California Outlaws Home Schooling

By BOB BARR

The California Court of Appeals has effectively outlawed home schooling, and the ripple effects of this judicial tsunami may be felt everywhere .

The intent of the California jurists to completely abolish home schooling could not have been clearer: “Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children.” To ensure the message was not misunderstood, the court held that violators could be prosecuted and jailed. With the stroke of a judicial pen, home schooling parents in California became common criminals.

In Orwellian language, this decision sends a clear message that children are to be considered obedient wards of the state. Parents who might disagree with the state-developed and state-sponsored curriculum or teaching methods are S.O.L..... slap out of luck.

Clearly also, the California court decision raises the truly dangerous possibility that shortsighted courts in other parts of the country will rush to act in a similar fashion. There is the harrowing specter of dissolving entirely a family’s right to control education.

Rather than calmly waiting for the effects of the California court’s opinion to be felt here, legislators and other state leaders should be speaking loudly and clearly against this destructive decision. They should already be reviewing our laws as they relate to home schooling —- to strengthen them against the onslaught that has now been empowered by the California Court of Appeals.
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Elders everywhere now have less rights than a convicted felon, now students and parents are losing their rights anyone care to venture who will be next?