California Appeals Court Essentially Makes Homeschooling Illegal

[keithdb]

The court has declared that children must be taught by a credentialed teacher; anyone homeschooling without the proper credentials can be prosecuted under truancy laws.

Article hereWe don't homeschool, but as far as I'm concerned, if a person wishes to teach their children and the children meet any state testing requirements, then beyond that the

Comments

[brighidh]

I agree with you. My goal is to eventually homeschool and this entire mess has my hair on end.

[grover173]

Saw that article a day or two ago...crazy. It's apparently outraged a lot of people in CA including the governor, so I don't expect the ruling to stand very long, but you never know.

[keithdb]

The issue I see from what I read in the article is that this is an issue with the state consitution. I'm not sure what the rules are in CA regarding constitutional amendments, but it could take a while before the issue is resolved.

[grover173]

That was my interpretation as well. Something like that you figure they'll probably address in the very next voting cycle.

[dagnabit]

The issue is the interpretation of the specific law which is itself very neutral on it's face. There are a bunch of options about what to do about the weird ruling and just about every public official has weighed in with their idea. Even the director of the dept of Ed. in CA has issued a statement in favor of homeschooling. :) About the only body in favor of this new noodling is the judge who wrote the opinion. I'm very hopeful about the outcome of this issue.

[dagnabit]

Relax, relax, relax. Also, relax. :) As a homeschooler who has watched this extremely closely, I promise this is okay. No laws have changed, homeschooling is as legal now as it ever was. The Homeschool Legal Defense people are notoriously alarmist. :) Gov. S. himself said he'd intervene unilaterally if need be. This will blow over and hopefully take some of PA's notoriously restrictive requirements with it.

[pleasantlyevil]

The state has set legal standards determining what is required of all children under the age of 16 in determining truancy and a proper education. I would counter that if a person wishes to home school their children, they must do what is required to meet all state requirements and the children should show that they are meeting any and all state testing requirements. Clearly, you feel that the state's requirements are too strict. Regardless, the appeals court is clearly responding by enforcing the law as it is, not as homeschoolers may want it to be. I'm sure this creates a hardship on a good number of people, but the law was there, it seems like they knew it, and they've been circumventing it, so now they're screwed. It seems to me that the homeschool movement in California needs to either work with lawmakers to change this, but for now they need to get in lockstep with the state's laws and do things right

[bbendick]

Wasn't there a founding father who argued against the bill of rights because he feared that listing those rights would imply they were the *only* rights?

[pleasantlyevil]

We can pretend, if you'd like, that we have all the rights one could imagine, but let's face it: We don't. I don't have the right to walk up to you and shoot you because I disagree with you, even though I have the right to bear arms. I don't have the right to yell, "Fire!" in a crowded building when there isn't one, even though I have the right to free speech. I could continue, but I think my point is clear. I also don't feel I have the fundamental right to pull my kids out of either public or private school and teach them at home without following the proper guidelines for the education system of the region I live in.

[spoondave]

Actually, the Constitution does say that any rights not otherwise outlined are reserved for the people. As you correctly point out, real-world law has tended to ignore that little piece of verbiage, but that doesn't make it right. Unfortunately, I haven't got time right now for the libertarian rant that your stance calls for. :-)