Parents of the approximately 200,000 home-schooled children in California are reeling from the possibility that they may have to shutter their classrooms ”” and go back to school themselves ”” if they want to continue teaching their own kids. On Feb. 28, Judge H. Walter Croskey of the Second District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles ruled that children ages six to 18 may be taught only by credentialed teachers in public or private schools ”” or at home by Mom and Dad, but only if they have a teaching degree. Citing state law that goes back to the early 1950s, Croskey declared that “California courts have held that under provisions in the Education Code, parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children.” Furthermore, the judge wrote, if instructors teach without credentials they will be subject to criminal action.
This news raised a furor among home schooling advocates, including government officials. “Every California child deserves a quality education and parents should have the right to decide what’s best for their children,” Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement today. “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.” “It’s kind of scary,” says Julie Beth Lamb, an Oakdale, California, parent who, with no teaching credentials, has taught her four children for 15 years. “If that ruling is held up, this would make us one of the most restrictive states in the nation.”
Fascism reigns supreme in California.
ALL HAIL the State. Talk about erosion of freedom. Although this is more like blasting a hillside for strip mining.
The really sad part is that no one will connect this action with the degrading of the family as the basis of social order.
[blockquote][…] they will be subject to criminal action.[/blockquote]
Indeed. Not explicitly noted, however, is the identity of the actor.
This is a simple one, though. The flaw is in the state law, which has been on the books but genially ignored saying just what the judge says. The real test will be if Gov. Arnold and other conservatives will actually muster the will and the votes to pass a new, revised law.
Californians, don’t let up on ’em! Make ’em follow through on what they’re saying with great (feigned) shock and bluster, and don’t settle for half-measures that can be taken back by administrative fiat the next time the balance of the Statehouse changes.
I saw a report once about the illegality of home schooling in Germany and how the government there were prosecuting parents who home school their children.
It’s all about having the State as both God and parent. The state can’t have people running around who are able to think and who haven’t been indoctrinated to love the State. Those people are dangerous! They believe in God and family. They don’t watch much television. They like to read, think and can find their home state on a map.
-Vincent
[i]portion of comment deleted.[/i]
North Carolina state law explicitly permits home schooling. The requirements include registration with the state, students from no more than two households, immunizations and annual standardized testing, teacher has high school education, drivers’ ed.
There is a petition here if you are interested in asking for the California Supreme Court to “depublish” this ruling:
[url=https://www2.hslda.org/Registrations/DepublishingCaliforniaCourtDecision/]Homeschooling Petition[/url]
Sometimes, the state’s “doing what is best for the children” is worse than doing nothing. I believe that ensuring that one’s children receive an education should be the responsibility of parents.
Please, gang, take a deep breath! This was a ruling on an arcane section of the law in California. It does not change a thing, except some folks are trying to make money (“Watch out! Only WE can protect you! Just send a donation to support our cause!” type of blarney). Before you launch into hysterics, calm down and check out the many analyses being published by California newspapers, attorneys, etc. They’re being published because so many conservatives went off the deep end when Focus on the Family misinterpreted the ruling and (of course!) made it a cornerstone of still another fund-raising campaign.
The extremists of left and right both raise money the same way: by stirring up the emotions of their base. Let’s not fall for it this time.
Elves:
What is your problem with deleting comments????!! Why must we have censorship on verifiable facts!!!
It is a verified fact that Arnold’s father was an SS officer. Also, when he was taking a photograph with Michael Bloomberg (Mayor of NYC, who happens to be Jewish) we was wearing an SS officer Deaths head belt buckle.
Therefore, my previous posting was factual and should not have been edited.
-Vincent
[i]Vincent, in the future, please write us offline: T19elves@yahoo.com rather than posting such questions online. On the old version of T19 it was well-known that nazi-focused comments would land automatically in moderation (we could screen on individual words). We can’t do that on this blog, but we do sometimes edit individual comments. No one said your facts were untrue, however such comments tend to lead discussions astray very quickly and Kendall requests that threads stay at least somewhat on topic. Thus the edit. Please respect our wishes. Continued attempts to reintroduce comments we’ve edited or removed will land you in moderation.[/i]
Vincent, maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think your comment has any relation to what we are discussing here.
If the French can stop the nationalisation of Catholic schools in a country as secular as France is, Californians should certainly be able to reverse this, [url=http://www.vulcanhammer.org/?p=550]as I note here[/url].
If they can’t, we are in serious trouble.
Little Cabbage has the right idea here, folks. Nothing is changing in regards to homeschooling in California as a result of this ruling. See this (or one of many, many others saying the same thing) article:
Calif. school chief backs parents’ right to home school
This decision provides a good example of what self-proclaimed STRICT CONSTRUCTIONISTS say they want courts to do.
Think about it: The court strictly applied the relevant statutory provision, resisted administrative efforts to water it down, and refused to recognize a new constitutional right. It said, if you don’t like the statute, ask the legislature to change it.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
I completely disagree with the outcome: parents should be free to home-school their children subject to reasonable safeguards of the sort cited by Tom Rightmyer [#7].
This will not stand. Calif is the largest home schooling state. I don’t have stats, but many, many of them are Christians (we used to homeschool when we lived there). They will mobalize tons of intercession. The ACLJ or another legal firm dedicated to preserving religious liberty will challenge this, if it hasn’t alreay happened.
This will not stand. I suspect that the key question is the extent to which the legislative response is reasonable and workable.