however, declined to make such an order, and instead observed that the parents had a constitutional right to homeschool the children, despite the fact that the education they had been receiving at home was, in his words, “lousy,” “meager,” and “bad.” … The case was appealed to the Court of Appeals based on the sole question: Is it legal to homeschool in the State of California?The court determined that it was not legal to operate a home school under the compulsory attendance laws of the state. Under California’s education milieu, a minor child must attend a public full-time day school, unless the child is tutored by a properly credentialed teacher for the grade being taught.

The court reasoned that a mother teaching a child at home is not a properly credentialed teacher under the law and that attendance at any form of school other than a brick and mortar school was insufficient under the statute.

The court also noted that, although the family was a member of an independent study program (ISP), California law only recognizes ISP’s as a tool of the public education establishment for directed learning, and not as a vehicle for conducting home education, especially because it failed the traditional “brick and mortar” test for a “school” under the law. As such, the ISP was acting in conjunction with the family to skirt the compulsory attendance law and was illegitimate.

Additionally, the court completely disregarded the family’s federal constitutional argument that they were educating their children at home because of a sincerely held religious belief. This in and of itself was the most disturbing part of the case for me, due to the light treatment it received by the court.  - Jesse Paine, attorney and homeschool father (taken from Biblical Womanhood)

On Tuesday, March 11, Jack O’Connell, California Superintendent of Public Instruction, announced that he believed that homeschooling is still legal in California. O’Connell’s statement is welcome news....Some might conclude that the statement ends the controversy. However, it is not the end of the matter; it is just an important step along the way.…

O’Connell’s statement is helpful, but the courts will undoubtedly take the position that their determination of the meaning of state law is final even though they should give serious deference to the position of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

It should also be remembered that local school districts make the decision about when to initiate prosecutions for truancy, and they are not officially controlled by the state agency on these matters.  However, many local officials may be influenced by O’Connell’s
positive statement. - Michael Farris, chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association (from an email alert, also see here)

And finally, to sum up my views on the matter, here is Dr. Dobson: “The court is guilty of an imperious assault on the rights of parents…How dare these judges have the audacity to label tens of thousands of parents criminals — the equivalent to drug dealers or pickpockets — because they want to raise and educate their children according to their deeply held values?

“The case before them involved one couple — the ruling should have been confined to that one couple, not used to punish an entire class of people, the vast majority of them religious conservatives.” (from the CitizenLink daily email newsletter).

I used to be a homeschooled Cali kid, so I can definitely feel with how the families are feeling over there!  Plus, my fam still has homeschooling friends in Cali, and I’d hate to see anything happen to them.  So, here’s what we’re going to do (and I hope you will do it too): The HSLDA has a petition that we can sign.  The petition “[asks] the state Supreme Court…to apply the case to the family involved — not to all California families” (CitizenLink website).  To sign the petition, please click here.

Thanks for all your support (I’m sure all the INNOCENT LAW-ABIDING homeschhooling citizens of California will greatly appreciate it!)  And to all of you homeschool families in Cali–WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU!  Keep your chins up; God will deliver as He did with the Israelites in Egypt!

stephen