The recent decision by the Appellate Court in Los Angeles has many homeschoolers fearing that overzealous school administrators will start enforcing the ruling. The ruling states that all children in California between the ages of six and eighteen must be enrolled and attend a state approved education facility. There is an exception for parents that have their teaching credentials because that is the requirement to homeschool under this ruling.
Governor Schwarzenegger has issued a press release which seems to indicate that he is in his fight with us and will do everything in his power to ensure that parents have the right to choose what they feel is the best education for their children. The Governor likens it to the parents being penalized for doing nothing more than looking out for their own child’s best interest. He further states that if this cannot be done in the judiciary, then it will be done in the legislature.
Personally, I believe that the backlash that this will cause from parents, legislatures, and rights advocacy groups is going to cause this to be cleared up real fast. In some instances it is not really the judges’ fault. In many cases the judge is presented with evidence and arguments, and while he or she does not like it they must come to a decision that even they do not agree with.
This may be one of the instances where the judge was held accountable to the Constitution of California and actually considered it for once. Of course, on other hand he or she might have interpreted it to say what they wanted it to say. But either way, if it can be shown that the children are not learning in homeschool, the children must be moved. The only way to determine this is with testing. However, many have always decided out of hand that homeschooling is not good and are opposed to it without merit.
I must say that I do plan on being a public school teacher, but I will never interfere with a parent’s right to homeschool. That just seems to be the most basic of human rights and should in no way be infringed upon. Maybe the issue is money. Schools are paid according to how many students they have in attendance. If families are homeschooling, then your particular school is losing valuable funds that could be used to make your school better. Now you could use this interim ruling to force the children to go to your school. However, then you are infringing on the parents basic rights for your own selfish gain.
Right now everyone is going into stress overload and it is imperative that this thing be put to rest very soon. Otherwise, someone might say something wrong to someone else and this thing could be prolonged for nothing more than spite.
Sources
Governor Schwarzenegger
http://gov.ca.gov/press-release/8951/