In a huge win for thousands of Christian families in California and nationwide, a California appeals court Aug. 8 reversed itself and ruled that parents do in fact have a right to homeschool their children

In a huge win for thousands of Christian families in California and nationwide, a California appeals court Aug. 8 reversed itself and ruled that parents do in fact have a right to homeschool their children even if they lack teaching credentials.

The three-judge panel received nationwide attention and criticism in February when it ruled that “parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children.” It based its ruling on a nearly 80-year-old law by the California legislature. But in the decades since that law was implemented, the panel ruled Aug. 8, the legislature has implicitly accepted homeschooling as legal.

“We … conclude that California statutes permit home schooling as a species of private school education,” the justices wrote in their unanimous decision.

The February ruling said parents could homeschool their children only if they had a “valid state teaching credential for the grade being taught” — something that many if not most homeschooling parents don’t have. The panel announced in March it would rehear the case. The original decision drew criticism from California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who pledged legislation if it wasn’t overturned, as well as from State Schools Superintendent Jack O’Connell, who said he supported the rights of homeschoolers.

There are an estimated 166,000 homeschool students in California. More than a dozen organizations filed friend-of-the-court briefs urging the court to reconsider its ruling. Technically, the court case involved alleged abuse within a family who had homeschooled their children. But instead of simply ruling on that particular case, the court issued a broad ruling that covered all homeschool families in the state.

The latest ruling drew wide praise from homeschool organizations.

“This is a great victory for homeschool freedom,” Michael Farris, chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association, said in a statement. “I have never seen such an impressive array of people and organizations coming to the defense of homeschooling. The team effort was remarkable.”

The original ruling was viewed as particularly troubling to Christian families because California’s public schools have some of the more liberal laws in the nation regarding teaching about sexuality and homosexuality. Many of those families see homeschooling as the only viable alternative.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization, was among the groups involved in the case seeking a reversal.

“Parents have a constitutional right to make educational choices for their children,” Alliance Defense Fund attorney Gary McCaleb said in a statement. “Thousands of California families have educated their children successfully through homeschooling. We’re pleased with the court’s decision, which protects the rights of families and protects an avenue of education that has proven to benefit children time and time again.”

The court Aug. 8 said that home schooling was amended out of state law in 1929, and that court rulings in 1953 and 1961 “confirmed” that children could be homeschooled only by a credentialed tutor. But since then, the panel ruled, the legislature has passed statutes which assume that homeschooling is legal.

“Under these circumstances, it is our view that the proper course of action is to interpret the earlier statutes in light of the later ones, and to recognize, as controlling, the Legislature’s apparent acceptance of the proposition that home schools are permissible in California when conducted as private schools,” the decision said.

Michael Foust is an assistant editor of Baptist Press.

Tax Support Bill for Home-schooled and Private School Families Passes in Louisiana

Governor Jindal’s call for an educational tax deduction for private, parochial and home-education expenses went out and was answered in the form of Senate Bill 5 by Senator Rob Marionneaux and Representative Hunter Greene. The bill has now passed the Senate and House and is working its way through the final stages of completion before heading to the governor’s desk.

The bill provides tax relief for the 15,500 home education families and 127,000 parochial/private education families in Louisiana. A modest itemized deduction–estimated at under $300 per child when education expenses have reached $10,000–serves notice on the status quo in Louisiana’s educational hierarchy: Competition’s Coming!

This is a step in the right direction for all those who still believe Americans the sole possessors freedom and give government limited freedom and authority over their collective lives. That is especially applicable to the right of parents to provide their own children with the best education possible. And, in light of the well-funded and nationally organized gay movement that seeks to force its views and behavior on all children through educational law, this kind of law comes at just the right time.

Source: Family Facts, March 11, 2008; End of Week With Gene Mills, March 14, 2008 (email).

Homeschool Mom Critiques “Horton Hears A Who?” Anti-Homeschool Message

Home school mom Fran Eaton, turned movie critic, analyzes the film version of Dr. Seuss book <i>Horton Hears Who?</i> Although she praises the technical and creative elements of the film as well as the familiar pro-life them, she was shocked by the film writer’s anti-homeschool message. Describing the moment in her own words:

But just minutes into the movie I gasped as one of the story’s key characters was introduced to the story line. An arrogant, snooty, evil, uncaring, and yes, unbelieving female antagonist named Kangaroo is introduced, and her little one pokes his head out of his mommy’s pouch. Kangaroo (with Carol Burnett’s voice) sniffs and says, “He’s pouch-schooled.” Pouch-schooled…home-schooled.

After a kiss and goodbye hug to all, I thought about that mean old Kangaroo and comforted myself by remembering our family’s “pouch-schooling” experience wasn’t as anything at all like “Horton Hears A Who?’s” ill-informed screenplay writers portrayed it. Our experience was more like the Whoville’s Mayor and his wife Sally’s home was — abounding with energy, silliness, learning, and laughter.

If the film was written in California, the recent surfacing of an underlying opposition to homeschoolers and their aloofness from the radical secular and gay agenda being forced on all school children and supported my public officials may explain the unnecessary addition to the wonderful Dr. Seuss story.

Whatever the reason, Eaton warns homeschooling moms, saying, “Beware, home school moms: be notified beforehand that you’ve been typecast into the role of villainess in this weekend’s children’s smash hit ‘Horton Hears a Who?'”

To read Fran Eaton’s analysis of Horton Hears A Who, go here.