What do you think about the California judge's decision undoing parental rights to home-school the children?

Question

This is big. Parents need to hold on to their rights and responsibilities.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, HSLDA was NOT involved in this bad case, and the family involved were not members of hslda. I do not believe the decision will stand up to appeal, which is in process. We get hslda's weekly news update by email and you can read more here:  http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/ca/2008030...

What this demonstrates for us Homeschoolers is that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. They slipped one in on us. EVERY Homeschooling family should be members of this legal organization (hslda.org) dedicated to preserving our rights as parents. Membership is only $100.00 per year, and this is a very small price to pay if you ever have to deal with police, social workers, or school administrators who misinterpret the law or ignore it.

We have been members now for 12 years, and we USED to have two local high school school board members as neighbors, one on each side of us a few doors down. We have never had any problems, but I don't want any, and my wife and I consider our membership in hslda as inexpensive legal insurance. (They will FREELY defend you as necessary in court if the need arises. Membership application is about 6 pages long.)

Edit: Here is excerpt from the decision that is appalling:  It is clear to us that enrollment and attendance in a public full-time day school is required by California law for minor children unless (1) the child is enrolled in a private full-time day school and actually attends that private school, (2) the child is tutored by a person holding a valid state teaching credential for the grade being taught, or (3) one of the other few statutory

exemptions to compulsory public school attendance (Ed. Code, § 48220 et seq.) applies to the child. Because the parents in this case have not demonstrated that any of these

exemptions apply to their children, we will grant the petition for extraordinary writ.

In accordance with this court logic, Richard Nixon's former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, is NOT qualified to teach foreign policy or social studies because he is NOT certified. Likewise, Bill Gates is unqualified to teach Business Management and Tiger Woods is unqualified to teach Golf as an elective class.

The wisdom of California courts??? This is NOTHING except the judges pandering to the teachers union. Pray God for slightly more wisdom from a higher court. Thank God for hslda.

Answer 2

Elizzabeth, here's the decision: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/doc...

Barb,

It's atrocious, of course. This judge came to his conclusion that homeschooling is unacceptable due to concepts like "A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation[...]"

Gee, I didn't realize that we lived in Soviet Russia.

I always thought that First Amendment rights to free speech were predicated on freedom of thought...required 'loyalty to the state' would seem to be the exact opposite of everything the country stands for.

Besides, the kids in this case came to the attention of the authorities because of allegations of abuse. If the kids are being abused, they should be removed from their abusers and protected. What would making them go to school for 6 hours accomplish? Why on earth would anyone want to leave them with their abusers for the other 18 hours a day?

This entire thing is nutty...and scary, how one judge can abridge the rights of 166,000 homeschoolers with one decision.

Answer 3

I think it's incredibly biased, uninformed, and a poor interpretation of laws...I also think that it won't stand for long.  HSLDA is already preparing to petition for depublishment, meaning it won't be able to be used as precedent. https://www2.hslda.org/Registrations/Dep...

I also think it's time for us to band together and do whatever we can to hold on to our rights; even though I live in a state where homeschooling is constitutionally protected, I know that a lot of families don't.

Edit - Sam and I, how would you feel if suddenly the government abolished schools and dictated that everyone must homeschool?  Children have differing educational needs, and not every child learns well in a school environment.  Additionally, schools are not meant to meet the needs of *every* student - they are meant to efficiently offer a standard education to the majority of students.  I'm not saying they're bad - many are good - but they have very little to offer students that fall outside of their logistics.  If the schools are sufficing for your children's needs, that's great - but please realize that there are millions of kids for whom schools just don't cut it for one reason or another.

The school system is not responsible for my child's education in the end, even if he did attend there.  I am.  It's my responsibility, as a responsible parent, to meet his needs and make sure he receives the education that he needs.  In his case, that's not something that our local schools are prepared to do.

Answer 4

Personally, I think it is great.  I have been waiting for somebody to have the guts to step in and say this absolutely wrong.    There are exceptions to everything, but for the most part it is a disservice to the child.

Hail the thumbs down, bring them on

Answer 5

It violates the fundamental constitutional right of parents to control the education of their children.  We must be vigilant because the courts, the educational elite and many in the general population would love to take the right to homeschool away from parents.  Homeschooling is different.  People generally don't like different, especially sheep who follow the pack and do what the tv, movie and sports stars tell them to do.  Yes, HSLDA will fight this, but we must be vocal and active or we will lose our rights and our children will pay the price.

Answer 6

Totally worth it to protect your rights by paying that $100 to The Homeschool Legal Defense Association. I think there is more to this story than the media is letting us know. Just another thing to get us going.

I just hope and pray we get some good people in making laws that would benefit and protect the rights of us parents and homeschooling in general.

Answer 7

We homeschool our child after teacher abuse, both physical and emotional, turned a happy, eager six year old into a suicidal eight year old.

This will be overturned.  I urge everyone to sign the HSLDA's petition and to pass on the link to as many people as possible.

Answer 8

I think it's atrocious. I also don't think it'll last very long. I just can't see how it won't be overturned. I mean, over 166000 kids are homeschooling in CA--are they really going to bring criminal charges against them all? And since when is the court the law? The judge who has done this isn't in a position to create laws and the law is already in place for homeschooling to be allowed. It won't stand long.

Answer 9

That judge didn't realize what he did. There is a huge homeschooling community. The California homeschoolers will not just sit back and let this be.The state of California can not criminalize parents for wanting to teach their OWN children. This is not a communist state. We should be free to teach our children as we see fit. I homeschooled my children for 18 years. When I started it wasn't widely accepted. Parents should not have to live in fear of being prosecuted when their goal is to do whats best for their children

Answer 10

Do you have a link for this information? If you , or anyone else has a link , I would really appreciate it> Thanks

YES ANswers has gone berserk. All kinds of crazy things happening  :-)

Answer 11

It's wrong! HSLDA will fight this and I hope they win. It's another example of liberal judges writing law instead of doing their job and intrepreting it! The scary part is so many states follow Ca's lead. How many states will be soon to follow?

Why can't we get more people in government like Bobby Jindal? He's La's new governor and is introducing tax cuts to home school  and private school parents! Now that i can go along with!

Answer 12

This is the first I have heard of it, and I'm outraged. And I agree with other answerers that it won't stand. They could have pulled this in the 80's, when the homeschooling movement was small, and people didn't realize how much better a job parents were doing. But the movement is huge today, and much more organized and tightly knit through internet communications. People are tired of the government taking away their rights and aren't going to stand for much more of it.