California Court of Appeal will reconsider home schooling case

The California Court of Appeal agreed March 25 to reconsider a decision that essentially outlawed home schooling by parents who are not certified as teachers.

“Parents have a fundamental right to make educational choices for their children,” said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb, according to the ADF Web site. “Because this ruling impacts all Californians, we believe the case deserves a second look.”

The court initially ruled against a child enrolled at Sunland Christian School, a private home schooling program, and decided that parents who home-school their children could face criminal charges in California.

Public school enrollment is generally required unless a child is enrolled in a full-time private school or tutored by a credentialed person. A lower court did not order such schooling based on a belief that the parents had a constitutional right to home-school.

James Dobson, founder of Colorado-based Focus on the Family, had called the initial ruling “an all-out assault on the family” and “an imperious assault on the rights of parents.”

However, in the initial 18-page decision, Associate Justice H. Walter Croskey wrote that the problem is that “the children were taught at home by a non-credentialed person.”

“We are pleased that the Court of Appeal has decided to re-hear the ... case, and we are hopeful that the fundamental rights of these parents ... will be honored,” Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, said on the company’s Web site. “Home schooling parents should be treated as heroes — not hunted down or harassed by their own government.”

— RNS