Suzanne homeschools her daughter, Arielle, who is in 4th grade and turns 10 next month. She has taught her at home from birth (as all parents do) and she has been "in school" at home with Suzanne since Kindergarten.
Suzanne writes:
A couple of weeks ago, a California court ruled that parents in CA do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children. This is even though homeschooling has been legal in California (and every other state with varying levels of control by the government) for many years. The only parents who have the right to teach their children at home, according to this ruling, are those with teaching degrees.
As you can see here http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp by the legend, CA is a low-regulation state, with only parental notification required.
The legal options for homeschooling in CA are listed here: http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?State=CA
By the way, the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is an organization that is dedicated to preserving the rights of parents nationwide to direct the education of their children. They also get involved from time to time in assisting families outside of the US who are homeschooling and are persecuted by their governments.
The HSLDA is trying to get the opinion of the court "de-published", i.e. to make it impossible for this ruling to set a precedent for other courts to rule in a similar manner. Even though the California Superintendent of Public Instruction announced this week that he believed that homeschooling is still legal in California, it is still possible that the courts will use the ruling from Feb. 28 as a binding precedent.
What's interesting to me is that in the ruling (I read all 18 pages of it), it states: "the juvenile court has authority to limit a parent’s control over a dependent child, including a parent’s right to make educational decisions for a child, so long as the limitations do not exceed what is necessary to protect the child..."
I find this remarkable that the court is saying THEY have a right to limit a parent's control, but obviously there are no such limits on the courts. Amazing. One would think the courts are the ones who carry the child, feed it, teach it to talk and walk, and take care of the child day to day...
As my friends and parents who are tremendously open-minded, I am asking if you would be kind enough to consider signing the petition that the HSLDA has on its website here: http://hslda.org/ for the de-publishing of the ruling.
If you have any questions at all on anything related to homeschooling or to my reasons for homeschooling, please feel free to ask.
Thanks for reading,
Suzanne
Beyond Organic Healthy Food
Robin,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for posting this on the blog. As you can tell I am fired up about this issue and hope others - whether they homeschool, know anyone who homeschools or not - will get fired up too and sign the petition.
Thanks again,
Suzanne
I heard about this the other day on the news and was outraged myself! I know several families who homeschool their children, and who do a fabulous job. What parental right will they take away next?! The petition has been signed. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteSuzanne - Even though I'm not a homeschool parent, I know this issue is not a good move. I've signed the petition and I'm happy to spread the word.
ReplyDeleteNatalie - Thank you so much for the support. You are so right about what parental right will be taken away next... As parents we should be able to make decisions based on what is best for our family. Thank you for the support, we do appreciate you.
Robin and Suzanne