California Judge Overturns Court Ruling on Homeschooling!

[tonesforjonesbones]

Liberty Counsel - www.LC.org

August 8, 2008

California Court Gives Parents Freedom to Home School Their Children



www.LC.org

A California appeals court has ruled that parents have the right to homeschool their own children in California. The court reversed its earlier ruling that had refused to find a right to home education in California law.

Read the Court's opinion (in PDF).

Read Our News Release for more details.

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[Anti Federalist]

Excellent news.

Thanks for the news tip, tones.

[lucius]

"Home schooling constitutional in CA" bump

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=208120

Home schoolers in California and their supporters are celebrating a legal decision in which the court handing down the ruling actually reversed itself.

Earlier today (Friday) the California Court of Appeal ruled that the state's education code allows parents to home school their children. That decision means parents do not have to obtain state credentials in order to home school. The court acknowledged that a state prohibition on home schooling would intrude on parents' constitutional right to direct their children's education, and that that any limit on that right would be presumed unconstitutional.

Gary McCaleb, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, is pleased that the court decided parents have a constitutional right to make educational choices for their children. "Thousands of California families have educated their children through home schooling," he states. "[This decision] protects the rights of families and protects an avenue of education that has proven to benefit children time and time again."

In early March a three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeal determined that parents in the Golden State had no legal right to home school -- a ruling that one Christian attorney said would leave thousands of students subject to criminal sanctions unless reversed.

Mike Farris, chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), says today's ruling was unexpected. "We're very thrilled, not just a little bit, [and] we're surprised as well," he remarks. "To get a court to do a 180-degree reversal is a remarkable thing and we view it as a blessing from God. We're really thankful for it, and there's hundreds of thousands of home-school kids in California who are now able to breathe a sigh of relief."

Farris says groups like the Alliance Defense Fund, Liberty Counsel, HSLDA, and Focus on the Family teamed up and were armed with new information that compelled the court to uphold parents' constitutional right to educate their children at home.

ps: for the NaySayers

[Ceos]

Focus on the Family is a horrible organization. My father used to listen to it 5-6 years ago and we both got pissed over what the guy was saying...

Anyways, great news, though I truely doubt that there are "hundreds of thousands" homeschoolers in Cali.

[Indy4Chng]

Focus on the Family is a horrible organization. My father used to listen to it 5-6 years ago and we both got pissed over what the guy was saying...

Anyways, great news, though I truely doubt that there are "hundreds of thousands" homeschoolers in Cali.

I don't know if you live out of the west coast, but that numbers seems perfectly reasonable to me. I would say about 1/10 people I meet were home schooled and I know even more than that are currently or considering doing the same. There is something like ~ 30M people in California, hundres of thousands" is very reasonable (IMHO).

BTW... this is an awesome ruling... us in the northern states were afraid it was going to trickle north like everything else california proposes.

[Ceos]

I have no idea honestly how many ppl are in Cali; I was under the impression its somewhere around 30 mil, but if hundreds of thousands get homeschooled, its closer to 40-50 mil.

But yeah to illaberate on Focus on the Family: they have their own agenda like any other organization. They would have every household Christian and live by their standard; they don't care about individual freedoms.

[TastyWheat]

$#@! yeah! Maybe California isn't as crazy liberal as I thought. They'll prove me wrong in a few days I'm sure.

[pinkmandy]

That's awesome!

I do not trust HSLDA any more than I trust Focus on the Family. HSLDA almost royally screwed VA homeschoolers a few years ago, butting in to make changes we didn't want or need- trying to speak out on behalf of VA homeschoolers against our own statewide HS organization. Thanks to their meddling we almost had our hs laws rewritten by Dem Gov Mark Warner who wanted homeschooling parents to take credential tests among other such nonsense. Thank God we had enough Repub legislators along w/our state org raising hell to reject Warner's changes...we still had our law changed and it's now more a pita than it was before. Yay, thank you HSLDA.

[Syren123]

$#@! yeah! Maybe California isn't as crazy liberal as I thought. They'll prove me wrong in a few days I'm sure.

LOL!! The truth is that Californians are overwhelmingly tolerant and conservative (in the original sense), but the hotbeds of commie pinkoism - Los Angeles and San Francisco - have infected all the political bodies in the state. By its sheer size, the CA state govt has more power and influence than it deserves and certainly does not represent the POV of the majority of the state. It's like the fed - so huge it now has a life of its own. And unfortunately, that life has a decidedly crazy liberal agenda.

The great thing about CA is that there is still a lot of individualism and opportunity to live outside the behemoth if you choose to. Southern CA aside, people are great and real and there are lovely, peaceful towns where you can live as you please without liberal oppression.