More Judicial Activism in California – Panel Decides Parents Must be Certified to Homeschool

On Friday, TXPoet wrote about Marilyn Merkel, a liberal judicial activist in California who took it upon herself to force her anti-war views on a young man wanting to enlist in the military.

Now, from Chris Gacek, of the Family Research Council:

On February 28, 2006, a three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeal handed down a ruling that may threaten the continued viability of home school arrangements in California. In this case, In re Rachel L., a lower court decision holding that parents have a constitutional right to home school their children was reversed. The appellate court held that parents do not have such rights. Furthermore, the decision appears to have rendered the vast majority of California home schooling arrangements violative of state law.

According to the Los Angeles Times, California law does not address home schooling in its statutes – unlike thirty states that do. Apparently, the California Department of Education and local school districts have had a somewhat relaxed approach to home schooling. This has allowed the number of home schoolers to grow considerably. Estimates are that 166,000 children in California are taught at home, so the impact of this decision will be significant…(more)

Tony Perkins, also of the FRC, released a statement in the e-Newsletter:

…The ruling, which completely blindsided social conservatives, turned an isolated family incident into a broad indictment of the entire homeschooling community. The court was asked to consider whether homeschooling was facilitating the opportunity for a set of parents to physically and emotionally mistreat their children. Based on that one specific incident, the panel used the opportunity not just to resolve the situation at hand but to potentially ban homeschooling across the state. According to the opinion, the court based its judgment on a California statute which says that children ages six to 18 must attend a full-time day school (public or private) or “be instructed by a tutor holding state credentials for the child’s grade level.”

From the HSLDA Advocates for Homeschooling:

…The family and their California counsel are planning to appeal to the Supreme Court of California, which could result in reversal.

Another option to keep homeschooling free in California is to petition the Supreme Court of California to “depublish” the opinion. If the opinion is “depublished” then it cannot be used by other California courts and this threat to homeschool freedom will be neutralized for other California homeschoolers.

HSLDA will be formally petitioning the California Supreme Court to depublish the opinion. We would like to show that many other people, both in California and across the country, care deeply about homeschool freedom in California.

Please show your support for this effort by signing the petition today.

To Sign the Petition, Click Here