Tracy Press

Home-school ruling reaches too far.

 
Melissa Lea is a part-time waitress and full time teacher. Her students are her four children, ages 1 to 13, and their classroom is the family’s Tracy home — and Lincoln Park and the local library, softball fields and dance studios. 

But under a new state appeals court ruling, Lea may have to go back to school to get a teaching credential so she can keep home schooling her kids.

The 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that California parents don’t have a constitutional right to home-school their school-age children. If the ruling isn’t overturned by the state Supreme Court or amended by the Legislature, it could make California the only state to require parents who teach their children at home to have a teaching credential.

The state’s largest teachers union, not surprisingly, has applauded the ruling. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has denounced it.

Nicole LoBue (from left) and her daughter, Lindsey; Carolyn Navarra; Melissa Lea with her son, Jager; Karen Petz; and Kathy Lau discuss homeschooling during a meeting of the Tracy HomeSchoolers at Lincoln Park. Photo by Glenn Moore/Tracy Press.

“With all the budget cuts already suffered in public schools, what would they do with all of us?” said Carolyn Navarra, another home-school parent.

California has at least 166,000 children home-schooled by parents who have opted out of the public school system. In Lea’s case, her daughter was bullied and her son wasn’t getting the attention he needed to learn, so she pulled them out of their elementary school.

Navarra, who taught in public schools for 12 years, said she’d seen too much of what she didn’t want her own children to experience.

These parents don’t need the heavy hand of government telling them that their children must be enrolled in a public or private school, and we don’t need to criminalize them for their choices. 

This is a ruling that arose from a child welfare dispute between Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and Philip and Mary Long of Lynwood, who have home-schooled their eight children. Attorneys appointed to represent the children asked a juvenile court to require that the youngest children attend school outside the home so they could be monitored for abuse. A judge rejected the request, so it was appealed to the higher court, which then broadly addressed the legality of home-schooling in California. 

Do we really need this intrusion into our private lives from the bench?

The last we heard, parents in America have the right to decide what’s best for their children. Few things are more fundamental to our freedom than the ability to make choices about the education and upbringing of our children.

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written by A. Wallace , March 12, 2008

I have been a home educator since 1990, and have taught my children in 5 states and 2 countries. This situation is frustrating because the judges went outside the proposed issue which was suspected child abuse.

Laws regarding private education have NOT changed. Judges do NOT make law. The U.S. Constitution does not speak to the education of ANY child. Therefore education is not covered under the U.S. Constitution (as the judge inaccurately claimed).

However...freedom to assemble, freedom of speech AND freedom of (or from) religion are ALL rights addressed by the Constitution. Home education is the practice of ALL of these rights. I stand with the Governor on this one.

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written by Mark Davis , March 12, 2008

There is the question of if a state has a general requirement of compulsory education whether there should be some kind of minimal oversight of home schooling, however, and perhaps minimal standards that such schools need to demonstrate. A compromise legislative action is forthcoming.

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written by scott hurban , March 12, 2008

There is supervision and oversight for the most part. I don't know what happened in this instance. This I know from my own experience as a teacher; the most successful students are ones where the parents take an active role in their children's education. Students from shattered homes, in foster care, or some other type of arrangement are far less likely to make it. I try to be father to them, but I am only one person and have 130 students.
There are no better teachers than loving parents. A credential will never replace that.

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written by Mark Davis , March 13, 2008

Here's one of the best discussions I've heard on this so far:

http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R803110900

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written by Liz Plant , March 14, 2008

This is being watched by home educators in the British Isles with great interest. Many of us are baffled why a court would use education issues to deal with a case of suspected abuse. Regardless of a child's educational setting, whether in school or at home, if a child is suffering abuse then use abuse and welfare legislation to deal with it, don't have a go at all homeschoolers. Likewise if a teacher was suspected of abuse, no court would try and send all the children to be homeschooled! Where is the common sense?