March 10, 2008

New Laws On Home Schooling In California


by Rohan Parker

A court verdict handed down recently has made most forms of home schooling illegal. A decision which has sparked uproar from home schooling advocates such as Focus on the Family founder, James Dobson.

Justice H. Walter Croskey wrote an 18 page ruling, which was in accordance with two other Justices, stating that the crucial fact was that children were being taught by people without any educational credentials.

The ruling outlines that public school enrolment is required, unless the child is enrolled in a full-time private school or is under tuition from a credentialed person. Whilst a lower court did not order in the same fashion, as they stated they believed parents had a constitutional right to home school, Croskey wrote within the verdict that the courts in California have always decreed that parents do not have any constitutional right to home school their children.

The verdict was labeled an imperious assault on families and parents by James Dobson, whose ministry is in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Dobson went on to say that in his opinion, the verdict should have been issued to only the one family in question, and should not used as a means of punishing an entire class whose majority is made up of religious conservatives.

In a bid to ensure the ruling does not apply to other families in California, the Home School Legal Defense Association has embarked on a petition to have the appellate ruling depublished.

The foundation stated on their Web site that whether or not Californians could home school should their children was not a decision to be based upon one family’s case in a closed-doors hearing, and went on to say that all families should have the right to be heard as it is their rights which were on the line.

The Sunland Christian School in Sylmar, California, has called in the Pacific Justice Institute to appeal the decision.

President of the Pacific Justice Institute, Brad Dacus, stated that if this ruling was not overruled, the parents of over 166,000 students being home schooled in California could be facing legal proceedings being brought against them.

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