Appeals Court to Rehear Home-Schooling Ruling

[The Straight Story]

Appeals Court to Rehear Home-Schooling Ruling
Written by C. Johnson, Internet News Producer


LOS ANGELES, CA - The California Court of Appeal has granted a petition to rehear a ruling issued February 28 that parents who home-school their children could be criminally liable under California law.

The Alliance Defense Fund requested the appellate court reconsider the case of a parent whose child was enrolled in Sunland Christian School, a private homeschooling program.

The Second District Court of Appeals last month said that state statutes require children between 6 and 18 to attend a full-time public or private school. Otherwise, the court affirmed, children must be tutored by a person who holds a state credential for the child's grade level. The regulation has been part of the state education code for years.

Justice Walter Croskey said, "Parents do not have a constitutional right to home-school their children." If they don't comply with the law, he ruled that they can be prosecuted.

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=39973

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

1. Good...

Lets let sound human judgment overturn this despicable ruling..

[Firespirit]

9. OMG I agree with something you posted!

Anyone who has ever spent time in a Southern community will know of what I speak. Public schools there are pure right-wing indoctrination. When I went to one I heard the following from teachers over a period of four years:

• Bill Clinton was running roughshod over the Constitution.
  
• Nixon was innocent and Watergate was set up by Democrats to get him removed.
  
• Evolution had to be a part of the curriculum by state law, but it was "taught" by having classes do an outline of the chapter in the textbook.
  
• In the AP Biology class, we had to outline the first chapter of Genesis prior to studying evolution.
  
• A summary of Genesis 1 was an acceptable answer on the end-of-semester test in that class. (Not the same as the AP Test.)
  
• Joe McCarthy was correct and justified.
  
• Gay men are going to get AIDS.
  

I'd like for anyone to tell me that homeschooling is always a bad thing.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

11. lol, Im not so bad once you get to know me....

:toast:

[Fahan]

2. Home schooling

Actually I am against home schooling unless the curriculum is very regulated. Parents and guardians can abuse or brainwash their children especially if they belong to extreme religious groups of any denomination. I know girls that are so called home schooled so they can babysit and clean house. Unfortunately monitoring home schooling is not cost effective so many abuses can go unnoticed.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

4. A couple of points...

1) "Actually I am against home schooling unless the curriculum is very regulated."

Well making them take the state exams should be enough no?

2) Parents and guardians can abuse or brainwash their children especially if they belong to extreme religious groups of any denomination.

What you call brainwashing they call bringing up their children within their faith or culture... who are you to tell them they cant?

3) I know girls that are so called home schooled so they can babysit and clean house.

And I know public school 8th graders who cant read... and parents who cant even name their kids teachers... whats your point? That there are bad parents who home school? there are bad parents in every group...

4) Unfortunately monitoring home schooling is not cost effective so many abuses can go unnoticed.

Making kids take the state exams should be enough..

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. Question + opinion

"Well making them take the state exams should be enough no?"

How stringent are current exam requirements?

My opinion: exams every semester. You fail one exam, in one subject, and off to school you go.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

12. Well by that logic

what do we do with a kid in the public school that fails one exam? make them home school? Your setting the bar a little high no?

My view: Semi-Annual exams (most school districts don't give quarterly test they give one in the winter and one at the end of the year)... The kids have to meet the same requirements as public school kids have to meet to move to the next grade. If they fail the parents have one more year for that grade... Kid fails again and you have to move them to an accredited school.

--

Of course there might be special needs kids..

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. Looks fair to me.

Another question: what happens to a kid that fails the winter test? (To the one that fails the summer test, the answer seems to be obvious, s/he repeats the grade)

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

22. Exact same thing that would happen to a public school kid

Whatever that means...

Usually those exams are just a statement on how youre doing..

[Stanley Nickels]

15. That defeats the point of homeschooling

One big reason we homeschool is so our kids are not bound by the state's ideas of when they should learn what. If they are good at math they might be grades ahead. If they struggle with reading or science they might be a little behind at one point or another. One of the best reasons to homeschool is so you can spend time on what the kid needs and not be held back by 20 other kids in the class (or vice versa).

Forcing my kids to adhere to the same tests and schedules as public school kids would not work.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. I thought the point of homeschooling was

that the available schools may be incompetent at teaching what they are supposed to teach, or the environment there may be harmful.

Just as an aside, this is why I'm NOT against homeschooling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ddBMthe__A&feature=related

[Stanley Nickels]

18. I guess there are many different points or reasons to homeschool

From the fundies that want to isolate and indoctrinate to the many progressive homeschoolers. We personally don't have anything against our local schools but simply feel we can do a better job at home.

[bumblebee1]

24. Nicole was forced out of school. n/t

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

25. Hence, "as an aside." Although I could very well file it under "harmful environment." -nt

[girl gone mad]

8. I'm sorry to hear about your friends.

Brainwashing can occur whether or not a child is homeschooled.

My son is home schooled and our state has next to no regulations. He's about 6 years ahead of his grade level now, has tutors and uses MIT's open CourseWare as well as a Berkeley online class. He gets to work on music several hours a day, program robots and computer games or just slack off for a while if he wants. We're all pretty happy with the situation. His best friend comes over after school each day and complains relentlessly about the teachers, students and curriculum (he's an absolutely brilliant kid and I would love to be able to teach him).

[sharesunited]

3. Adam and Eve rode to church on dinosaurs.

Ah yes, home schooling.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

5. Home schoolers

Win national spelling bees, national geography bees, perform above average on the SAT's and ACT's... Please try not to paint with too wide a brush..

[Akoto]

6. Sorry, but that's not fair.

I finished school at home due to health and other personal issues. It had nothing to do with ignorance or religious differences.

[Stanley Nickels]

13. 2/3 of Americans cannot find Iraq on a map

As yes, public schooling

[Winterblues]

7. Is there a difference between home schooling and correspondence school?

Correspondence school has real teachers that grade the school work and give assignments and the parent is no more than a teacher's aid. This is quite prevalent in Alaska which has many small bush communities that are too small to have a regular school. I see nothing at all wrong with such, but if it is left entirely up to the parents what is to be taught I think there could be a lot of problems..

[earth mom]

17. Not everyone who homeschools is a fundie whack job.

I support homeschooling 100%, but I will be the first to admit that the fundies are giving homeschooling a very bad name. :(

[Spike89]

19. Since when do kids "enroll" in a private home school program?

The story and link say it is Sunland Christian School, a private homeschooling program. Am I missing something? Is it a school or not? If not, isn't the state's beef with it for being uncertified? If it is a school and has certified teachers, it isn't homeschooling. This just sounds like a scam, a way for a "private" school to avoid having to use qualified teachers.

I agree that homeschooling should be allowed, but with regular testing.

[HuffleClaw]

20. a 'do-over' ?

sounds odd to me

[Stanley Nickels]

21. Lots of pressure from the Gov and other reps

They were all lining up legislation and whatnot to oppose this ruling - sounds like the court is just beating them to the punch by rehearing the appeal.

The real issue here is the only thing the court said in its original ruling was they do not have a religious right to home school. There were other issues here as the original stories mentioned possible abuse and the curriculum they used not being acceptable to the state - but the parents wanted blanket immunity from this by hiding behind their religion.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

23. Yea cause freedom of religion isnt really *that* important..